Work Unwound: These Fiction Podcasts Define Our Daily Grind

GANDHINAGAR: The concept of work has evolved beyond the traditional 9-to-5 office hours. Remote work has become a legitimate form of employment, despite some billionaires’ skepticism, and side hustles are increasingly common as individuals seek to diversify their income and passions. This curated selection of fiction podcasts delves into the multifaceted nature of work, exploring the nuances of our professional lives and how they intersect with personal identity and society at large. It’s a reflection—and perhaps a celebration—of the dedication, challenges, and triumphs experienced in the modern workplace.

Earth Eclipsed

An Official Selection of the Tribeca Festival 2021. A brilliant neuroscientist on the brink of a galaxy-changing discovery that will save millions of lives has her work cut short when she’s kidnapped by a renegade miner. Follow Dr. Alexine Prometh as she works to outwit Nico Dunn and complete the Abacus Project, her life’s work.

Human-B-Gon

After the Robopocalypse, an emotional robot tries to win the approval of his D.A.D. by saving the family human extermination business. Warning: violence and stupidity.

Out of Place

Andrew Moss loved his anthropology job, until mysterious artifacts from a Mr. Havisham started arriving in brown paper bags. The artifacts are… Wrong.

Feedback: A Comedy of Impeccable Customer Service

Aspiring drag queen and Ring Wireless representative Akbar Shahzad (Qasim Khan) has a problem with his ex-boyfriend. Anxious mother Valerie LeVac (Rosemary Dunsmore) has a problem with her phone bill. Over a series of calls their lives will be changed by the brief but meaningful relationship that develops between them. Part mystery, part romantic comedy, Kevin Shea’s FEEDBACK uniquely blends audiobook and audio drama to tell this strange, surprising, and darkly hilarious story.

Murder in HR

It’s Jemma’s (Kate Mara) first day as Employee Experience Manager at Peace of Ship, an AI-powered tech startup. When her colleague Larry is electrocuted during the company All-Hands, she uncovers a terrible secret. It was murder! Now, she and her Chief People Officer, Nicholas (Brett Gelman), are tasked with finding the killer. She must use her HR skills to investigate her toxic colleagues – without becoming the next victim.

The Department of Variance of Somewhere, Ohio

A shady governmental group that deals with supernatural entities experiences a containment breach at its main office. One new hire and one mid-level employee from the Bureau of Transnatural Resources are stuck on different floors when the lockdown begins. The two employees, Scarlet Jaunt and Jasmine Control, will have to work together however they can to escape the hostile creatures, shifting architecture, and invasive noises all around them.

Goodbye Blue Mondays

Upon learning his misogynist, conspiracy-spewing workmate holds a winning ticket for the most coveted prize on earth – the Global Early Retirement Lottery – a listless factory worker stops at nothing to ensure the reward goes to a more deserving citizen, namely himself, only to discover the prize is not exactly as advertised.

The Crossing Guard Tapes

In a world where cities are playgrounds and playgrounds are arenas. Where arenas are battlegrounds, and battlegrounds are sectioned into streets and streets are bisected by school crosswalks and school crosswalks are the frontline in an ancient battle where crossing guards are the warriors that stand between the everyday, holding up a stop sign to the end of days… and the end of days is going way over 15 MPH/30 KPH in a school crossing zone.

Tower4

Mike Archer is a newly appointed fire watcher in the Wyoming woods. While he’s never done anything like this before, he needed something new after his mom passed. Now he hopes to spend his days in a tower above the trees looking for fires and working on his new book. But things aren’t as quiet and peaceful as he hoped. Strange interference blasts over his radio at night and he starts seeing and hearing creepy noises in the woods. But are these odd occurrences actually happening or is he just going stir crazy?

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