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Photograph by Philip Oltermann
Philip Oltermann spoke to Ollie Brock for the Granta Podcast about English bathrooms and German car engines, and how his experience as an outsider became the nexus of his forthcoming book.
To listen to the podcast, either click on the player below, or visit our iTunes page, where you can subscribe to make sure you receive every episode.
Photograph by Philip Oltermann
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
Philip Oltermann is an editor on the Guardian's comment desk, and the author of Keeping Up With the Germans: A History of Anglo-German Encounters.
More about the author →‘I love that image. Me flying over Germany, throwing sex bombs into people’s minds.’
‘Some stories begin with an incident, or a set of enigmatic circumstances, or a scene indelibly witnessed, or the relationship of unlike temperaments, or even something as gossamer as a mood. And then there is the kind of story that is rooted in an idea.’
‘This, of course, was years before anyone knew or cared who Boko Haram was.’
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