This short zine by Reynaldo Vásquez Rodríguez documents his short time working at a bar in Valencia. As a foreigner, he was hired without social security or a contract. Within days at the bar, Rodríguez was mistreated, abused for minor infractions, and soon accused of stealing.
Manual de funcionamiento collects an e-mail exchange that was part of the hiring process, photographs of the bar with its collection of books, handwritten notes about procedures and duties at the bar, as well as notes documenting the bosses’ behavior towards Rodríguez. The zine takes its title from the bar’s evidently lengthy and overly comprehensive employee handbook.
The book closes with a short note: “Something funny about having worked here is that I couldn’t stop thinking about the bestial mediocrity of having a sandwich named after a book by Roberto Bolaño. No matter the reason, it’s not clever, or irreverent, or flashy. It’s stupid.”