ID a dystopian future short story with massive unemplyment and a utopia.
February 7, 2014 11:46 PM   Subscribe

I'm trying to ID a short story where the protagonist becomes unemployed in a world where once you lose your job you have no hope of getting another job and are therefor forced to accept marginal government assistance. Additional spoilerific details inside.

Government aid is mostly subsistence and consists of dormitory housing shared with a roommate. Recipients are also supplied with food and clothing. The clothing is bland (I want to say everything is brown). The protagonist and his roommate make friends with two women. The dystopian horror of the situation is escaped by the protagonist when two women arrive from ?Australia? to let him know that his uncle purchased two shares for him in the past in an experimental energy production system and all the share holders now have a high standard of living. The women take him and his ?roommate? to ?Australia? where he lives happily ever after.
posted by Mitheral to Media & Arts (2 answers total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: "Manna", by Marshall Brain
posted by teraflop at 12:53 AM on February 8, 2014 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: Yes, that's it. I hadn't remembered that the robot surveillance was the first half of that story.
posted by Mitheral at 7:45 AM on February 8, 2014


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