Story of flexibile labour market in London

Before coming to Sussex, Claudette spent more than a year in London working several jobs, including waitress at some pubs and shop assistant at Pizza Hut, amongst others. She needed the money to live in London, but she was also thinking of saving some cash to apply for University. Waitressing was ok, she says, even if she regrets leaving the job after a month - cause usually 'they don't hire if they know you don't intend to stay longer'. One of her flat mates helped her get the job and she felt sorry for quitting, worried that she might get him into trouble. Pizza Hut was a different experience. They have this policy of timing the hours employees work. If it happened that the store was not busy, they'd be sent home half or quarter of an hour earlier, being paid only for the 30 or 45 minutes they had been working. Conversely, were they to do extra-hours, they'd get the regular hourly rate only if they covered a full hour.
One night she tried to do this "strange job". It implied inviting and persuading people walking around to enter a night club. It was up to her how much they'd be charged and she'd get 50% of the money. But, first night was only a trial and, in case the bar management decided they did well, they'd get the job. The job was from 10pm to 3pm, she left after two hours, being convinced she wouldn't pass the test. Or, as she clearly put it, 'they probably get the money of this first night and never call me back'. In fact, Claudette adds, lots of jobs in London are based on a "daily trial system", as employees pay nothing and there are plenty of other immigrants to fill in the work in a similar vein.
Flexible, effective, and cost-free...