Text 5. Read the text. Do the exercises below

NOW YOU’RE HIRED

You are now working for your phone company and your bank. The self-service economy is growing today. In self-service economy companies make their customers do their work. Self-service has benefits both for customers and companies.

The idea of self-service is new. In 1916 Clarence Saunders, an American entrepreneur opened the first self-service Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Then came laundromats, cafeterias, self-service car washes, all of which were variations on the same theme.

But now, with the rise of the web, companies are taking self-service into new levels. Millions of people now manage their finances, track packages, buy cinema and theatre tickets, reserve and buy train and plane tickets while they are sitting in front of their computers. They plan their own travel itineraries and make their own hotel and airline bookings: later in the hotel they may even check themselves in. And they do all of this with mouse in hand and no human employees in sight. Self-service systems can save companies money and make customers happy.

So, you don’t realize that you are always working for someone. You may be an employee even if you are unemployed.