Work in Progress

Explore the hidden world of seemingly unremarkable jobs in this special episode with double the stories, including: a video store clerk who gets knocked out of his monotonous comfort zone by a suspicious visitor; a call center agent who finds renewed purpose in how she serves customers; a supermarket chain manager who comes down with a bad case of "bore-out"; and a man whose job literally involves watching grass grow and he loves it.

An Instagram star bullied for the color of her skin turns the teasing into the fuel behind her fashion modeling career; a professional British rugby player confronts “jock" stereotypes when he comes out to friends, family, and fans as gay.

We meet a chef who can't wait to walk away from her prestigious Michelin star rating and a web developer who singlehandedly orchestrated one of the biggest fast food comebacks his hometown has ever seen.

Follow along at slack.com/podcast and @slackstories. Let us know what you think of the show by leaving us a rating or review in iTunes.

•This episode also features Mathara Holdings, a family business operating out of Kiambu, Kenya.

We meet a chef who can't wait to walk away from her prestigious Michelin star rating and a web developer who singlehandedly orchestrated one of the biggest fast food comebacks his hometown has ever seen.

We meet a woman teaching doctors good bedside manners by acting sick when she’s feeling perfectly fine; and a neuroscientist at odds with her own brain after she's diagnosed with schizophrenia.

An outspoken corporate downsizer learns a harsh lesson after being surprised with her own exit package, and a loyal cop that has to choose between fighting the war on drugs and his criminal brother. Sometimes practicing tough love at work and at home isn’t always the best policy.

A journalist discovers a scarf with her byline imprinted in its design and embarks on an investigative journey to track down its makers; a former futures trader stumbles into her calling as an internet hoax buster with a specialty for empathizing with the perpetrators. Following your curiosity can lead you to some pretty interesting work, or at least a very good story.

Meet a woman who’s made a career out of professional cuddling; and an engineer, lawyer and open-source advocate who grappled with her own values in order to save her life.

A Kung-Fu master honors his father's legacy; a frustrated musician's chance meeting with a mentor leads to a powerful lesson in self-acceptance. Sometimes, the best thing to happen to your career is finding your guiding light.

A woman starts a dating site for single farm workers, and an exiled army colonel launches a revolution from the aisles of a hardware store. What happens when your life's work is deeply connected to where you're from?

An entrepreneur learns the cost of putting his work ahead of his relationship; a young developer flees her war-torn homeland for a chance to pursue her dream career. What happens when your professional ambitions put your personal life at stake?