WeWorks—the brand-name shared workspaces with Instagrammable details like exposed brick and copious plants—have become, like Ubers and Airbnbs, another venture-backed emblem of the post-crash gig economy.
Since then, the company has expanded to 425 locations, servicing more than 400,000 freelancers, startups, and larger companies with remote staffers, and a website with an Airbnb-like interface showing airy office porn in cities as far-flung as Warsaw, Poland and Lima, Peru.
Members can avail themselves of the usual startup-style staples: bike storage, water with fruit floating in it, and “a sense of community.
Many WeWorks also offer “craft on draft” to lube everyone up for inter-company small talk, though the company has recently taken steps to curb alcohol consumption by its members, in part to clean up its startup-bro image.
At this particular Cinco de Mayo party, there was “enough liquor for a three-day frat party,” and our heroine, 29 years old and working for a recruitment company, had decided to stay for one more drink.