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If people today become workers “for want of a better opportunity”, it is well known that the workers in charge of train maintenance at the RATP see themselves as better off when they join the Régie. Because they have managed to escape the unattractive condition of factory work, these young recruits relate positively to a specific manual labor condition, to the extent that they consider themselves RATP operators rather than workers. However, such representations, developed during the long months that precede the beginning of work, are nuanced by the actual experience of the workshop. Thus, even if the status makes it possible to enjoy some degree of stability, the evolution of the working conditions, relationships with the hierarchy that may be occasionally conflictual, and the slim opportunities for evolution are a source of delusion. If one joins the Régie convinced of being an RATP agent rather than a worker, everything tends to suggest that one actually is a worker rather than a RATP agent.