What does "to play shop" mean?
Hello. What does "play shop" mean in the text below? This is from the video game Fallout 4.

I put in years of my life to keep this factory running and this is how they treat me? I'm supposed to babysit a bunch of robots while they play shop? This is ridiculous.

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Edit: I don't know if this is helpful, but the text was found on a computer at a robot factory. I think the factory didn't just create robots, but they also sold them. So... I guess I just answered my question.I guess the person who wrote the text wasn't happy that the factory had started to sell robots instead of focusing only on their production. So I assume "while they play shop" means "while the management sell robots". Maybe the person thought it wasn't serious or something and that's why he wrote "play shop"?

Question

What does "to play shop" mean?
Hello. What does "play shop" mean in the text below? This is from the video game Fallout 4.

I put in years of my life to keep this factory running and this is how they treat me? I'm supposed to babysit a bunch of robots while they play shop? This is ridiculous.

-------
Edit: I don't know if this is helpful, but the text was found on a computer at a robot factory. I think the factory didn't just create robots, but they also sold them. So... I guess I just answered my question.I guess the person who wrote the text wasn't happy that the factory had started to sell robots instead of focusing only on their production. So I assume "while they play shop" means "while the management sell robots". Maybe the person thought it wasn't serious or something and that's why he wrote "play shop"?

Answer

I think "playing shop" is a kind of sarcastic way of describing the management. If a young child for example is playing with a doll house is could be referred to by an older person as "playing house". (Or if a young child is pretending to be a shop owner with a friend or something it could be described as "playing shop").

Answers · 2

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