For the thousandth time (and thanks for the QotW, Steve!), the "if it weren't for ____ this wouldn't be SF" complaint totally baffles me. Are SF stories not allowed to borrow storytelling techniques or tropes or storylines or archetypes from any other literary form? If so, our genre is dead in the water, and we'd better jump ship before it sinks.
Yup, a contrarian as always, I liked this story. I thought it was fun, and unlike a lot of the others on this discussion, I thought the SF elements were one of the most interesting and integral parts of the story, and didn't feel tacked-on or incedental at all.
I think some of the most interesting SF worldbuilding is that which doesn't draw attention to itself. If a writer in a very different setting were to write about my everyday life, it would be very strange for him to have me, as the viewpoint character, notice every detail of every freeway onramp and door hinge, or for that matter the number of fingers on my left hand. Those are things that I take for granted, so of course I wouldn't dwell on them. As long as this kind of worldbuilding is smooth and easy enough to follow, I think it's much more interesting than the "describe every nut and bolt" school. The little hints you get in a story like this show a tiny, everyday cross-section of an amazingly complex and interesting world.