the job

by nick nelson

roger showed up in the morning for his new job. ted was there to meet him and to describe the job to him. roger was led to a little room with a small desk. there was a laptop computer on the desk, a large pile of small pink paper slips, and two wire baskets labeled “good “ and “bad”. ted logged into a list of people’s names. the names were in alphabetical order, last name first. and each name had a thirteen digit number beside it. “these are payment slips people have sent in,” roger explained. “each one is supposed to have the person’s i d number on it. just check the slips against the list to see if the i d matches, or if the i d was even included. put the slips that match in the “good” basket and the ones that do not in the “bad” basket.” “what happens when i fill up the baskets?” “some one will come around to collect them. but it will go slower than you think.” “and that’s it?” roger asked. “that’s it,” said ted. “do you think you can handle it?” “i guess. couldn’t a scanner do the job?” “it might,” ted replied. he glanced over at roger. “these are not many jobs like this left. do you want it or not?” “oh, yes, yes, i want it,” roger assured him. “can i ask you one question?” “you can ask.” “the person who had this job before. how long did they last?” “forty-eight years, ten months, and twelve days. for some reason i guess they couldn’t quite make it to fifty years.” roger considered this. “what kind of person was it? were they male or female, fat or thin, white or black, liberal or conservative, good looking or ugly - ?” “i am afraid that is confidential,” said ted. “you could ask human resources but i will tell you right now you won’t get an answer.” “all right, i was just curious.” roger sat down at the desk. “i don’t know if i can do this for forty-eight years.” “give it a try. see how it goes. i leave you to it.”