(image: Art Carney in character as Ed Norton,
NYC sewer-worker. I have a poster of the image
on my office-wall, and occasionally I point to it
and identify Ed as the editor of the Norton
anthologies of literature, which are most popular in college
English classes)
Employee
No matter how long, how well,
you work for us, you're only
as good as your health is today.
We're not sorry to say
that to us what we pay
you is overhead.
Yes, your record is good,
but alas, it describes a past
from which we've made a
profit already. We're a
forward-looking company,
as we mention in our
annual report. Yes,
experience counts,
but our calculations
show inexperience to be
cheaper. Thanks. We hope
you've set a little something
aside. Our size is downed.
Your time is up. We wish you
luck (one more lie for old time's sake).
Copyright 2008 Hans Ostrom
