Page 158 - Just Deserts

Scrubbers

truck with twice as much as it can hold— I know, because I tried it
once when I was new at this, and it gave me a message right away
that my orders had been canceled automatically, no harm done to
anything. I think it’s really a great relief to be in a position where you
can’t do much damage even if you try.”
“Yes, yes, that’s exactly the right attitude.” Molly beamed at her
neophyte subordinate. “Our job is to use a computer system which
has been developed by people a lot smarter than us. So we must be
fearless, assuming that the safety net will be there when we need it to
prevent us from hurting ourselves or anyone else.”
Idiosyncrasies of manner and appearance aside, Althea gave every
indication of becoming a model employee. Molly went back to her
cubicle confident that her staffing problem had been solved.

* * * * *

Earl Wells leaned back in his padded leather and chromium chair
and looked out the window of his corner office at the austere
perspective of Madison Avenue receding south into a hazy vanishing
point. He was on the phone, scoring points with a client.
“Sure thing, Walter. I’ll have something for you in a few days, no
problem. If you like it, we can go the whole nine yards. Hey, this is a
full-service agency, remember? Package design, radio jingles, TV
spots, magazine spreads, planted press releases, celebrity spokes-
persons—we do it all.”
The party on the other end of the line evidently voiced at least
mild reservations, for Earl abandoned his contemplation of the
insect-like pedestrians thirty-seven floors below and thrust his center
of gravity forward, bringing his elbows into sharp contact with the
blotter on his desk.
“Of course I can handle it, Walter. Look at the success I’ve had as
account executive for Wolfdown Muck: their sales of dehydrated and
frozen entrees have doubled since I took over the campaign. That’s
right. I came up with all the ideas for it: product names, slogans,
cartoon icons. I coined the term ‘garlicious’ and put the tongue-
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