“ Hey, my friend, uhm... ” “ mr Donald ”.
“ yes Mr Donald, you forgot something? ”. Mr David asked wondering what brought the well dressed Man back to his office
“ no sir I actually came to resume work immediately ”. Donald said.
“ okay then, Mr Donald, it seems you are not a lazy man. ”
“ of course not ”. Donald replied quickly remembering what his wife had said about him being lazy.
“ so how do you intend to get paid? ” “ by the day sir ”
“ by the day? ”
“ yes sir by the day ” Donald replied wondering why the director was repeating his words.
“ you must be in serious financial crisis..., First you wanted any kind of job, then you wanted to resume immediately and now you ask to get paid by the day ”
“ of course Sir, I'm in serious financial conditions, and I doubt if I can get out of it ”
“ im very sorry about that, well you shall get paid by the day and if you start today, you might get half of the day's salary ”
“ i can even take quarter”
“ hmmm then it must be serious then ”
“ certainly ”. Donald replied, Happy that he finally got the job.
“ arrigh, go down the passage and enter the office marked personnel manager, I've already contacted him, he'll tell you just what to do, when to do it, and how to do it ”. Mr David said with pity written all over his face.
“ okay sir, thank you very much sir ”
“ you're welcome ”. Donald came out from the office and shut the door behind him. He went down the passage as instructed, found the office marked personnel manager and entered. He met a dark skinned, lanky and a fully bearded man and was asked to sit down.
“ are you the new IT consultant we've got? ” he asked. Donald seemed confused, he looked left and right and around the well furnished office, at himself and finally at the man behind the desk. Could this be true? Or is this man trying to make fun of me? Or was I mistaken for someone else? Or did Mr David send a wrong description? Or did someone tell them that I had once been a computer operator? So many questions Donald asked himself at the same time.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“ sir, you must be mistaking me for someone else ”
“ oh really, let me see...are you Donald Davies? ” the dark skinned man asked, peering at his system.
“ of course yes ”
“ alright, I sure made a huge mistake... ” Donald on hearing this, heaved a sigh of relief, happy that he wasn't mistaken for another person.
“ you must be the computer operator then ”
“ certainly not, I'm the new cleaner ”
“ no, Donald Davies is it? ” he asked to be sure.
“ yes Donald Davies ”
“ then I can't be mistaken ”
“ but Mr David... ”
“ mr David called me and asked me to give one Donald Davies his job description, when I asked what job, he said computer operator, so I can't be mistaking sir, or can't you do the work of a computer operator?.
” the personnel manager asked.
“ I certainly can ” Donald said as he collected the pamphlet which contained the description of his job. He thanked the dark skinned man and left the office back to me David's office.
“ Mr David, thank you very much ”
“ yes my friend, Mr... ” Mr David thought hard, trying to remember his name.
“ mr Donald ”
“ yes Mr Donald, I always forget your name, so are you still going to start today? ”
“ certainly not sir maybe tomorrow ”
“ Arrigh then, so you're headed home? ”
“ yes sir ” “ take this and use it to take care of your family, or don't you have one? ”
“ I sure do ”
“ so use that to take care of them till tomorrow when you get paid by the day ”. Mr David replied with a grin. Donald just collected the money but didn't count it, he just shoved the money into his pockets.
“ thank you very much sir ”
“ yeah ”. Mr David said as he continued doing what he was doing before Donald came in. Donald got into the elevator and there he counted the money. It was ten times his transport fare! Enough to feed him and his family for the whole month! How kind of him, he thought. He got back into the cold reception and out into the hot weather, boarded a taxi and headed for home. It was three PM already and his children must have been awake, he came down from the taxi and went to his doorpost and rang the doorbell for the second time that afternoon. Shortly after Diane opened the door, this time letting him in.
“ hey honey ” Donald greeted but she didn't answer.
“ guess what? ” Still no answer.
“ I got a job ”. He said smiling.
“ I know that already, and you should stop calling that a job because it isn't ”. Diane said, doing the opposite of what Donald was doing, frowning.
“ arrigh dear, I got an appointment ” Donald said using Mr David's words.
“ can you just stop being proud of your misfortune? ” Diane said, her hands folded.
“ c'mon honey, so have my children eaten? ” he asked still with a positive countenance.
“ are they gonna feed on your flesh? ” she asked in her usual characteristic way.
“ certainly not! My children aren't cannibals” he replied.
“ so feed them with normal food ”
“ of course I'm gonna do that ”
“ by selling me off for a reasonable price? ” she asked sarcastically.
“ that would be the last thing I'll ever do ”
“ whatever ” Diane replied curtly.
“ so whose gonna cook the food ”
“ I cannot cook myself! ”
“ Certainly not ”
“ I need foodstuffs to cook don't I ? ” “ you sure do ”
“ do I have a foodstuff manufacturing machine? ”
“ it doesn't exist ”
“ I need money ”
“ so... ”
“ so what! ” Diane quickly asked, angry that despite their situation, he could still smile.
“ have this, get something good for my kids and pay the rent ”. Donald said as he handed over all the money Mr David to her.
“ where did you get all this money from? ” she asked in bewilderment.
“do what I ask first, I'll tell you later. ” Donald said as he crashed on the sofa. Soon he was fast asleep.