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TIME OFF
The single clock on the wall of the Lunch Room is set
conspicuously near the door...The better to receive the
espectful glances of the workers, as, four times a day, they
enter the room for a fifteen -minute relief period.
Complacently the clock looks down On the munching
chattering croudigrouped round the white aluminum -topped
tables, meting out to each worker his quarter hour, and with
the stern note of a gong at the end of each period, giving
the order to return to the machines.
The Postal Telegraph operators have learned to pack a
t of conversation into those few moments over their coffee
cups, and their voices, used to submersion beneath the
hrilling of the machines, sound sharp and excited in the
comparative quiet of the cafeteria
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Hello Don. How's the boy?
So, so. This cake is made of rubber.
You said it. I'm sick of the food around here. With
time
fifteen minutes it's not enough/to get to your locker and
down seven flights to the street before your relief's up.
You have to eat here or not eat-- and they know it. So what
do they give you? goulash Say, where you going on
vacation this year?
I get two weeks in July. I think I'll go up North,
maybe Maine. Rent a cabin on a lake. Think of it-- for two
whole weeks, twenty-four hours a day I won't have to lay my
eyes on one of those pink sheets with "Postal Tel" on a blue
border. NO machines, no key pounding, no code strips, no
clocks, no nothing only me and the mountain breezes-- oh,
That reminds me. Last summer I went fishing with my old
man up around Cape Cod. Gee, those were two perfect weeks.
But, y'know, the second day away, when I'd managed to put
Postal Tel in the attic-- guess what? I get a wire-- a wire,
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mind you-- from Ernie. You know he was on the night shift.
So he sneaks a wire through to me, and it says in code--_ "Don't
forget to sign the timesheet-- How's your message rate? I'm
having a swell time-- wish you was here." So I threw him a
wire back collect and I says, "To hell with timeaheet. I
sign in on the bay at 5 a. m. My mess rate today was 40 pounds
of bass and bluefish. Having swell time without you here."
How do you like that? A peach, huh?
Yeah-- We'd better shove along. I got one minute.
Hi, girls. Have a piece of rubber cake. So long....
Hello, Ruthie. I've been saving this table for you.
Gee, what a relief to get out of tisionuallit that noise. It's
quiet here compared to the floor. Even those dishes rattling
ike soft,
is usic to me.
It's the truth. I make it a point to eat a sandwish
or something at each relief period, whether I'm hungry or
not. IMP -Chewing takes the numbness out of my ears.
You can do it, Dot. You don't put on weight. Me, I don't
eat. I chew gum instead. I just collie in here to get
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an earfull of silence four times a day.
Last time I weighed I found I lost two pounds. Y'know
eating sandwiGhes and coffee'i times a day siDoils your
appetite for a real meal.
Look, here comes Selma. She's got a ring. Wait, she'll
call your att ention to it. She's been flashing it all over
the place.
Well, girls-- Look, at last:
Oh, Selma, how perfectly stunning. I'm so happy for you.
Here, let's try it on. Gee, I would't mind getting
married, just to get out of this place. When'll it be, Sel?
Wait, let me get a bite into this. Aah-- corn beef again.
They don't have no choice around here. Oh, well, my dears,
don't take this little gadget so seriously. You know, I
haven't really made up my mind to marry Roy. I only agreed
to be engaged to him. He's a sweet boy. I've been in love
with him for two years-- I never even see another fellow.
You know me. But marriage-- you know What I mean-- I mean it's
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alright and all that-- Maybe later, when you want to settle
down, have a couple kids-- x_02.1 know. But When I do that, it
probably won't be Roy. He's sweet and all that-- nice to run
around with-- a divine dancer-- but, well, you know What I
mean-- he's too possessive. I want freedom. Still, it gives
a girl a certain prestige-- if you know that I mean-- if she
can sport a diamond. Other fellows look at you with respect
they sort of get interested-- competition, you know---
.71m
,----7
Say, Benny sent me a plant for01100. Wasn't that sweet?
A little note on it: "Don't forget to water me, and I'll grow
up to be crazy about you like ---your--- Benny Goodstein."
How cute. Benny's a cute boy. I could go for him
myself. But you certainly got him on the leish, Ruthie.
Yes, but listen to this. SomeIthe job's been
writing valentines and slipping them in the girls' lockers.
Martha showed me one she found yesterday, and today there
was one in my locker. Printed on a telegraph form-- somebody's
using the machine for his poetic outbursts-- some modern
Romeo, huh? Look, here's one. Read it, it's a darb.
mqTqMI"Mr''"'fMOITM7fAtlrtrr,,'"'lr7T7JT.T.r7TTTIL:._
You blow upon your fingertips
I wish that they were mine
The kisses that come from your lips
Would be my valentine
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Oh, didn't you know? That's Joe Shakespeare. He's been
making up verses for years, and passing them around to the
girls. His head's always in the clouds. He's the one guy on
the floor that doesn't know what time it is, if you ask him.
Here's the one he sent Martha:
Your beauty always thrills me
Although you're far away
No other one can ever be
So lovely and so gay.
You're sweeter than the roses
You'll always be in bloom
And in your picture poses
You brighten up my room.
Say, I just heard a thing or two. Did you know Bertha
Dixon's expecting a baby? It's begun to show, and the
advised her to take a leave of three weeks. Know what she did?
She says to him, "Three weeks? Why three weeks? I'd have to
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lay off for six months." She told him she's going to stay on
the job till the last minute. Imagine: I think it's terrible.
The poor kid will soon look like a stuffed goose, and everyone
will notice her. They say it's I.T.'s.
Oh, well, Bertha won't care. I think she's proud of it.
Let's get up a naming contest. Whoever suggests the best
name for Bertha's brat, is exempt from union dues and. assess-
ments for three months.
Make it exempt for life, and I'm on.
Listen, I suggest we call it "Postal Nell" if it's a girl:
Well, dear, I gotta scram. Want to make my locker before I go
back on the machine. So long.
So long, Sel. Take care of the glassware.
Ruthie, that was a dirty dig-- you devils Listen, the
new floorman stopped at my machine today, and he says-- "How
you doing?" So I looks up at him, give him the bright eye,
and I says, "I could do better without you breathing down my
neck every five minutes. The humidity's bad enough", I says,
"without that," I says.
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Oh, you didn't really, Dott
So help me, I did. Well, anyway, words to that effect.
If you know what I mean.
He's fresh. I don't like his looks. He has sweaty hands.
You know how he puts his paw casually on your shoulder. Gives
me the shivers.
The other man we had was better. Old Freddy, Baldy Freddy
You could do anything with him. Powder your nose in the middle
of taking a rush wire. He wouldn't imwsay a word.
I used to keep a crossword puzzle on my lap and fool with
it between tidies. Mille I'd be marking the time on the blank
with one hand, I'd fill in a word with the other. Gee, one
day, though, Freddie came up behind me, and he catches on, and
he stoops down, whispers in my ear-- "A monkey in three letters
is 'Ape"." He meant it for an insult, but I wasn't phased.
I laughed, and wrote it in right in front of his nose. 'Them"
I said, "You're a big help. If I win the contest, I'll split
with you." So he laughed too, and walked on.
tzlogriCi
Dot, listen to me-- you watch your step. You may think
it's funny, but I've seen girls get the sack for a lot less
than that. Never trust a super. They kid with you, and then
turn in your number. Next payday, you get a suspension, and
then you don't even know who to blame. C'mon, let's get
going-- it's two minutes to. Let me have your lipstick, Ruthie•
Yeah, it's back to the grind for three more hours. I'm
glad tomorrow's Friday. Yeknow what I do on weekends? I
always turn the clock back one hour-- and play I got more time.
get up an hour later, have my meals later and give myself the
own
feeling of being my/boss for a day. Besidese-lilmam4LI get a
kick out of dictating to the clock once in a while, instead of
it always telling me where to head in. Well, so long girls.
See you on the floor.
So long, take care of yourself. Oh, by the way don't
forget union meeting tonight. See you there anyhow. So long.