This was, without doubt, the worst job he had ever had.

It had all started to go wrong when he met the foreman, he had the same name as him, which he thought was pretty funny. Perhaps it was that first giggle which had sealed him. He'd been told by the guy that hired him that this job was mainly office bound, paperwork, that kind of thing. He'd pictured lazy, hot days. Spending three times as long as he needed to on one letter. A little flirting with the Mexican receptionist who had made him coffee. That kind of thing.

But the foreman thought different.

He'd put him down here, on the work floor.    

Go to Detroit.

They said.    

The motor industry is where it's at.   

They said.

So here he was. Stood on a conveyor belt with a gun for putting nuts onto bolts. Every few seconds a new part fell in front of him and he had to step to it fast. He had to get nuts onto every part he could see. He'd been given a spanner to finish them off with--just in case the gun don't work..

Some scientist in a white coat had designed this gun to put nuts on bolts. Nothing else. Yet its inherent ability seemed to be to not get it on quite straight. Every part he had seen that day he had had to finish off with the spanner.

Every now and then the foreman, a fat greasy man with a massive sweat patch across the seat of his pants, stood to the left of him and stared. Didn't say anything mind, just stared.

Every time this happened he just wanted to throw the gun down. Scream in the fat toads face. But there was Janey. Janey and the baby. If he could just keep it up for today he would get at least one check, better than nothing, then he could set off tomorrow to find something new.

Quitting time came--and went. His good friend the foreman came up and told him that he needed a little bit of overtime. Some work into the night shift. But don't worry, he told him he was doing real good.

--Nice to see a man taking pride in his work.

He could have told him to stick it, but after doing all day he didn't think a few more hours could kill him, besides, the fatter that check was the better he would feel tomorrow. Even with his aches and pains.

The parts came faster now. All the English speaking workers left and the factory was filled with Spanish voices. He thought of Janey and stuck it to the parts.