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    The Success Machine
    The Success Machine
    The Success Machine
    Ebook41 pages24 minutes

    The Success Machine

    By Henry Slesar

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 27, 2013
    The Success Machine

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      Book preview

      The Success Machine - Henry Slesar

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Success Machine, by Henry Slesar

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

      Title: The Success Machine

      Author: Henry Slesar

      Release Date: August 1, 2008 [EBook #26168]

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SUCCESS MACHINE ***

      Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online

      Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

      Mechanical brains are all the rage these days, so General Products just had to have one. But the blamed thing almost put them out of business. Why? It had no tact. It insisted upon telling the truth!

      THE

      SUCCESS

      MACHINE

      By HENRY SLESAR

      The Personnelovac winked, chittered, chortled, chuckled, and burped a card into the slot. Colihan picked it up and closed his eyes in prayer.

      Oh, Lord. Let this one be all right!

      He read the card. It was pink.

      "Subject #34580. Apt. Rat. 34577. Psych. Clas. 45. Last Per. Vac.

      "An. 3/5/98. Rat. 19. Cur. Rat. 14.

      "Analysis: Subject demonstrates decreased mechanical coordination. Decrease in work-energy per man-hour. Marked increase in waste-motion due to subject's interest in non-essential activities such as horseracing. Indication of hostility towards superiors.

      "Recommendation: Fire him."

      Colihan's legs went weak. He sat down and placed the card in front of him. Then, making sure he was unobserved, he broke a company rule and began to Think.

      Something's wrong, he thought. Something is terribly wrong. Twenty-four pink cards in the last month. Twenty-four out of forty. That's a batting average of—He tried to figure it out with a pencil, but gave it up as a bad job. Maybe I'll run it through the Averagovac, he thought. But why bother? It's obvious that it's high. There's obviously SOMETHING WRONG.

      The inter-com beeped.

      Ten o'clock department head meeting, Mr. Colihan.

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