Clerk Wanted by Dennis Thorp short story

Preaction

Discuss in pairs: Study the title of the short story. What do you think this short story will be about?

Clerk Wanted

by Dennis Thorp (1981)

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"Clerk Wanted" was published in a short story collection called Nothing to Fear and Other Stories (1981).

GLOSSARY glanced kastet et blikk / kasta eit blikk manager sjef plain ensfarget/einsfarga politely høflig/høfleg handkerchief lommetørkle accounts clerk regnskapsfører/rekneskapsførar

When Desmond heard the door of the larger office open, he glanced at his watch: 9.30 a.m. “He’s on time,” he thought. The door closed and for a moment Desmond heard nothing else. The visitor seemed to stop when he saw the empty office. But after page 26 for reading a few seconds, the visitor knocked on the door of the smaller, more strategies for comfortable office. Desmond was waiting for him there. The word MANAGER was on the door. Desmond removed his feet from the desk and shouted, “Come in!” A short, thin man with light hair and blue eyes came in. He was wearing a suit, a plain shirt and very clean shoes. He stopped inside the door, nodded politely and said, “Good morning. You must be the manager. I’m Eric Colshaw.” “Who?” Desmond asked. “Colshaw,” the man said, surprised. “I’ve come to see you about the job. You told me in your letter to come today at 9.30 and –” “Ah, yes,” Desmond said. “Sit down, Mr Conshort.” He nodded towards a chair on the other side of the desk. “It’s Colshaw. Thank you.” He sat down and nearly fell off the chair. One of its legs was shorter than the others. Desmond did not look pleased. “You haven’t been drinking, have you, Mr Crankshaw?” “Of course not,” Colshaw said, “and it’s Colshaw,” he added, a little louder. “May I point out to you, Mr Colshaw, that you don’t need to fiction. Vurderingseksemplarshout at me,” Desmond said coldly. “I can hear very well.” Colshaw’s face became red. “Sorry,” he said. Desmond took off his glasses. He cleaned them slowly and carefully with his handkerchief. He held them up to the light. He put them on again and at last he said, “So, you want to add up our money for us – you want to become an accounts clerk.” “I am an accounts clerk,” Colshaw replied. “I’ve been working with accounts for several years.” “Really? Why were you thrown out of your last job?” Colshaw became still redder. He took a deep breath and then said

as quietly as he could, “I wasn’t thrown out. I worked for Coldman and Popkins for ten years, and they never found anything wrong with my work.” “I see,” Desmond said. “What was the trouble then? Couldn’t you stay away from the girls in the office – or was it the money?” “I’m afraid I don’t think that’s very funny,” said Colshaw. “I left because they closed the office in my town. The manager offered me a job in the head office, but I didn’t want to move to Birmingham ...” “I can understand that.” “... so I had to look for something else.” “And you read about this job in the newspaper. Hm. I see.” Desmond took a pen from his top pocket and knocked it gently on the desk. “Now, Mr Cocksure,” he said, and he looked hard at the other man. “Let’s find out a few things about you.” He pointed his pen at Colshaw. “First, do you drink?” Colshaw shook his head and said, “No.” “Smoke?” “No.” He shook his head again. “Run after girls?” “No, I don’t.” “You seem to live a very unexciting life,” Desmond said. “How do you enjoy yourself?” “My interest is old-time dancing,” Colshaw said. His eyes became GLOSSARY bright. “I’ve won several prizes. I belong to a club which –” “Are you sure you want this job?” Desmond said quickly. “Of course I want it,” Colshaw said. “But Mr. Winfield, I was going to tell you that –” “That’s not the point,” Desmond said. “You didn’t come here to talk about your interests, I hope. How much money do you want?” “I thought £ 3,800 a year.” “I’ll give you £ 3,300,” said Desmond. “If you really know anything about accounts, you’ll be able to get the rest yourself.” Colshaw jumped up. “You’ve said too much now!” he shouted. “I don’t have to let you be rude to me. I’m not going to work for you for anything.” When he reached the door, he turned round and said, “Any man who takes a job here must be as crazy as you are.” He went out and shut the door loudly.

head office hovedkontor/ hovudkontor unexciting kjedelig/ keisam rude uforskammet/Vurderingseksemplar uforskamma crazy gal/galen

GLOSSARY

broadly bredt/breitt carelessly dressed tilfeldig kledd refused nektet/nekta

ACTION

Desmond sat back in the chair and smiled broadly. Then he got up and went into the larger office. He sat down at a desk there. Five minutes later a large man entered. He was carelessly dressed and had grey hair. Desmond stood up. “Good morning, sir,” he said. “That terrible car of mine refused to start again,” the older man said. “Have there been any visitors?” Desmond shook his head. “Why don’t people come when they say they will?” the greyhaired man said angrily. “That’s the third man who hasn’t come.” He looked thoughtfully at Desmond. “Perhaps we’d better forget that I told you to leave. You can keep your job as accounts clerk.” “With more money, sir?” Desmond asked. “What? You dare to ... oh, all right, two pounds a week more.” “Thank you, Mr Winfield,” Desmond said and sat down again at the desk in the larger office. 36 Name the three characters in the short story. 37 Describe the setting of the story. 38 Make a storyboard of the story. 39 Make a STAR analysis for each of the three characters. What kind of impact do they have on the lives of the other characters? 40 Make a copy of the grid below and organise the following adjectives into the categories “talented and smart” and “unkind and evil”. capable, awful, hateful, competent, gifted, horrible, rotten, intelligent, selfish, clever, cunning, knowledgeable, terrible, mean, unfriendly, sharp, brainy, hostile, cruel, bright, unpleasant, devious 41 Which of the adjectives above would you use to describe the two main characters in the short story?

42 Which of the characters do you like? Explain why. 43 Good short stories often have a surprise ending. What is the twist in this story? Did you see it coming? 44 Tell in your own words what the ethical dilemma is. 45 Imagine that you are Desmond’s colleague. What would you do if you heard him bragging about what he had done? Vurderingseksemplar 46 In pairs, act out the job interview scene with Desmond and Mr Colshaw. Before you start, read the short story again. As you read, write down key phrases and pay extra attention to the body language of the characters. While you are acting out the scene, remember that non-verbal communication is just as important as verbal Talented and smart Unkind and evil communication.