Sam

Sam had outgrown his job. As much as he loved being part of the Reader's Digest team, he knew it was time to move on, for career advancement. He'd miss his friends—Horace, William, Hilda, Lorenzo, all of them. But they'd still be his friends, right? He just wouldn't see them on a daily basis. After setting up this whole system here at RD, Sam wanted to go where the action really was: IBM. And they were nearby, too! He wouldn't even have to move. He knew computers were the future, but he also knew it would be hard to leave the cushy, lucrative publishing industry for one that was still in its infancy. But the lure of being part of something new and innovative was just too tempting. Sam could help shape the world! He could be part of something historic. He foresaw huge computer systems like this in every home, computers that would run the whole household. Appliances, climate control, garage doors, alarm systems, and on and on. The potential was endless! He had an in at IBM, a contact that would almost guarantee he'd get hired. This was what Sam was thinking, what he was deciding on this Monday morning, as he planned out the next phase of his life, when the new hire, Melissa, walked in the door for her first day. "Hi," she said, "Are you Sam? You're supposed to train me. I'm Melissa!" All Sam's plans immediately went out the window. She was beautiful! His circuits overloaded, his hard drive froze, and his interface twitched uncontrollably. "Absdk heuitdhy," he said, incoherently, but also sweetly. He smiled and shook her hand. She smiled back. Working at Reader's Digest for the next thirty years started to seem like a good option.