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Oh, I have plenty of experience. How long have you got? Yeah, I suppose you have all the time in the world — though that doesn't mean much now. But let's start at my first job. I know you're expecting a flood of clients, and back then I had to deal with huge volume too. I worked for a biotech start-up called Quantum Cellular Technologies. It developed an anti-ageing therapy — you're not going to hold that against me, are you? |
"A Job For Life" is a story told in the form of a job interview, with only the applicant's dialogue narrated. Section breaks indicate the interviewer's questions, which the reader can infer from context. I'd previously used this one-sided dialogue technique in "Night Shift on the Support Line" — it's a fun format to write, because you can let the dialogue hint at all sorts of exotic incidents, without the bother of having to describe them in conventional prose.
The story begins in the near future, but as the narrator talks of his long experience, vast sweeps of time unfold and the scale of his role broadens, until we see that this is no ordinary job he is applying for — nor, indeed, is his unseen interlocutor any ordinary interviewer.
This is unashamedly a "gimmick" story, which is why it's only 900 words long. It's intended as a bit of entertaining fluff.