The year is 1970. It is around the time when a man went into a shop to complain about a parrot, and when there was a Government Ministry of Silly Walks.
"Hello there, I've come for some work."
"Hello there, I've come for some work."
"Well you've come to the right place sir, this is a Work Shop."
"What sort of work do you have?"
"Well, sir, we have some light secretarial, some tedious paperwork, some spurious form filling, some skilled plumbing, a bit of carpentry, and some medium-grade filing."
"The light secretarial sounds good. I think I'll have some of that. How much do you pay?"
"Pay, sir? I don't understand."
"How much do you pay for the work?"
"I'm afraid you're mistaken sir, we don't pay you, you pay us. This is a Work Shop, you come in and you buy some work."
"Why would I want to buy some work?"
"Well, sir, in the future, when machines meet our every need people will be desperate to do some work. There's only so much leisure time that we can put up with before we want to do some good, honest graft. We are poised and ready to meet that need when the time arises."
"Really, that's quite forward looking. So you can see into the future?"
"I can extrapolate from the present. Take electronic computers for example, in the future you'll be able to hold them in your hands."
"You mean pick them up and carry them?"
"No, you'll be able to hold them in the palm of your hands and use them. Anticipating that very situation we have over here a selection of brightly coloured cases for such handheld electronic computers."
"Very nice, I like the choice of colours."
"Also, in the future all the computers in the world will be linked together and able to exchange information with each other. You will be able to talk to people on the other side of the world and see them as if they were in the very same room."
"Really? That's amazing! You know what, my cat does some funny things sometime. I'll be able to show people that."
"I think in the future, sir, you'll find the world won't be interested in what your cat does."
"Really, that's quite forward looking. So you can see into the future?"
"I can extrapolate from the present. Take electronic computers for example, in the future you'll be able to hold them in your hands."
"You mean pick them up and carry them?"
"No, you'll be able to hold them in the palm of your hands and use them. Anticipating that very situation we have over here a selection of brightly coloured cases for such handheld electronic computers."
"Very nice, I like the choice of colours."
"Also, in the future all the computers in the world will be linked together and able to exchange information with each other. You will be able to talk to people on the other side of the world and see them as if they were in the very same room."
"Really? That's amazing! You know what, my cat does some funny things sometime. I'll be able to show people that."
"I think in the future, sir, you'll find the world won't be interested in what your cat does."
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