Did you ever have to make up your mind

After an exceedingly long wait the food stand guy brought my chicken chop and asked which sauce I wanted; the choices are black pepper mushroom, and teriyaki. I chose teriyaki. ``We don't have any. Which do you want?'' Well, mushroom, then. ``Are you sure?'' I can't avoid the feeling he was putting me on somehow.

A secretary asked how I chose to spend the S$500 equipment-improvement allocation. I told her I hadn't thought much about it; I'd like but don't need a scanner, but if books are all right I could make a list. She assured me a scanner was fine even if I didn't need it. She suggested I might get a palmtop computer.

That's an interesting option. I've never had any sort of data assistance, apart from forgetting things. I can't think of much legitimate use, although it'd be handy to have something to take down notes when I run across Civil Defence Neopets or the like that's more reliable than digging scraps of paper from my wallet. I know people with grown-up jobs use them for ... things. If I had to guess I'd say they were used to cancel meetings and to make fake notes while telling someone you'd respond ``later''. I don't understand what people in business do all day. Everyone in business seems to have Dagwood Bumstead's job, sitting at a desk with endless piles of blank paper that has to be scribbled on and moved to new piles without ever knowing why. I don't know what I'd do with a palmtop, except I know some of them play Railroad Tycoon II. I don't think that's the intent of the equipment improvement bonus, though.

Trivia: When constructed the United States Hotel was the first hotel in Atlantic City, and the largest in the United States, with room for 2,000 visitors. Source: Boardwalk Empire, Nelson Johnson.

Currently Reading: Enter Jeeves: 15 Early Stories, P G Wodehouse.