stop by the Porta-Comfy stations in the parking lot. Suggest they include a bottle of HandiHandsanitizer in today’s purchasing.
Lunch break ends in five minutes. Are you ready to give your all for AllMART?
. . . and . . .
PAYDAY! Congratulations, your wages have been autodeposited in your account. Have a great day. Have an AllMART day.
I tap the link to my account, press my thumb to the screen, and enter my PIN: 1226. A to Z, Anna to Zoë.
I think I must have checked too soon. I don’t have any money.
No. That isn’t correct. I have
less
than no money. I am overdrawn. Even the little bit of lunch money I had left in my account when school ended is gone. That money didn’t even cover the cost of my physical. Blood tests are expensive. I trained, and I worked, and I have nothing to show for it. No. I have the debt I owe on my AllMART uniform. It cost a shocking lot.
When were still doing classroom training, we got some helpful budgeting advice from Pearl the Squirrel. She showed us how we could
$trrreeeetch!
our paychecks by shopping AllMART deals. Pearl bought nuts and berries, but only after comparison-shopping and checking to see if she had digital coupons. There was a real happy ending at the checkout stand. But Pearl the Squirrel is an animated cartoon animal. She doesn’t wear clothes. That may explain why the cost of the shirt on my back wasn’t included in the budget.
Meanwhile, I owe AllMART money. Then I think about compound interest.
I am not alone. Suddenly, short emphatic words punctuate the air above the shelving units and slither along the aisles. That passes, but I can hear a whispered weeping at the other side of the canned soups.
“I shoulda warned you about payday,” says Timmer. “But even when you know how it is, it’s a crap sandwich.”
“How am I supposed to live on
nothing
?”
“Same as you have been,” says Timmer. “Eventually, you will get money. I get money now, which is why we have delicious cereal.” He shakes the box. “Just be glad you aren’t living in the dormatorium. The kids in there will never stop being in debt to AllMART.”
I think about Belly. When she complained about the dorms, she complained about everything — except the rent. Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she thought she was living there free, like a squirrel in a tree. How much does an emergency ambulance cost? What about stitches? When Belly gets back from the SpeedyMed clinic, she is going to find that the dial on the suck-o-meter goes way beyond what she thought was infinity.
Scene: A young woman is standing in line. Her attention is on her phone screen. Suddenly, it is almost out of power, and the line she’s standing in reaches on and on; we see it from high above, coiling around and around.
Voice-over: Your right to vote is valuable . . . to us! Simply call us, Vote Bundling Services, and we will tell you how to turn your vote into something
you
want. Stop muddling with middlemen, faceless bureaucracy, and inconvenience. It’s time democracy worked for you! Call Vote Bundling Services now!
Scene: We see the woman dial.
Young woman: Hello, Vote Bundling Services? (Smiles. Touches phone screen. Close shot of throbbing green dollar sign.)
Closing shot: She walks away, confident and energetic, looking fine.
Voice-over: Vote Bundling Services, because you know what you want — and we give it to you.
If I had a vote, I’d sell it. I won’t have a vote to sell until my eighteenth birthday, and that’s 619 days away.
Chad Manley:
We have a breaking update on the Delores Perdita Cash tuna-custody case.
Sallie Lee:
Does that poor family finally get closure?
Chad Manley:
I know this story is important to all our viewers. Over to you, Sallie.
Sallie Lee:
(Taps her teleprompter pad and reads.) Siftyfour and now it did depend report from all pataries has whole received for the hues of the garvens of today. (Her professional composure wrinkles.) What?
Chad Manley:
Huhhuhhuh! I think you
Lunch break ends in five minutes. Are you ready to give your all for AllMART?
. . . and . . .
PAYDAY! Congratulations, your wages have been autodeposited in your account. Have a great day. Have an AllMART day.
I tap the link to my account, press my thumb to the screen, and enter my PIN: 1226. A to Z, Anna to Zoë.
I think I must have checked too soon. I don’t have any money.
No. That isn’t correct. I have
less
than no money. I am overdrawn. Even the little bit of lunch money I had left in my account when school ended is gone. That money didn’t even cover the cost of my physical. Blood tests are expensive. I trained, and I worked, and I have nothing to show for it. No. I have the debt I owe on my AllMART uniform. It cost a shocking lot.
When were still doing classroom training, we got some helpful budgeting advice from Pearl the Squirrel. She showed us how we could
$trrreeeetch!
our paychecks by shopping AllMART deals. Pearl bought nuts and berries, but only after comparison-shopping and checking to see if she had digital coupons. There was a real happy ending at the checkout stand. But Pearl the Squirrel is an animated cartoon animal. She doesn’t wear clothes. That may explain why the cost of the shirt on my back wasn’t included in the budget.
Meanwhile, I owe AllMART money. Then I think about compound interest.
I am not alone. Suddenly, short emphatic words punctuate the air above the shelving units and slither along the aisles. That passes, but I can hear a whispered weeping at the other side of the canned soups.
“I shoulda warned you about payday,” says Timmer. “But even when you know how it is, it’s a crap sandwich.”
“How am I supposed to live on
nothing
?”
“Same as you have been,” says Timmer. “Eventually, you will get money. I get money now, which is why we have delicious cereal.” He shakes the box. “Just be glad you aren’t living in the dormatorium. The kids in there will never stop being in debt to AllMART.”
I think about Belly. When she complained about the dorms, she complained about everything — except the rent. Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe she thought she was living there free, like a squirrel in a tree. How much does an emergency ambulance cost? What about stitches? When Belly gets back from the SpeedyMed clinic, she is going to find that the dial on the suck-o-meter goes way beyond what she thought was infinity.
Scene: A young woman is standing in line. Her attention is on her phone screen. Suddenly, it is almost out of power, and the line she’s standing in reaches on and on; we see it from high above, coiling around and around.
Voice-over: Your right to vote is valuable . . . to us! Simply call us, Vote Bundling Services, and we will tell you how to turn your vote into something
you
want. Stop muddling with middlemen, faceless bureaucracy, and inconvenience. It’s time democracy worked for you! Call Vote Bundling Services now!
Scene: We see the woman dial.
Young woman: Hello, Vote Bundling Services? (Smiles. Touches phone screen. Close shot of throbbing green dollar sign.)
Closing shot: She walks away, confident and energetic, looking fine.
Voice-over: Vote Bundling Services, because you know what you want — and we give it to you.
If I had a vote, I’d sell it. I won’t have a vote to sell until my eighteenth birthday, and that’s 619 days away.
Chad Manley:
We have a breaking update on the Delores Perdita Cash tuna-custody case.
Sallie Lee:
Does that poor family finally get closure?
Chad Manley:
I know this story is important to all our viewers. Over to you, Sallie.
Sallie Lee:
(Taps her teleprompter pad and reads.) Siftyfour and now it did depend report from all pataries has whole received for the hues of the garvens of today. (Her professional composure wrinkles.) What?
Chad Manley:
Huhhuhhuh! I think you
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