The Aspirant - 1

The grey door opened zestfully.

 

"Hedgehoggy, you will help me!" the little entrant declared jovially.

 

"Will I?" the so addressed smiled politely.

 

"You will! Because I will not do that!"

 

He approached to her desk and threw some sheets of paper on it. She picked them up, skimmed over the text and glanced uncomprehendingly on the training officer. She knew him too well not to feel the underlying aggressiveness in his behavior.

 

"You will declare your personal officer that I am by no means willing to discuss with a deaf."

 

"Why not?" asked the young woman. "He is already recruited."

 

"He would not, if I had the least to say in that case."

 

The door opened again and a younger man entered.

 

"You may tell him yourself now."

 

The elder turned round and spoke quickly now without hiding his anger about both, the original subject and the feeling that the clerk has attacked him from behind: "This young chicken of yours has fixed a date for an interview with a deaf aspirant for me. Although she might be not responsible for the recruitment, I am not responsible for the misjudgment of the ministry either. I have better things to do, than interviewing someone who can never work here."

 

"Now, now," the younger tried to appease him, although embarrassed himself. "As the ministry has recruited him, they must have an idea how to design a satisfactory job for him."

 

"Idea!" The other one got excited. "Would be the first time they got ideas. I will tell you something: They have their quota, and as he is disabled 100 p.c. they took him in. That's it. They did not waste one thought about how to deal with that. Devil-may-care! And we have the problems now."

 

"Which problems?" the clerk was to be heard.

 

Both men stared at her perplex. Then the younger smiled, the elder burst out laughing: "God bless your naivety! - She is incomparable our hedgehoggy, isn't she! - What would you do with him? Let him sit by your side and show him everything? One can't talk to him."

 

"Well, he has a high-school graduation. Somehow he must be able to learn."

 

"We are not at school here." snorted the training officer. "We are at work. And work has to be done. There is no time for our clerks to nurse a helpless young man, what you - I am sure - would find quite romantic. And what will be later on? He cannot phone, he cannot talk to tax payers personally. He's simply wrong on this place."

 

"There are positions without or few personal contacts to tax payers. I would not prejudge that he is wrong here."

 

"As you have done before." the personal officer grinned.

 

"I generally take care not to prejudge." she said seriously.

 

The training officer curiously looked from one to the other.

 

"You know, that she is responsible for the refusals of the three aspirants last month." the younger explained dastardly and watching the clerk cautiously added: "Too late to blush, lady."

 

"I ... " she started to defense herself.

 

"Answering back would only accuse you." he smiled predominantly. "And as the mother of one was so kind as to call me and show herself grateful for your judgment of her daughters really abilities and claims for the future, it is also needless to deny."

 

"Hm, hm, hm, Miss Hedgehog, that is not very friendly of you." made the training officer.

 

"I have no wish to deny anything." she answered. "However the three were very well able to make up their minds themselves."

 

"After talking to you." the personnel officer insisted.

 

"Perhaps ..." she corrected low. " ... after I listened to them. And isn't it much better, that they found out before they took up the job?"

 

"'Found out' is good!" was the answer. "Anyways, your abilities have my full respect, because they will solve the problem for us."

 

"How so?" the training officer wanted to know.

 

"Well, I suggest, our young lady here will interview the deaf in order to let him find out, that his abilities shall lead him to a different place."

 

"No." she declared promptly. "And besides that: I am unauthorized."

 

"True." the elder agreed. "What are things coming to, if every baby is allowed to interview? She'd better sit here on her desk and learns to confine to her duties."

 

A third man entered the room. The other two nodded respectfully, the woman greeted the director with a smile.

 

"Look here, please, sir." the personal officer addressed him, before the one could take his turn to his own bureau. "We have a problem."

 

"Well, if I may help?"

 

"Among the aspirants of this year is a deaf young man and we are in need of someone with special social skills to deal with him during the interview."

 

The expression of the 'special social skill' were slightly accentuated and led to success immediately.

 

"But well, we have someone here. With her social as well as her communication skills our Miss V. surely would walk through it."

 

The personal officer nodded earnestly: "That was, what I would have suggested myself, but Miss V. seems to have difficulties in accepting a task which her rank does not include."

 

"But Miss V.," the director wondered, "when did we ever have issues about that? You know, we always depend on you in such cases."

 

"You are very kind, sir." the clerk said. "In this special case, you see, the minutes have to be written. I am not allowed to sign them."

 

"Well, well, that may our training officer do as usual, and also correct possible form errors. You might not and need not be aware of those."

 

As the clerk knew her director better, she managed to answer these words addressed to her with a noncommittal smile.

 

"Form errors?" he laughed. "Well the ones I found always were corrected by her. We will do it very easy. Miss V. will sign, I will countersign, and you both will not have any problem at all."

 

Very satisfied with himself he nodded at the two officers and went to his bureau.

 

"Hedgehog, hedgehog," said the training officer, "your naivety by time will earn you a lot of anger and trouble." He left the room slamming the door.

 

"You indeed have much to learn." declared the personal. "But first arrange an appointment somewhere for me that I may be out of the way, when this tête-à-tête will occur."