Sonny hoped
he would be picked
to learn how
to run the robots.
But he wasn’t.
So he rode his bike
to the job service office.
He would file
a claim.
The company
had told the workers
what papers
to bring along.
They could file a claim
on the phone,
online,
or at the office.
Sonny chose
to file his claim
That is how
he did things.
“Take a number,”
said the man
at the door.
Sonny took a number
and a seat.
Then he waited.
And waited.
He kept looking up
at the clock
on the wall.
What am I doing here?
he was thinking.
What kind of man
gets laid off?
What kind of man
waits in line
for a handout?
At last,
Sonny’s number
A woman
asked Sonny
to see his ID card.
That was
just the start.
She asked
a lot of questions too.
“How long
did you work
in the machine shop?”
she asked.
“Why were you
laid off?
How much money
were you making?
Are you married?
Any children at home?”
The questions
went on and on.
Sonny answered
all the questions.
He showed the woman
all the papers
“Everything looks
to be in order,”
said the woman.
“You should hear from us
very soon.”
Then Sonny said,
“I must say,
I do not like
taking a handout.
I would rather
work for my money.”
“This is not
a handout,”
said the woman.
“When you were working,
you were paying
into a fund.
So was your company.
You got laid off.
Now you will get back
some of that money.
That is what
“All I want
is a job,”
Sonny told her.
She told him
about the job bank.
She told him
how it works.
“You can see
all the open jobs online.
Take a look!”
“I’ll be right on that,”
said Sonny.
But his head was down
as he left the office.
“It may be money
I should have,”
he said to himself.
“But I’d still
rather work for it.”