Lost in thought, Jack stumbled from the building.   Head down, eyeing his feet, Jack noticed the other man rounding the corner, but was unable to stop in time to avoid the collision.

Looking up as he ran into the other man, Jack came almost cheek to cheek with his younger brother, Kevin.   There was a ten year age gap between the two brothers, however, age had nothing to do with the fact that the two men were barely on speaking terms.   Two years earlier, Kevin Smith had been retrenched from his job as a grit-blaster at a local company that repaired and manufactured cargo containers.   The job had required no qualifications, other than the sheer brute strength needed to control the fireman style hose used to spray iron-filings at high pressure to strip the old paint off containers, prior to repainting.   As a result, as an unskilled labourer, Kevin had found it impossible to find any sort of work after two years.   Like Jack, Kevin faced the prospect of having to see out his time on the dole, until qualifying for the old-age pension.   Except that Kevin would have an extra ten years to wait out.

The two men were very similar, both were of medium height and well muscled, with Jack showing just a hint of fat.   And, despite the age difference, the two men could almost have been twins, since Kevin Smith seemed to have aged at least a decade in the two years he had been unemployed.

“Kevin,” said Jack, making it sound more like an accusation than a greeting.

“What are you doing here, Jack?” asked Kevin more civilly.

Jack explained about being retrenched, then said, “In other words, pretty much the same thing as you: getting the run-around.”   He paused for a moment, sighed, then said, “I’m starting to think it’s not so good to be a forty-year-man after all.   Because, by the you’re a forty-year-man, even if you started work at seventeen, as I do, you’re too close to retirement age for anyone to give you an even break.”

“The only break you’ll ever get from an employer, is in the neck,” said Kevin.   “They’re not worried about a chance, only in what they can get out of your hide.   As far as those bastards are concerned you’re not a man, you’re just a commodity to be used then thrown away as they see fit!”

The two brothers stood looking at each other in silence for a few moments, then Kevin asked, “Have you got any other interviews to go out after?”

“No, this is the first one I’ve had in two days … What about you?   If you don’t get this one,” said Jack.

“Yeah, but I’m not really likely to get it.”

“Why not?” asked Jack.

“Because it says ‘On-the-job experience preferred.’”

“Still, if it’s only preferred, you might get lucky,” insisted Jack.

“But I’ve been for dozens of these jobs before,” said Kevin.   “And nine out of ten of them won’t even consider you unless you have on-the-job training.”

“Then why do they say it’s only preferred?” asked Jack.

“They probably think it sounds less like exploitation, which of course it is,” said Kevin.   “But it’s a bloody nuisance, because you can’t afford not to go out after the job on the off chance that you might get it.   But you’re really only wasting time that you could be spending more usefully.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Then there’s the cost of going for the bloody job.   I’ve had times when I’ve spent the last of my money on fares to go after one of these rip-offs, then have had a real chance at another job, but haven’t had any money to go after it.”

“Oh, well, you might get lucky, this time it might be the one in ten they will consider you without any experience”

“Maybe,” said Kevin.   “But I’m afraid my trouble is the same as your Chris’: I just don’t have enough education.”

“Then why don’t you take a leaf out of his book, and go back to school?” asked Jack.

“At my age?” asked Kevin, incredulous.

“Why not?”

“For one thing, by the time I completed any schooling I went after, there probably wouldn’t be any jobs left to even go out after.”

“Why not?” asked Jack.

“Because of the headlong rush toward robots and computers,” said Kevin.   “These days the bloke in the street doesn’t have a chance at all.”

“Oh, come on, they’re not that bad,” said Jack.   “We had a couple of robotic spray painting machines where I used to work, and they didn’t do anybody any harm.”

“Perhaps not so you’d notice,” said Kevin.   “But what about the couple of spray painters whose jobs they were doing?   And how do you know the company doesn’t have a robotic lathe doing your old job right now?”

“Christ!   You could be right, I suppose … I never thought of that.”

“Well, you should.   How do you know the company was even really going broke?   Maybe they just decided to bring in another robot, at your expense?”

“Struth, you could be right,” agreed Jack, not wanting to believe such a far-fetched idea, yet wondering whether it could possibly be true?

THE END