Next! Name?
Gus Gorman
Gus Gorman.
Ah yes, August Gorman. Have you looked for work this week, Mr. Gorman?
Gus Gorman
Yeah.
What kind?
Gus Gorman
Kitchen... technician.
Dishwasher? Any luck?
Gus Gorman
Nope. But -
Mr. Gorman, according to our records you have been unemployed for thirty-six weeks.
Gus Gorman
Thirty-five.
Not counting this week. [looks through his file] You secured employment last June as a messenger and were discharged after one day for -
Gus Gorman
They said I lost it on the subway, but it ain't the truth! It was a pickpocket took it!
A television set?
Gus Gorman
It was one of them little insy-bitty two-inch screen Japanese jobs.
The only other employment you found was in a fast-food joint which lasted... twenty-eight minutes? Well, that's some kind of record. Talk about fast.
Gus Gorman
You know they 'spect you to learn all that on the first day? "Hold the pickle! Hold the lettuce! Extra onions! Special sauce! No special sauce!" Ain't nobody found no meat inside that glop yet.
Mr. Gorman, the city of Metropolis is generous to a fault, but thirty-six weeks of chronic unemployment, thirty-six weeks of living off the taxes of hard-working citizens. Do you know what you are?
Gus Gorman
Don't call me a bum! I ain't no bum!
You are, I was about to say, no longer eligible.
