No Vacancy

One day, a young man met the manager of the Jai Bharat Press in our small town. After greeting him politely, he asked, “Sir, do you need an assistant manager?”

“No, thanks,” replied the manager.

“Do you need an accountant, sir?”

“No, we have a very efficient accountant. Thanks.”

“I thought so. Do you by any chance need a machine-man?” persisted the young man.

“Oh no. We have all three machine-men we need.”

“I thought so. And what about a proofreader?”

“We have a very experienced proofreader,” replied the manager, beginning to grow impatient.

“And surely you have all the compositors you need!”

“We have, young man, we have! We won’t be needing you for any of these jobs!” The manager’s tone sounded a bit rude.

“I thought so,” said the young man.

“If you thought so much, why were you asking me all these questions?” queried the manager.

“In fact, I sell different kinds of signboards. Isn’t it high time you buy one reading ‘NO VACANCY?’” asked the young man affably, pulling out an elegant plastic signboard with this message from his bag.