#2 I have a confession: Back in the 80s, I briefly worked for FEMA at one of their regional centers.
We had a supply clerk named Roger. He was a long-time career employee and was quite literally the laziest person I have ever encountered. His indolence was so great, so much in excess of what we normal goof-offs and goldbricks could manage, that it was actually admirable. He should be in the Guiness Book of World Records.
Roger was paid about $18 an hour (remember, this was over 20 years ago) to sit in his chair all day and briefly rouse himself if someone needed a new pencil or perhaps some sticky notes. He would sit there and stare catatonically at the wall for hours at a time.
Naturally he would doze off pretty frequently. I walked by one day and shook him. He awoke, startled, and demanded to know what I needed. I said “Nothing, I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t died on us. We’d look pretty stupid if you started to decompose before anyone realized it.”
He just said, “oh” and went back to sleep.
The San Francisco earthquake came along and the FEMA center was a beehive of activity. Several of us went to the Bay Area and worked about 100 hours a week taking relief applications. Not Roger, though. He had to do a lot more work, perhaps an hour or more a day, but they hired four temporaries to help him so he would not miss his rest.
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