From time to time we got the visit of Paulie for lunch, he was an old colleague who left the Corporation a while ago in search of more money. He ended up in a bank, with a better salary indeed but without any colleagues close to his age, vicious working envirnonment and lots of work to do. Desperate to socialize at least a little he always texted or phone me and Dave (yes, both of us) to meet him for lunch or coffee. Usually we didn't mind as he was a funny guy and a tormented resource like us.
One time at lunch he told us a funny story:
- Guys, there is a family in my block who had a kid, my age, my generation. That guy never worked a day in his life so far, his parents gave him money as a child, they were retired with fake illness pension and managed to declare him handicapped so he was granted a state-paid pension as well. For years and years while I worked heavy whipped in the Corporation he was making more money from his state pension than me.
- Yeah... Dave said, this wasn't exactly a rare case in the corrupted society in which we live.
- And listen to that, Paulie continued, his mom likes to brag in the neighbourhood on how they fooled the state. My kid, she says with pride, never had a clock ringing to his head all his life...
I started laughing while Dave had a grin and said:
- Yeah, smart woman...not like us, resources... we are stuck working, can't get out.
- Ah, Paulie resumed, that reminds me of another story, my grandpa had a young dog which he used to keep tied in a chain. At first he was restless, trying to get out. When they let him out occasionally they had to wait until he was starving and he had to come to then and eat while they tied him back.
- Like us... Dave mumbled.
- And after a while he got used to the chain, no more escaping and having to be tricked back to the chain Paulie laughed, just like us.
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