More than a jest; it is a practical joke. More than a practical joke; it is a fiendish, sadistic, perverted prank. To place a fraudulent HELP WANTED advertisement for men seeking work. While every joke has its victim, this one is particularly heinous. It often sounds and always is, too good to be true; a ray of hope, even a last-ditch godsend to some, if you will.
Laborers Wanted.
No Experience Necessary.
Will Train.
$16.00 to $24.00 an hour to start.
It gives a time and a date and an address that leads to a vacant lot, an abandoned building, a closed office or a (friend’s) private home. The other victim is left to explain to a thousand angry men that “it must be some kind of a mistake. I know nothing about it. I’ve never heard of the company. It must be a typographical error. There are no job openings here.”
It is the kind of practical joke that can push a desperate man over the edge.
Even after having been a victim of such things myself; and even given that it is, after all, U. S. Government Policy to maintain a surplus of labor – with a thousand men at least, within easy reach, always standing idle; I do not, by any means, recommend staging this, ahem, prank.
But for those sadists among you so tempted, those sick sadists among you who think unemployment is funny or exists for your amusement – let me suggest two things: First, let the address in the ad be that of a prominent, gaseous politician. And Second, if ever the perpetrator is caught, let him be doused with gasoline and set afire – just to teach him what real cruelty means.
twentiethman 