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| All in a Day's Work |

| ILLUSTRATION: LISA QOLORICK |

As fine-art dealers, my partner and I do many appraisals. Some time ago, Sidney was called in by a bank to study some paintings that were part of a large estate. He examined the works of art as they were taken one by one from the vault, while the bank officer waited expectantly for confirmation of their value and to discuss the most lucrative method of sale. "Well," the bank officer asked after the inspec­tion, "what should I do?"

"I'll tell you what you don't have to do," Sidney replied. "You don't have to put them back in the vault."

—Contributed by Catherine Barnes

Sorting mail at our postal facility involves memorizing ZIP codes. After I tried several times to explain the method we use for packages to a new­ly hired clerk, I overheard him mut­ter, "This is too complicated. I knew I should have stayed in med school."

—Contributed by Kathy Short Phillips

I am the early-shift dispatcher for our small-town police department. During the course of a morning, I had sent several telex messages to an agen­cy in another state. They telexed back asking for our department's phone number. I typed it in and sent the message before realizing I had given them my home number. I immediate­ly put through a correction, and then tried to phone my husband to explain

why an out-of-state police department would be calling him. I was too late— the phone was busy.

The  next  telex  I   received  said: "Husband does not need a wake-up

call at 6:30."           —Contributed by J. M. M.

atthew, a student in my kinder­garten class, needed constant prodding to get his work done. When I taught first grade the following year, Mat­thew was in my class again. His work habits had not improved, and I had to keep after him. One day he was espe­cially far behind. "If you don't get that page done before recess," I told him, "you won't be able to go out and play." He started to write, then looked up and asked, "Do you teach second grade

tOO?"                 —Contributed by Margaret E. Green

Three young men were installing insulation in the attic of the church where I am pastor. As we sat down to lunch together, one of the men, having noticed I spent the morning reading, inquired about my duties. "Do you have a job besides serving as pastor of the church?" he wanted to know.

When I told him that this was my only employment, he asked, "Well, Reverend, could you work if you wanted to?"

—Contributed by the Rev. Thomas E. McGrath

Do you have an anecdote for "All in a Day's Wort('? See page 2.

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