An unsuccessful businessman

PORTRAIT OF AN UNSUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN

PORTRAIT OF AN UNSUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN

He gulps down an inadequate breakfast, hurries to his office, and sits at
a desk littered with papers that mutely shriek ''unfinished business.'' He
picks up one or two letters and glances at them, but before his mind has formulated any replies he glimpses the appointment pad on his desk and realizes that he must decide on a course of procedure before he talks with Mr. Blank.
He tries to concentrate on this problem. However, his mind keeps reverting to the letters just put aside, and wants to mull over those problems instead. The din of his secretary's typewriter annoys him. He shouts at her to stop. A moment later, he realizes that she's typing on a rush assignment he gave her, so he shouts at her to go on again.

To calm himself, he begins smoking his after-breakfast cigar. This brings to mind another problem: he tells himself that he should be firm in his determination to quit smoking. Ragged nerves tug at the sleeve of his conscience, and finally he dashes the cigar into an ashtray.

At this inopportune moment the secretary brings over a pile of letters to be signed. The boss, unreasonably upset at the intrusion, angrily banishes her to the outer office. He tries to concentrate on his problem once more, but the pieces won't go together. His ineffectual struggle makes him sleepy and he dozes off in disgust at his inability to work out a solution.

This is his first comfortable moment, so he quietly drifts into deeper slumber. His secretary returns, jolting him back to consciousness just in time for his important appointment with Mr. Blank. But inasmuch as he has failed to map out a plan, he talks haphazardly all around the subject, gives the impression that he is only an ineffectual bluffer, and the deal he had hoped for falls through.