I would be jealous too, if we exchanged places. He’s been secretly envious of my work, I think. He’s constantly harping me, wants to give the Button a rub. Don’t know much about polishing buttons though, and it sure chafes him. Charles stays a while on Tuesdays, after my afternoon shift, and we play a game of chess. I don’t have the keys, even if I wanted to leave. My job is too important to leave my room, so he brings it.

If it rings, I am to do exactly as the speaker tells me. Oh, there’s a phone, though I can’t use it. Then there’s a shower and a toilet, of course. Been reading two recently: Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Orwell’s 1984. I have a few books to my name, on my lone bookshelf. Nothing quite like Chopin to steady my hand when I polish the Button. I do have a vinyl and a collection of classical music though. I can’t afford many distractions while at work.

But you get the hang of it, eventually.Īin’t much else in my room, besides the chair I sit on and my work table. I still wonder where it comes from, there’s no windows in here. There’s lots of dust settles in this room. Wouldn’t last this long in this business without patience. Requires lots of concentration and precision too. It ain’t an easy job, that I can tell you. That’s been my routine every day for the last 11,723 days. Was a time I used to have night shifts too, but I guess I’ve grown lazy. I call it a day at eight and have a couple of hours to kill before hitting the bed. my afternoon shift begins, another six solid hours. I stretch a bit during lunchtime, read some. Then it’s six hours straight of polishing, before I eat my lunch. I wake up at 6:00 a.m., exercise fifteen minutes, take a ten-minute shower and have about half an hour to grab a bite along with my morning coffee. Now understand, polishing the Button eats up about twelve hours of my day. So inadvertently, you learn a few tricks. After all, they promised it’d be the end of my world if I ever pressed it.

It’s an art, dusting off the Button without ever pressing it. And boy did I – no one’s got a flick of the wrist quite like mine. I’d learn how to take care of the Button eventually, they insisted. I’m an average guy, in all aspects, though they seemed to like that about me. I volunteered for this job, though I probably wasn’t the most qualified candidate. The Button’s the first thing I see when I wake up in the morning and the last when I lay down on my cot. It’s really the only button in the room, you can’t not see it. The big fat round one says ‘Don’t Press the Button’ above it, in brass lettering. I’ve the most important job in the world.

Dont press the red button finished