Your Call is Important to Us

“Thank you for calling The Temp Agency. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you as soon as possible. Your wait time is approximately seven minutes.”

Geez. You’d think that the most advanced technology company on the planet would have a more sophisticated answering system. This felt to Roger more like he was calling the Unemployment Office, all the way down to the feeling of helplessness and frustration.

“Thank you for calling The Temp Agency. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you as soon as possible. Your wait time is approximately twelve minutes.”

What? How could that be? His fraught emotions screamed at him that the forces of the universe were working against him, but his logical mind coolly and calmly explained that one of the callers in line in front of him was taking longer than the time estimated.

“Thank you for calling The Temp Agency. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you as soon as possible. Your wait time is approximately sixteen minutes.”

Roger’s emotions gave his logical mind a triumphant “I told you so.” His logical mind responded that if a customer was willing to tie up the line for five minutes, they would certainly be willing to do so for nine minutes. Nonetheless, Roger began to feel that waiting was all he ever did. It had taken him twelve years to save up the money for the trip. While he worked two jobs and lived well below his means, he would take every opportunity he got to go to the library and do the necessary research, but there was no consensus among the experts regarding whether or not he could achieve his aims.

Once he had put down the million-dollar down payment, it was a Temp Agency requirement that he meet with their team of physicists, psychologists – and lawyers – to make sure that he would know what to expect. He asked them if he could change the past. One physicist said yes. The other physicist said no. The psychologist said there would be no way to know if such changes had happened once they had been effected. The lawyer said that no matter what happened, it would be Roger’s personal responsibility and then made him sign a waiver to that effect.

“Thank you for calling The Temp Agency. My name is Imogene. How can I help you?”

“This is Roger Tausz. I have a complaint. I paid a great deal of money for your services – a lifetime’s worth of wages – and it didn’t work.”

“I’m looking at your file Mr. Tausz and it shows that on January 4th, 2043 you went back to February 28, 2022 and spent three extemporaneous days before returning. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then our obligation is fulfilled.”

“But I wasn’t able to kill him. He survived every attempt. Nothing changed.”

“You have.”