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Speaker 1: Welcome to the ten Minute Storyteller. That's me Bill Simpson,

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Speaker 1: your host, narrator, and author. We hear at the ten

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Speaker 1: Minute Storyteller endeavor to entertain you with tall tales or

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Speaker 1: rendered swiftly and with the utmost empathy. We pledge to

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Speaker 1: pack as much entertainment, emotion, and exploration into the human

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Speaker 1: condition as ten minutes will permit. Mini novels on steroids.

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Speaker 1: This week we meet Sam. The suits at corporate tell

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Speaker 1: Sam to go on home and relax enjoy life. He

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Speaker 1: no longer needs to report to the office. Sam, baffled

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Speaker 1: but delighted, heads home. Tells Shelley she's dubious, wants the details.

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Speaker 1: Chill shell. Sam tells her it's the new economy. The

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Speaker 1: new economy. They told Sam he didn't need to report

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Speaker 1: to work any longer. What huh, No need to come

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Speaker 1: to the office, Sam, All done with that? Wait a second,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to work from home. Nope, you won't be

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Speaker 1: working at all. I'm fired. No, No, you're not fired,

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Speaker 1: just no need to report. Well, I don't get it.

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Speaker 1: It's not that complicated, Sam. You still have a job,

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Speaker 1: you still have a title, you still get a paycheck,

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Speaker 1: and you still have your benefits. You just don't have

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Speaker 1: to do anything. Wait a second, I don't have to

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Speaker 1: do anything. That's correct, Sam. You just stay home. Your

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Speaker 1: checks will arrive in the mail. Well, actually they will

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Speaker 1: be wired directly to your bank account. Damn man, this

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Speaker 1: is crazy, Sam. This is the new economy. Now. This

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Speaker 1: conversation took place just a few minutes ago. Sam walks

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Speaker 1: toward the exit. The double glass doors swing open. Sam

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Speaker 1: crosses the corporate campus to his three month old fire

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Speaker 1: engine red VWGTI. Sam's automotive midlife crisis. He didn't tell

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Speaker 1: Shelley about it until he pulled in the driveway with it.

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Speaker 1: It's a stick shift, she complained, after giving the red

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Speaker 1: hot hatch a narrowed eye. You know I can't drive

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Speaker 1: a stick shift. Well you could learn, huh. I don't

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Speaker 1: want to learn. Sam knew then and knows now. Those

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Speaker 1: five little words sum up his wife of sixteen years.

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Speaker 1: But no way was he going to point this out.

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Speaker 1: No way that would have led to World War three.

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Speaker 1: It's not practical, it has, Sam pointed out. Four doors

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Speaker 1: and five seat belts. Now. Sam sits in the GTI

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Speaker 1: for almost half an hour thinking about this whole job thing,

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Speaker 1: but he can't make sense of it, so after a while,

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Speaker 1: he fires up the turbocharged foebanger, shoves the shifter into first,

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Speaker 1: and heads for home, where Shelley, vacuuming the front hallway,

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Speaker 1: asks what are you doing here? It's not even nine thirty.

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Speaker 1: Are you sick? No? No, they told me to come home.

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Speaker 1: Who told you to come home? Well, there were these

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Speaker 1: guys at the office this morning. I never saw them before.

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Speaker 1: They kind of looked like undertakers. They told me I

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Speaker 1: didn't need to come to work anymore. What are you

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Speaker 1: talking about, Sam? I mean, come on, have you been

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Speaker 1: smoking grass again with Michael? Your eyes look all red

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Speaker 1: and glassy. No? No, no, no, they told me it

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Speaker 1: was the new economy. Sam and Shelley have a very

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Speaker 1: nice house in a safe, pleasant neighborhood. They don't take

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Speaker 1: the keys out of their cars or even lock the

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Speaker 1: doors at night. They both have college degrees. Sam has

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Speaker 1: a solid middle management position at an international food and

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Speaker 1: beverage company, good salary, great benefits. Shelley was a middle

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Speaker 1: school math teacher until she left the classroom fourteen years

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Speaker 1: ago to raise their three children. Now, she asks, so

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Speaker 1: so Sam in this new economy. Do you still get

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Speaker 1: a paycheck and health insurance? Do you? Well, then that's

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Speaker 1: what they said, they said I did, and for how long? Huh?

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Speaker 1: Sam feels like having a couple pieces of cheese. Lately.

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Speaker 1: He's been into this excellent Norwegian Swiss sliced super thin,

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Speaker 1: almost transparent. He's been doing lots of protein lately, less carbs.

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Speaker 1: He read an article online. He keeps cheese in his

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Speaker 1: small cubicle fridge at the office. He's always running out,

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Speaker 1: running low forgetting to restock. He smiles thinking about it

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Speaker 1: and says, one last thing to worry about, hon what

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Speaker 1: asks Shelley? And then the paycheck and the insurance. Sam,

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Speaker 1: let's concentrate on that for a second. For how long

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Speaker 1: do you have them? I won't have to bring cheese

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Speaker 1: or bottled water or a turkey sandwich to the office anymore,

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Speaker 1: Sam says. Sam hates the taste of the water at work,

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Speaker 1: too metallic. He quietly believes they put some chemo in

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Speaker 1: the water to keep the troops in line, keep them

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Speaker 1: subdued and content with their boring lot in life. It's

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Speaker 1: these kinds of thoughts Sam has when he gets stoned

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Speaker 1: with his brother Michael, forget the stupid cheese. Sam snaps Shelley,

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Speaker 1: how long will the paycheck's be coming? Huh? How long?

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Speaker 1: And what about the insurance? You know, I'm having my

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Speaker 1: meniscus repaired next month. And Tommy's overbite that is an

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Speaker 1: ongoing problem. And what about Marcy's hearing? Sometimes I don't

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Speaker 1: think she hears a thing we say, not a word.

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Speaker 1: Come on, Shell, that's just selective hearing. I mean, come on,

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Speaker 1: she's a teenager. Ough. I swear to god, you are

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Speaker 1: so annoying, Sam. The paycheck and insurance, the paycheck and insurance.

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Speaker 1: Can we focus on that for one second? Well, sure

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Speaker 1: we can, But you know I told you. They told

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Speaker 1: me it's all going to be good. All cool. I

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Speaker 1: guess I could call and find out, just to make sure.

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Speaker 1: Excellent idea, Sam, Shelley says sarcastically. You do that, you

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Speaker 1: make that call. It will give you something to do

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Speaker 1: this morning. Sam thinks about that, thinks about what he

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Speaker 1: will do this morning and this afternoon and tomorrow and

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Speaker 1: the day after that and the day after that. He

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Speaker 1: never did a whole lot at the office, but it

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Speaker 1: made no difference. He was, after all, at work. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to the grocery store, and the hairdresser announces, Shelley,

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Speaker 1: I'll be back in a few hours. Sam says goodbye.

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Speaker 1: He's glad Shelley won't be around to see if he's

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Speaker 1: doing anything. After the suv pulls out of the driveway,

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Speaker 1: Sam stretches out on the sofa and stares at his phone,

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Speaker 1: does some mindless scrolling, nods off, wakes up, nods off again,

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Speaker 1: mills around the house, makes a grilled Norwegian Swiss on

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Speaker 1: rye with some chips and a glass of water. He's

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Speaker 1: looking at his phone again when he hears the car

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Speaker 1: in the driveway. He quick moves to his desk and

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Speaker 1: pretends like he's doing something in important, just like he

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Speaker 1: often does it work or used to. Shelley calls, so

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Speaker 1: did you call Call call the office, Sam, to see

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Speaker 1: about the paycheck and the insurance. She sounds entirely annoyed.

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Speaker 1: Oh oh, yeah, Sam, lies I called. They said indefinitely.

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Speaker 1: Paychecks and insurance should last indefinitely. It's just the new economy, Shell,

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Speaker 1: nothing to worry about, something to celebrate. And that night,

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Speaker 1: after Shelley and the kids have gone up to bed,

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Speaker 1: Sam logs on to his Facebook account. Sam is primarily

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Speaker 1: a Facebook voyeur. He scrolls and scrolls through dog picks

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Speaker 1: and vacation picks and kid picks and all the political

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Speaker 1: dogg role, but only rarely does he ever punch the

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Speaker 1: like button or write a comment. Full blown posts of

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Speaker 1: his own create he could easily count on one hand.

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Speaker 1: Sam is primarily a spectator on Facebook, just as he

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Speaker 1: is in real life. But tonight, tonight, something stirs in Sam. Tonight,

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Speaker 1: Sam just can't help himself. Sam has something he needs

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Speaker 1: to tell the world. The desire is almost visceral. It

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Speaker 1: demands all caps, the Facebook equivalent of scream therapy. AI

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Speaker 1: took my job today, but hardy horror. I still get

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Speaker 1: a salary and benefits life on easy Street and then

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Speaker 1: not exactly sure why. Sam comments on his own post.

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Speaker 1: He writes, when I asked human Resources how long this

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Speaker 1: scenario of salary and benefits might last, they replied, quite likely,

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Speaker 1: mister Jones, until you reach retirement age. Ha, how about

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Speaker 1: that that's almost twenty years from now. Well, this is

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Speaker 1: complete malarkey. Sam never called anyone. He has no idea

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Speaker 1: how long he can expect to receive a paycheck and

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Speaker 1: get free health insurance. The comments start rolling in within

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Speaker 1: seconds of his post hitting the Facebook wall. Seriously, Sam,

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Speaker 1: that is so cool, you lucky sob No shit, Sam,

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Speaker 1: that's incredible, Good luck jackpot. What's AI? Before Sam can

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Speaker 1: answer this question, his old college fraternity brother, Marco Polo

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Speaker 1: real name mark post writes What's AI? Seriously? Are you

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Speaker 1: kidding me? Dude? Artificial intelligence? Dumbass? I mean, come on, dude,

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Speaker 1: are you living in the nineteenth century? My second grader

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Speaker 1: knows what AI is and what it's going to do

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Speaker 1: is make you irrelevant unless it already has. Sam smiles

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Speaker 1: at this comment made by old Marco, easily the funniest

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Speaker 1: and most facetious guy in the frat house. Sam's smile

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Speaker 1: disappears when up pops a troubling comment from Wendy, a

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Speaker 1: coworker from his early days at medi Tech. Sam, it

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Speaker 1: was just a ploy to get you quietly out of

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Speaker 1: the building. I am an HR now I know the drill.

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Speaker 1: They're setting you up, Sam, They're setting you up, old friend.

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Speaker 1: A few days will go by, and then a week

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Speaker 1: and a month, and eventually they'll claim you are a

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Speaker 1: wall fire you for not reporting to work, cut off

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Speaker 1: your salary, your insurance, your severance, even your retirement benefits.

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Speaker 1: It's the new corporate strategy, Sam All Art of the

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Speaker 1: New Economy Call me before it's too late. Thanks for

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Speaker 1: listening to this original audio presentation of the New Economy,

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Speaker 1: narrated by the author. If you enjoy today's story, please

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Speaker 1: take a few seconds to rate, review, and subscribe to

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Speaker 1: this podcast, and then go to Thomas William Simpson dot

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Speaker 1: com for additional information about the author and to view

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Speaker 1: his extensive canon. The Ten Minute Storyteller is produced by

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Speaker 1: Andrew Pleglici and Josh Colotney and as part of the

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Speaker 1: Elvis Duran Podcast Network in partnership with Iheartproductions. Until next time,

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Speaker 1: this is Bill Simpson, your ten Minute Storyteller,