““Home, by the way, should be taken to be not just a lodging, but an everyday existence outlined by the advertisements in magazines for employees. These mainly concern: pens; Kohinoor pencils; haemorrhoids; hair loss; beds; crêpe soles; white teeth; rejuvenation elixirs; selling coffee to friends; dictaphones; writer’s cramp; trembling; especially in the presence of others; quality pianos on weekly installments; and so on. A shorthand-typist prone to reflection expresses herself in similar vein to the aforementioned employee: ' The girls mainly come from a modest milieu and are attracted by the glamour.' Then she gives an extremely odd reason for the fact that the girls generally avoid serious conversations. ' Serious conversations,' she said, 'only distract and divert you from surroundings that you'd like to enjoy.' If distracting efforts are ascribed to serious talk, distraction must be a deadly serious matter.”
