Transport Tales

Pamela Sue, our administrative clerk, is one of the biggest fumblers we have ever met. She does not look it; she dresses well and talks intelligently. In fact she projects an image of a professional woman in her early forties. Well, looks do deceive - behind that well fed exterior lies a very inert brain. As far as I know, she is the only one who can manage to create a mess out of a simple one-line instruction.

Pamela Sue or Pam Sue as she is known to us, was once sent to collect a list of automatic driving schools from the dsa. Her supervisor's instruction was explicitly clear - just that.

Pam Sue thought she had prepared well, and went out on her moped in the morning, around 10. By lunch time, she still had not appeared at the office. We were not worried, knowing that she was also a wastrel, and might have rode her moped to the nearby mall and do a bit of window shopping.

When she was still missing by evening, we were a bit apprehensive, thinking that something must have happened. One of the girls called Pam Sue on her mobile phone, but it was unanswered and went to message. We were rather worried, until someone told us that she was already back at the office, meeting with her supervisor, Jenna.

Pam Sue came out of Jenna’s room, looking very depressed and did not acknowledge us or respond to our queries. She sat and moped at her work station until closing time. Shortly after, we managed to dig out the story from Jenna’s secretary.

Pam Sue was indeed very prepared - she had followed Jenna'sinstruction strictly and went to the dsa. There were however, five dsa's on her list - Direct Selling Association, Disposal Services Authority, Drilling and Sawing Association, Development Studies Association and Driving Standards Agency. Most people would have gone to the correct agency for a list of automatic driving schools, but in Pam Sue’s case, it has to be something out of the norm. For someone who does not use her brains, Pam Sue stretched hers by miles.