David J. Rollins

Mannequins in the Audience David J. Rollins

In the future, technology advances to the point where anything is possible. Fashion is delivered to subscribers on a daily basis, and clothes are disposable. Products like hallucinogenic toilet paper and barbituated deodorant make the most mundane tasks more fun than they should be. Spouses which have been tailored-made to their partner's tastes and desires are even available at any of a variety of budget levels.   

There is a bad side to all those new products though, and that bad side is salespeople. Salespeople are needed to introduce the amazing innovations to the public and force them on unsuspecting buyers.

One day, Vyla, a receptionist at a company that is targeted by many of those salespeople, is singled out at work to attend a seminar on how to deal with the aggressive sales tactics. She learns many things at that seminar, and very few of them relate to dealing with salesman.

This edition also includes a bonus short story, The Sixth-Level Executive, about Codly Purppen. Codly is the type of employee who never intended to go to work. He is too happy enjoying his easy carefree days of getting paid simply to be available. Then something happens to the five levels of executives above him, and he is called into work. He doesn't even know what his company does.