The Labour Saving Device

“Good day, madam”, said the robot salesman at the door, beaming a broad neon smile, “Perhaps I could interest you in the latest Lotus E8R Labour Saving Device; it does everything”.

“Does it clean?”, asked the woman who had answered the door.

“Yes, madam”, said the robot, “It washes, it hoovers; it irons; in fact, it does every possible kind of cleaning chore you can think of”.

“Well, does it cook?”, she asked.

“Certainly madam”, replied the robo-salesman, “The Lotus E8R is a cordon bleu cook and comes with over 100 separate cooking attachments; it slices, it dices, it peels and it purees; it tosses pancakes and scrambles eggs. You name it and the E8R can do it”.

“How about DIY?”, she asked, “Does it do DIY?”.

“Why, of course”, said the salesman smiling, “In fact, you’ll never have to Do It Yourself ever again. The Lotus E8R can perform any number of household DIY chores including carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, painting and plastering, upholstery; even building work”.

“Is there anything it can’t do?”, asked the woman, amazed.

“The world ‘Can’t’ isn’t in its programming, madam”, said the salesman proudly, “It can do any job a human being can do, whether it be manual labour or office and administrative work. It can play 30 different instruments and speak 60 different languages. In fact, madam; if you can find anything that the Lotus E8R can’t do then our company will give you your money back and another E8R absolutely free”.

It sounded too good to be true but then, like an electric light switching on, another question occurred to the woman.

“One thing bothers me”, she said, “If it does all my household chores and the DIY and the administrative work and everything else you claim it can do then what am I supposed to do?”.

The salesman looked puzzled,

“I don’t think I quite understand miss”, he said.

“Well, if it does everything then I’ll be left with nothing to do with my time”, said the woman.

“Well, surely, Miss”, the salesman said, “This robot will give you more time to enjoy life; to have fun; take holidays; enjoy sporting and leisure activities; socialize or just kick back and relax. All work and no play makes Jack..err..I mean Jill a dull girl you know”.

“A whole life filled with nothing but fun and relaxation?”, asked the woman, “No work? No responsibility? But that would be like the life of…of  a child and I am not a child and I don’t want to be dependent upon a robot for everything. I want to be able to do some things for myself”.

“But.. err…”, said the salesman, frantically searching his memory banks for an answer but finding nothing.

“No, I’m sorry”, said the woman, “But I’ve made up my mind. I don’t mind using machines as a tool but I don’t want them to do all the work for me because work is part of life; it’s a healthy thing and, without it, life would just seem dull and rather pointless”.

Then she slammed the door in the still bewildered robo-salesman’s face.

“Who was that at the door, darling?”, asked her husband coming out of the shower room in his bath robe.

“Oh, just someone trying to sell me a robot”, replied the woman, “But I told them we weren’t interested”.

“Why not?”, he asked, “Didn’t it work?”.

“Oh it worked alright”, she said, “It was me who wasn’t doing any work”.