Why I Fired My Secretary I woke up early, feeling depressed because it was my birthday, and I thought,“I’m another year older,“ but decided to make the best of it. So I showered andshaved, knowing when I went down to breakfast my wife would greet me with a bigkiss and say, „Happy birthday, dear.“ All smiles, I went in to breakfast, andthere sat my wife, reading her newspaper, as usual. She didn’t say one word. SoI got myself a cup of coffee, made some toast and thought to myself, „Oh well,she forgot. The kids will be down in a few minutes, smiling and happy, and theywill sing ‚Happy Birthday‘ and have a nice gift for me.“ There I sat, enjoyingmy coffee, and I waited. Finally, the kids came running into the kitchen,yelling, „Give me a slice of toast! I’m late! Where is my coat? I’m going tomiss the bus!“ Feeling more depressed than ever, I left for the office. When I walked into the office, my secretary greeted me with a great big smileand a cheerful „Happy birthday, boss.“ She then asked if she could get me somecoffee. Her remembering my birthday made me feel a whole lot better. Later in the morning, my secretary knocked on my office door and said, „Sinceit’s your birthday, why don’t we have lunch together?“ Thinking it would makeme feel better, I said, „That’s a good idea.“ So we locked up the office, andsince it was my birthday, I said, „Why don’t we drive out of town and havelunch in the country instead of going to the usual place?“ So we drove out oftown and went to a little out-of-the-way inn and had a couple of martinis and anice lunch. We started driving back to town, when my secretary said, „Why don’twe go to my place, and I will fix you another martini.“ It sounded like a goodidea, since we didn’t have much to do in the office. So we went to herapartment, and she fixed us some martinis. After a while, she said, „If youwill excuse me, I think I will slip into something more comfortable,“ and sheleft the room. In a few minutes, she opened her bedroom door and came out carrying a bigbirthday cake. Following her were my wife and all my kids. And there I sat withnothing on but my socks.
