You are poised for that great job at grabcash.com - massive salary, loadsa share options, bonus linked to "number of rainy days in West of Ireland", use of corporate yacht, the works. For legal reasons, they have to hold a sham interview procedure, but basically you are home and dry.
Just to play it safe you put on your best suit, staple multiple copies of your CV to multiple copies of your how-you-see-the-job outline, and practise that old Masonic handshake.
The interview is a disaster. You walk through the door and notice that the "interview panel" is a bunch of geeks wearing t-shirts; none of them knows the funny handshake; they don't even look at your CV.
Except the 25-year-old chief executive who notices how you used 10 staples to hold them all together and rants about squandering precious resources.
If only you had used the new, staple-less stapler, you would be laughing instead of on the dole. The Paperfix simply slits, bends and joins up to four sheets of paper.
The Paperfix, around £5 (€6.35), available from stationary shops and EFX, at www.efx.co.uk or on +44 1789 450005
Gizmo suggestions welcome: smaccarthaigh@irish-times.ie
