The reader follows Henry Modicum through three jobs he holds over a summer’s vacation from college. The plot surrounds Modicum’s interactions with his hilarious and philosophical (usually unintentionally and often at the same time) co-workers in a fast-food restaurant, a shipping/distribution company and a parks & recreation department in a small Midwestern town. Modicum comes to acknowledge his own prejudices about blue collar employment, learning that higher education does not offer a higher ground…moral, intellectual or otherwise. The writing style is not overtly didactical; Modicum’s raucous, funny and mundane experiences are ends in themselves. At the climax of the story, Modicum witnesses a near death experience, which leads him to reevaluate his beliefs about free will and to acknowledge the chance for a freeing absurdity in every the life of every person.
