A Tale of Henry

As I was letting my thoughts flow freely at work earlier today, I thought of a little tale I could write.  It's a short & sweet, so I thought I would include it with my thoughts.

                                                          Henry

He needed a job, but man, did he suck!  He finally found a place that would take him.  He got put to work doing all the dirty jobs no one else wanted to do.  He was the last one picked when they had to partner up at work.  It wasn't that he was ugly or anything, but he had tendencies to be a little different.  Some said he seemed drunk, and his eyes always seemed to be looking off somewhere inappropriate.  He was clumsy, and always seemed to be getting in the way, or tripping whoever he was paired with that day.  He wasn't too steady, and ended up on his head quite often.  He made rude-sounding noises as he moved about.  Quite honestly, the only reason he was tolerated was because he sucked at his job.  Literally.  Henry is a vacuum!

I started thinking about how we put human attributes to things around us, and how when we hear a story with a name and human qualities, like clumsiness, we would first assume our central character is a person.  I fondly remember reading a story called Sentry, in high school.  It wasn't until the last bit of the story which we took the main character to be human, do we learn that the sentry is an alien to us, but the story is his/her point of view, and we humans are the aliens, and strange.  The last lines about how repulsive we were with our two arms and legs, and no scales, and our ghastly white skin!

It shows again how it all boils down to perspective.  Henry can be compared to an annoying person who really is useful, even if he is a pain in the ass!  I almost wonder if the company put the face on the vacuum to try to encourage users to be more "gentle" with it.  Sure at first glance a painted on little face is cute.  Didn't last long.  I have smashed his "face" into door frames more times than I can count.  His constant tipping prompts me to right him with the admonishment to lay off the sauce.  More than one co-worker has commented that he sounds like he's farting as we drag his sorry little canister down the hall.  I could get X-rated on choice of speeds.  Anemic or um, slightly less anemic.  I won't say what would be said about Henry in that department if he were human!  Like an outcast, he is the last piece of equipment picked for the above irritating qualities.  
So, lucky me, will end up having this little buddy again, so may as well have fun making fun him!  After all, it's not like the vacuum is going to report me to HR!