AS THE DEADLINE for a major project drew near at our publishing firm, both our facsimile machines were put to the test. Secretaries were sending and receiving messages, making last-minute corrections and additions. One young assistant, holding a handful of new instructions to be distributed to various departments, asked the office manager, “Whatever did we do before fax machines?”

A man of few words, the manager replied, “We did things on time.”

–Contributed to “All In a Day’s Work” by C. Richard Cotton