Maria had raised her hand for over an hour but was being ignored. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and began to wet herself.

“Bloody hell, Maria,” Bob whined. “I need to reach my target today and it’s hard enough without having to sniff your piss as well.”

Maria apologised. Bob felt guilty and put his head down. Shortly after, a supervisor came and unlocked Maria’s leg irons so she could clean herself up.

On the way to the bathroom Maria noticed the sales numbers on the whiteboard. Bob’s numbers were bad today.

Sitting beside Bob, a thin, sweating salesman named Andy was beaming. He had managed to get five new sales and was looking very pleased with himself.

Andy had once told Bob that he wore nappies so he had no need to go to the bathroom during the working day. Naturally, Andy started to smell as time went on.

Bob was finding it hard today. His shackles were rubbing against his ankles, irritating the infected sores. Sales were terrible – the cost of living was hurting everyone.

As Maria returned, the supervisor, a short, podgy woman with a childhood haircut, refastened the irons. The supervisor screamed in Maria’s ear to sell. Maria nearly cried but regained her composure and started calling.

She was often met with an aggressive ‘can’t afford it’, ‘too expensive’ or be told that she was a parasite. Sometimes the customer would find it funny to blow a whistle down the line. Maria knew cold-calling was a scummy job but it was all that was available.

As she put the phone down on her previous call, Bob told her he was sorry for speaking to her in the way he did earlier.

He had remembered the time an elderly salesman named Marcus soiled himself on the floor when getting up to go to the toilet. Bob had placed a cardboard box over the turds to cover them up but a supervisor spotted it and ferociously kicked it. Marcus’s crap flew everywhere, splattering all the sales team. The supervisor had laughed and forced them to carry on working, covered in specks of shit.

Maria thanked Bob but warned him that he only had an hour to reach his target. It was impossible, he was only three-quarters of the way through his call list.

The threatening tick-tock of the clock echoed through the office.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!!

Bob rang desperately but nobody was biting. He was near to tears. Maria placed a compassionate hand on his jittering knee.

As the bell chimed, Bob knew he had failed. The supervisor came over and released his restraint. Bob was told to leave immediately. Walking away, he saw his replacement jokingly led on all fours to his seat.

Bob was pushed outside the building into the dark, corrosive smog. There were thousands of people milling around, struggling for breath in this dying,polluted world. Bob inhaled the air and began to cough up blood.

His days as an oxygen salesman were over.