The Adding Machine

In this scene, Zero is at work in an office building inside a department store, adding up numbers read to him by his assistant, Daisy Diana Dorothea Devore (or, Miss Devore). The two are argumentative, but have clearly grown comfortable around one another after years of time spent in close quarters performing rote work. Neither spends much time speaking to the other, except to berate them for some small hiccup, yet it becomes clear that there is some kind of spark between them–whether or not the impulse has been indulged is yet unclear. Both of them spend some time at work fantasizing about one another, fixating on a work party some years ago that Mrs. Zero was unable to attend, where they were allowed to share a picnic.

When the whistle blows, they quickly pack and leave for the day. After Daisy has gone, their boss comes in and calls Mr. Zero to his office in order to fire him; he says they are purchasing an adding machine, which will make Zero’s job redundant. It is also clear to the audience that the boss barely knows Zero, and has not even taken the time to remember his name. Zero has been working for the company as an accountant for twenty-five years, and is devastated. In a crescendo of music and noise, the audience is left to interpret that Zero may have physically attacked his boss in an aggressive reaction to being laid off.