Hello, all. In doing some prep work for a sci-fi role playing campaign, I’ve set about reading a few classic short stories. However, there’s one that I can recall reading, but can’t identify by memory or Google search.
What I can remember is that it takes place in a future in which people sign over their career earnings, and those of their children, to buy automated labor-saving devices on credit. The protagonist works at a factory where he presses a few buttons all day, the other functions having been automated. At one point, he has a salesman over, and there’s a brief panic by his wife that one of their devices is made by a rival company. The son dreams of space exploration, and making a life out there. In the end, the man signs over his son’s life earnings, then has the epiphany that he doesn’t enjoy pressing buttons.
Ring any bells?