# ID this classic sci-fi story

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 20, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587 "2017-03-20T03:11:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587/1 "2017-03-20T03:11:05Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587/2 "2017-03-20T03:37:15Z")

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_Cost of Living_, by Robert Sheckley?

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**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587/3 "2017-03-20T03:43:31Z")

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That’s it! Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587/4 "2017-03-20T04:10:29Z")

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Here are all appearances of that story:

[http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?56292](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?56292)

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**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-classic-sci-fi-story/782587/5 "2017-03-20T20:11:11Z")

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And here’s the text of the story on Project Gutenberg [Cost of Living by Robert Sheckley - Free Ebook](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29458) (I read this one just a few weeks back).