Aufgabe HT 1 - Aufgabe 1 · Abitur NRW Englisch GK · Haupttermin · Weiterbildungskolleg 2021

Klausurteil A

Rob Hart

The Warehouse

The novel takes place in the United States in the not-too-distant future. The protagonist, Paxton, has just reached one of the recruitment centres of Cloud, a huge online retailer, which is housed in a former theatre. Two years earlier he had left his job as a prison guard and founded a small business of his own, but he was forced to shut it down because of Cloud’s aggressive market strategies. He is now about to start a computer-based application process.

The screen flared to life, large numbers at the center of the display.

Ten.

Then nine.

Then eight.

5 When it hit zero, the tablet buzzed and flashed, and the numbers were replaced by a series

of empty fields. Paxton balanced it on his lap and focused.

Name, contact information, brief work history. Shirt size?

Paxton’s hand hovered over Work History. He didn’t want to explain what he had done before

this, and the confluence of events that had brought him to a broken theater in a broken town.

10 Because to do that meant having to explain that Cloud had destroyed his life.

Anyway, what would he write?

Would they even know who he was?

If they didn’t, was that better or worse?

Paxton found he did, in fact, have more room for sadness, at the thought of applying for this

15 job with CEO in the work history field.

His stomach knotted and he settled on the prison. Fifteen years. A long enough time to

demonstrate loyalty. That’s what he would call it, if he were asked: loyalty. If someone wanted

to know about the gap, those two years between the prison and now, he’d deal with it.

After he filled in all the fields, the next screen appeared.

20 Have you ever stolen anything?

Underneath were two buttons. Green Yes and red No.

He rubbed his eyes, the brightness of the screen making them ache. […]

Paxton tried to give each question serious consideration, even if he wasn’t sure what it all

meant, though he figured there was some kind of algorithm – something that would reveal

25 to them the core of his personality through his opinion on astronomy.

He answered questions until he lost count. Then the screen went blank, and it stayed blank

long enough that he wondered if he had done something wrong. He looked around for help

but, finding none, looked back to the screen, where there was more text.

Thank you for your answers. Now we ask for a brief

30 statement. When you see the timer appear in the lower

left-hand corner, the recording will start, and you’ll have

one minute to explain why you want to work at Cloud.

Please note, you don’t need to speak for the entire

minute. A clear, simple, and direct explanation will

35 suffice. When you feel that you are finished, you may hit

the red dot at the bottom of the screen to end the

recording. You will not have the opportunity to rerecord.

Paxton’s face appeared reflected back to him, distorted by the tilt of the screen, his skin

washed to a sickly gray by the glow. A timer appeared in the bottom left-hand corner.

40 1:00

Then:

:59

“I didn’t realize I would have to give a speech,” Paxton said, giving his best this-is-a-joke

smile, which looked sharper than he intended. “I guess I would say that, uh, you know, it’s

45 tough to get a job in this day and age, and between that and looking for a new place to live I

figure it’s kinda perfect, right?”

:43

“I mean, I really do want to work here. I think, uh, it’s an incredible opportunity to learn

and grow. Like the commercial says, ‘Cloud is the solution to every need.’” He shook his

50 head. “I’m sorry, I’m not great at talking off the cuff.”

:22

Deep breath.

“But I’m a hard worker. I take pride in my work and I promise to give this my all.”

:09

55 Paxton pressed the red button and his face disappeared. The screen flashed to white. He

cursed himself for stumbling through that. Had he known this would be part of the

application he would have practiced.

Thank you. Please wait while the interview results are

tabulated. At the end of the process your screen will turn

60 either green or red. If red, we are sorry, either you

failed the drug test, or you did not meet the standards

expected at Cloud. You may exit the building and you must

wait one month before reapplying. If green, then please

stay and await further instructions.

65 The tablet turned black. Paxton raised his head and looked around, to see everyone else

raising their heads […].

Paxton balanced the tablet on his knees, not sure whether he wanted to see red or green.

Red meant leaving here and standing in the sun until another bus arrived, if there was even

one coming. It meant scratching through want ads for jobs that didn’t pay enough to survive,

70 and apartment listings for places that were either out of his price range or so decrepit as to

be unlivable. It meant finding himself back in that rotten pool of frustration and emotion

where he’d been treading for months, his nose barely above the waterline.

It almost seemed preferable to working for Cloud.

Annotation:

15 CEO (Chief Executive Officer) – the person with the highest rank in a company

1. Outline how the application process is depicted in the extract and how the protagonist responds to it. (Comprehension) [12 Punkte]