Summary

The short story “The Ladder” by Sheila Purdy begins by presenting Annie, an employee at the Virtual Processes & Systems Corporation. She works in the corporation’s kitchen and her duty is to clean the kitchen, the utensils and to make sure everything is in order for when the catering staff comes.

This particular morning, though, Annie’s supervisor, Vera, asks her to prepare the food in the boardroom and to serve it during an important executive meeting, as no one else is available for the job. Annie is nervous, but she manages to pick herself up, to buy a pair of tights and to arrange the boardroom as well as possible.

When Annie sees that two engineers have moved her tables and destroyed the ...