No one wanted to publish Ben Cheever’s third novel. With America in the throes of downsizing fever, Ben – former editor at "Reader’s Digest", husband of a "New York Times" book critic, son of Pulitzer-prize-winning author – found himself out of a job. Redundant. Unemployed. And with limited prospects. Mustering his courage, he skimmed the want-ads, made some phone calls, went to interviews, and before he knew it he had been a security guard, a computer salesman, and even a volunteer Santa Claus. Rejected by Brooks Brothers, bored in a bookshop, a good cop then a bad cop before settling down as a sandwich maker, Cheever eventually attains professional Nirvana as a car salesman. With a keen eye for the ridiculous (especially in himself) he brilliantly chronicles life on the other side of the counter.