3.
At the time these events took place, Carl had worked with the City of San Miguel for seven years, not counting two breaks in service. In addition to his year in Construction & Supply, he had previously logged two and a half years as a messenger with Water Utilities, six months trimming grass in the Mount Hope Cemetery, a year as a clerk with Engineering, and then two years clerking in the Attorney's criminal office.
He had left City employment twice: after the cemetery, to move to Chicago for a year with his ex-wife; and later, after his time in the Attorney's office, he departed from City government to study literature at the University of California (majoring in creative writing - very practical - Not!). While living in academic-land he worked as a typesetter for the student newspaper, and tutored composition at a nearby high school. It was during his years at school that his ex-wife had begun working for the City Attorney.
After the ivory tower, Carl decided to return to work for the City of San Miguel. Partly on the strength of references from his prior work with the Engineer and Attorney, and partly by his literature degree and proofreading skills, Carl had been hired as a bid and proposal typist with Purchasing.
Carl fell into a regular routine of grinding out his office work during the days, then going home to write poetry and fiction at night. He drafted a science fiction novel set on a planet in Castor named Djardon. Also during the months that he was working in the world of Purchasing, Carl stumbled onto the technique which was to serve him so well as a self-counseling tool: he began to write about his experiences in civil service.