H. Adler - Panorama

Josef runs upstairs, the door to the office is shut, so he has to knock, and while he waits he reads the announcement that’s attached to the door:

VISITING HOURS

Secretary’s Office open 5–6 P.M.

Daily except Saturday & Sunday

Director only by Appointment

Office Visits NOT Allowed

A young boy named Michel opens the door and Josef steps into the drab, murky foyer, where there is a table with a dirty green cloth and a couple of chairs, a few people sitting and waiting, as one of them says to Michel what a scandal it is, such miserable lighting, the kind a cultural center should be ashamed of, though Michel replies, “Please, it’s not my fault. I’m not allowed to turn on any lights. The Professor gets upset if they are left burning while not used.”—“Oh, give me a break, your professor can’t just let the visitors sit here in the dark!” Michel responds that if there are visitors, then he can turn on the lights, but only then, and now at least a stronger light-bulb has been put in, one with twenty-five watts instead of fifteen. Meanwhile, there are three doors leading off the foyer, to the right the DIRECTOR, in the middle the SECRETARY, to the left the MAIN OFFICE, and in red below it ENTRY STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! Josef needs to enter in order to find Fräulein Auer, but Michel calls out that no one is allowed in, the Professor is in the building, which means that no one can enter the office, Michel has been instructed so, and that’s what it also says on the door. Josef says that Michel must surely have seen him in there earlier, and now Frau Lawetzer has sent him to find Fräulein Auer in order to get some change. Unfortunately, Michel doesn’t back down and says that it’s not allowed, he can apply in writing to any of the gentlemen, but not to Fräulein Auer but rather to the Professor, though that is not possible today, as all the visiting hours have been taken, all of these people are waiting, the Professor never sees more than two or three per day, though Michel can try Dr. Horn, if Josef would be good enough to write down his name, the date, and the purpose of his visit. Josef tries to explain that tomorrow he will be working here himself, and that Michel should not hold him up, for he must see Fräulein Auer, because Frau Lawetzer really needs change, but Michel maintains that he knows nothing about that, and that others have tried saying this or that in order to get into the main office, though Michel is at least willing to tell Fräulein Auer that a man is looking to speak to her, but at that moment Dr. Horn opens the door of the secretary’s office in order to greet a visitor, and so Josef quickly calls out, “Herr Doctor, I need to see Fräulein Auer, but this young man won’t let me in.” Horn laughs as much as the cigarette in his mouth will allow. “How dutiful, Dr. Kramer, I’m pleased to say. You want to see Auer? Then you can also tell her that she should give me a cigarette, which I guarantee she’ll have back in the morning. Bring the cigarette to me in the office!” Michel makes a dumb face and wants to say something, yet Dr. Horn informs him, “It’s okay. Dr. Kramer starts with us tomorrow.”

Horn accompanies a visitor into the office, and finally Josef can head in as well, though Fräulein Grenadier stops him and wants to know where he’s been, but Josef begs her pardon and says that he will tell her later, right now he has to pass on a request to Fräulein Auer from Frau Lawetzer, and as he explains all this the door of the office suddenly opens and Professor Rumpler appears, saying, “Dash it all, how nice, Fräulein Grenadier! Aren’t you ashamed to already be trying to rope in the young doctor? You know how I value secrecy! And I expected more from you than gossip and spying! Didn’t I say that everything here stays between us? No visitor’s pass for you, Doctor!” Both want to counter the Professor’s remarks, but he doesn’t want to hear all the reasons for Josef’s appearance in the office and begins to reprimand him, Rumpler regretting that he has already given Josef his word, otherwise there would be no position for someone who is not capable of doing honor to the persons who had recommended him, the Professor wishing to take this opportunity to rub his nose in this very fact. Then Josef pulls himself together and to the surprise of everyone is heard to say, “Excuse me, Herr Professor, but I have not broken your trust, nor have I done anything wrong.”—“You’re talking nonsense, Doctor! Trust? I don’t even know you. No one in the world holds any trust. Dash it all, you have to earn that first, or do you think we all show up at the Cultural Center trusting one another already?”—“I want to earn your trust, Herr Professor. You sent me to Herr Krupka.”—“And to do that you need to stand here gabbing for half an hour? Do you think my employees should be stealing away time to chat with you?”

Before Josef can answer, a man appears who wants to visit the business office, but Rumpler stops him and asks whether Herr Puttrich knows that he is the concierge and that he shouldn’t be away from his station at this hour, because of course any number of people could come traipsing in, which would make for a fine mess, there being no way to monitor them, and so Puttrich should go back down to his station, though Puttrich shakes his head vigorously, saying he’s sorry, but he has to see Fräulein Auer. Rumpler says that there is nothing Puttrich could possibly need from Auer. To this Puttrich responds, unperturbed, that Frau Lawetzer sent him and it’s urgent. The Professor shouts that that is unheard of, but perhaps now Puttrich was taking orders from old Lawetzer, though there’s no way of knowing what the old cow has in mind, for she’s not in charge of anyone, though perhaps she had called him on the telephone, as her job is to sit in her spot and sell tickets, but then how is it that she approached Puttrich and sent him up here? Herr Puttrich explains that she didn’t leave her booth and had only called, but Rumpler yells that she has no reason to call at all, so why did she, and even if she did there was no reason for Puttrich to leave his station, either. Undaunted, the concierge replies that Frau Lawetzer needs change and has sent him to get some, but at this the Professor loses all patience. “What, then, does she have a telephone for? Why didn’t she call Auer?” He opens the door to the business office and calls Fräulein Auer, who sits there with her lipstick and smiles at the Professor, who yells, “What kind of plot is this? Why don’t you give Lawetzer the change she needs?”

Then Michel comes up to him and says, “Excuse me, but there’s a man here. I told him that he isn’t allowed to go any farther. But he says he wants to burn down this den of thieves and wants his money back.” Michel hardly finishes talking when the man storms in who wanted to pay for the cinema tickets with a large note, as the Professor approaches him and asks, “What do you want? You don’t have an appointment! Not just any Tom, Dick, and Harry can show up here!” The man turns away from Rumpler. “Don’t bother me! I don’t want anything to do with you! Kindly let me through! This young man is supposed to be getting my money for me!” The man wants to get to Josef, but Rumpler positions himself proudly and angrily in the way. “Let me inform you that I’m the one you have to deal with, because I am Rumpler, Director Professor Dr. Kamill Rumpler, the Head of the Cultural Center!”—“As far as I’m concerned, you can be whoever you like, but this nasty business is going to appear in all the papers!” He pushes the Professor roughly to the side and is already standing in front of Josef, who gives back the man’s bill with a stammering apology, an act that no one except Fräulein Auer and Fräulein Grenadier understand, as Fräulein Grenadier explains, “See, Herr Professor, you didn’t want to listen to what I knew about the situation. The man wanted to buy some tickets, Frau Lawetzer had no change, and so she sent Dr. Kramer to Fräulein Auer with the bill that belonged to the man, in order to get it changed.” Rumpler yells in response, “Everything goes crazy, unless I take care of it myself.”