The voice from the loud speaker was difficult to hear
over the din of the noisy crowd gathered in the large waiting room of the downtown unemployment office. "Number 79, please; number 79. Take a number, please." Small groups huddled in conversation while others sat quietly in chairs around the room.
The newly unemployed were waiting to file claims for benefits following unexpected lay-offs and job terminations.
Like a door-to-door salesman, one man moved from group to group making his sales pitch as he worked the room. He was a runner, soliciting patients for a medical mill. This is a hustler paid to recruit workers who might have been injured on their last job, or might just say they were.
