Civil-service protection failed to shield park employees from forced resignations.

Evidence

Men who lived in the Bronx were told that henceforth they would be working in Staten Island; men who lived in Staten Island were assigned to the Bronx. Or they were given tasks so disagreeable they couldn’t stomach them. Women were treated no better. One ancient biddy, accustomed to spending her days at the Arsenal knitting in a rocking chair, refused to admit she was over retirement age and gracefully accept a pension. When a search failed to produce a birth certificate to disprove her story, she was ordered to work overtime—all night. Every time she tried to rest, she was ordered to keep working. She retired at 2 A.M. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1624

Categorization

• CANDY: The stubborn old knitter forced into all-night overtime until she retired at 2 A.M. is a perfect darkly comic anecdote.