Mr. Osk

What it looks like, and what it does

A thin man at an enormous desk stacked with grey folders. The desk's legs bowed. The floor beneath it sunk into a shallow dish. A coat shiny at the elbows. A nameplate: O. OSK — COMPLAINTS.

Takes every complaint personally. Writes brief sincere apologies by hand. Does not take lunch.

What is known

The Ward Office on Tern Street receives complaints. In thirty years Mr. Osk has been named in 41,000: potholes, late buses, a divorce, a drought. He has never denied one.

The office reports record contentment among complainants. His desk has been reinforced four times. The folders contain no complaint that is not also about him. He is courteous to everyone and thanks them for their time.

What it can do

• Receives blame addressed to anyone in the district and takes it into himself
• Dissolves resentment in those who name him

Where it stops

• Cannot absorb blame that is just
• Cannot be forgiven; offers of forgiveness pass through him

An encounter

Adeyemi came to complain about her husband and left having apologised to Mr. Osk for the state of the roof. Outside she realised she no longer felt angry, and then that she could not now remember being angry. She went back in to thank him. He said, “Sorry. I will make a note of it.”

Mrs. Nkechi Adeyemi, complainant, Ward Office, Tern Street, A Friday afternoon

What is established, and what is only said

• established: Complaint volumes naming other officers fell to zero in 1998 and have not recovered.
• rumor: That he was once a different person, with a different desk.
• interpretation: Blame is a weight that wants to be carried. He may be the only one the district has agreed on.

Still unresolved

The blame must go somewhere. The floor beneath his desk has sunk twenty-two centimetres. What lies under the Ward Office?

Where it has been recorded

• Tern Street (confirmed) — Recorded by Mrs. Nkechi Adeyemi, complainant.

Stories about it

• A Note Will Be Made (Entity story, 4 min) — A complainant takes a leaking roof to the Ward Office on Tern Street, is thanked for her time by the clerk everyone blames, and leaves having lost the anger without learning where it went.

Connected entities

• The Itemised Receipt — Both keep the cost of other people's burdens. Neither has ever been seen to be paid.