If only they gave it some thought, though, the economists — nothing if not smart — would fairly jump at the chance for counter duty.
Think of it: a world where the post office assigns more than one person to counter duty when 75 people are in line, where all subway announcements are intelligible, where clerks at a certain fast-growing chain of drugstores are taught that surliness is not a job qualification.
A waiter dispatched to spritz cachaça-lemongrass mist over a shrimp-and-mango seviche held the atomizer bottle at a distance, as if slightly offended to find himself on cosmetics-counter duty.
Universities should be exempt from a new counter-terror duty that could seriously restrict academic freedom of speech, MPs and peers have told the home secretary, Theresa May.
After attending the Army Service Schools at Fort Leavenworth, he joined the 22nd Infantry Regiment, which was stationed at Governors Island, New York, but was soon detailed for counter-espionage duty and was recommended to join a new Counter Intelligence service that was being formed.
Following the claims, the Metropolitan police launched an investigation and restricted Boyling from his counter-terrorism duties.
But to be fair to the NYPD, recruits who are native speakers of languages such as Arabic, Pushtu and Bengali are often assigned to counter-terrorism duties.
Thomas Vinterberg's rosy-cheeked version of Far from the Madding Crowd, opening next weekend on both sides of the Atlantic, is on official counter-programming duties.
Set-pieces such as Carson's much-loved Lexus hitting a dog or, worse, its theft after Sal carelessly leaves the keys on a drugstore counter, do double duty as narrative propellants and as manifestations of a complex sibling relationship.
But he also felt the counter-pull of duty – loyalty to family, tribe, home, nation, religion.
As we sat in the airport waiting to leave the country, I counted the number of clerks behind the perfume counter at the duty-free shop (thirteen) and considered the lure of hopelessness.
