Ed, a teenager, applies for a job, but upsets his interviewer, Mr. Wiley, by criticizing a former employer. Mr. Wiley tells Ed the story of two brothers, Bob and Walter, who worked for him. Bob was neat, deferential and went along with the program and was promoted, while Walter was sloppy, surly and ungrateful, and was fired. Ed begins to think that being a company man maybe isn't so bad after all.