After half an hour, the interview was over. Vice-President Michael Rosenberg shook the hand of Sandra Barnes, after a long interview about her application for the position at RosenStein’s Human Resources Department.

“It was very nice to meet you, we’ll contact you about the position later on” he said.

“Thanks a lot”, said Sandra, and Mr. Rosenberg returned to his office. Most other people would have escorted themselves out of the building after completing their job interview, but Sandra knew she would have to wait for the other applicants before she left. She sat down and joined them - Beta Sandra, Gamma Sandra and Delta Sandra, all dressed identically, all with identical handbags and all carrying identical folders of their CV and resume.

The other Sandras all turned towards Alpha Sandra.

“How’d it go?” Beta Sandra asked.

Alpha Sandra turned to her sisters. “Better than I thought,” she shrugged. She wasn’t too sure how well she did, given that she thought Mr. Rosenberg was fairly hard to read. “But I hope the rest of you win him over too.”

Sandra had applied for the position for Human Resources after she was diagnosed with postnatal mitosis following a fainting spell. Even if she could apply for benefits that would allow her discounts on food, clothing and rent, she still felt a steady job would be best for her and the identical sisters she would eventually gain. Despite her best efforts to keep calm upon receiving the letter of acceptance a week prior to her interview, her anxiety got the better of her, and she ended up splitting into quadruplets.

This was worse than she had anticipated. A twin she could deal with. Maybe even two triplets. But quadruplets were too much for her. While great strides were made in the study of postnatal mitosis, there was no way of determining how many people she would divide into. The most divisions she was aware of was a popstar who had divided into identical octuplets and they eventually formed into a full band.

The Sandras argued over who got to sleep in the one bedroom in her flat, as all of them identified as the “real” Sandra. Breakfast wasn’t much better, as there was only enough cereal for one, and the others had to make do with toast and eggs (which she was also low on). They also argued over what clothing to wear before she went out to get a nice dress for the job interview, as they all had the same fashion sense.

 But then, the Sandras hit upon an extraordinary idea - all of them would attend the job interview, thus quadrupling their chances of being hired. If all of them were hired, they would have enough income to buy a house with additional bedrooms, as postnatal multiples were entitled to the same paycheck as singular human beings.

After a few minutes, Mr. Rosenberg came out of the office, not looking up from his ledger.

“Next, please!”, he announced.

Beta Sandra quickly responded and stood up to greet him. Mr. Rosenberg was surprised by this new applicant - she looked identical to the last one, but her demeanour was a lot more chipper.

Beta Sandra shook Mr. Rosenberg by the hand.

“Hi, how’s it going?”, she asked. Mr. Rosenberg motioned towards the office, and was about to say “Come in”, but Beta Sandra was one step ahead of him. “Thanks!”, she said, quickly showing herself in. Mr. Rosenberg was about to follow her, but paused.

The other Sandras were nervous. Would they be disqualified from applying? Could he only hire one of them? Postnatal mitosis was still largely accepted in society, but the Sandras had heard about private companies that discriminated towards people with the condition.

Mr. Rosenberg looked back at the other Sandras. Alpha and Gamma Sandra were keeping composed, while Delta Sandra had her legs crossed, and looked at Mr. Rosenberg flirtatiously. They could tell he was confused, but he didn’t say anything.

“Hi,” said Gamma Sandra, with an air of anxiety in her voice.

Mr. Rosenberg shrugged and went back into the office to commence the job interview with Beta Sandra.