Of all things in the world, I most dislike filling up forms; in fact, I have a <u> <u> 1 </u> </u> hor ror of it. Applying for a driving license, <u> <u> 2 </u> </u> for an evening course, booking a holiday abroad—everything nowadays seem to involve <u> <u> 3 </u> </u> information about one's personal life and habits that has little or nothing to do with the matter <u> <u> 4 </u> </u> hand. When applying for a job, it may be <u> <u> 5 </u> </u> some obscure interest to a <u> <u> 6 </u> </u> employer to learn that I collect stamp or had measles as a child, but why should he conceivably want to know that my father was a tobacconist who died in 1988?
The authorities who <u> <u> 7 </u> </u> one to fill up forms, frequently demand answers to questions that one would hesitate to put <u> <u> 8 </u> </u> one's intimate friends. The worst of it is that, when <u> <u> 9 </u> </u> with such questions, my mind goes blank. Have I ever suffered from a serious illness? My mother always assured me I was "delicate". Do I suffer from any personal defects? Well, I wear contact lenses and my upper teeth are not my own, but perhaps the word "defects" <u> <u> 10 </u> </u> to my character. Am I supposed to <u> <u> 11 </u> </u> that I like gambling, and find it difficult to get up in the morning? Both of them are true.
Of all, I think job applications are the worst, education, previous experience, post held, give <u> <u> 12 </u> </u>... Terrified by the awful warning about giving false <u> <u> 13 </u> </u> which appear at the bottom of the form, I struggle to remember what exams I passed and how long I worked for what firms. <u> <u> 14 </u> </u> hard I try, there always seems to be a year or two for which I cannot satisfactorily account and which I am certain, if left <u> <u> 15 </u> </u>, will give the impression that I was in prison or engaged in some occupation too dubious to mention.