Cities are above all the seat of the most advanced economic division of labor. They produce such extreme phenomena as the lucrative vocation of the quatorzieme in Paris. These are persons who may be recognized by shields on their houses and who hold themselves ready at the dinner hour in appropriate costumes so they can be called upon on short notice in case thirteen persons find themselves at the table.

DEFINE: Explains the term 'quatorzieme' — a Parisian hired to make a party of thirteen into fourteen. FICTION: The quatorzieme is a ready-made character or worldbuilding detail for a story set in Paris.

XREF: Connects to theories of urban agglomeration and division of labor, from Adam Smith's pin factory to modern economic geography literature. SEED: The quatorzieme — someone hired to make a party table 13 guests — is a vivid, delightful detail that could anchor a piece on the strange jobs cities generate through social anxiety and status.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 758