After hearing salesman Mr. Nye's sales pitch and meeting in-house professionals Gilbert Falck and Jerome Bundy, Ross signs up and receives the necessary implant.

Enthusiastic over his success, Ross treats Falke to drinks after work, and later calls up his girlfriend Claire La Motte with the good news.

After Ross learns the ropes at his new job he is sent out to interview one of the journal's major advertisers, Marcus Ballin of Outstanding Knitwear, for a feature article.

Under Falck's guidance, Ross's interview of Ballin goes well until the knitwear man starts talking about a current project; a pageant to choose the most beautiful bust in America from among women modeling Outstanding's sheer sweaters.

Claire shows the party around the Peshkov estate and points out neighboring properties, among them the Heliac Health Club, a nudist camp.

Less happily, one of the club members turns out to be Marcus Ballin, but neither he nor Ross are interested in their presence at Heliac coming out, and agree to keep things quiet.

Provided clothing by a helpful matron, Claire retrieves the others' outfits from the Peshkov estate, and Ross uses the signaler in his pocket to have Bundy release control.

Ross, guided by Falck, performs well, but Claire is worried because her employer Bogdin Peshkov, whom she suspects of lusting after her, is present—and drunk.

The grateful Ballin hires him away from The Garment Gazette, and Mr. Nye at Telegog assures him that Falck's subterfuge has been discovered and the disgraced guide fired.

The story is set in a near future similar to the era in which it was written, but in which the Soviet Union has been overthrown by a Capitalist revolution (The Peshkovs are former Communist apparatchiks living in exile), and characterized by unusually advanced developments in neurology.

"[5] De Camp took a different approach to the theme of curing shyness in the similarly-titled "The Hibited Man" (1949), whose protagonist is subjected to an experiment that has the side-effect of removing his inhibitions.

In April 2006 the story was reported to have been optioned for film as a romantic comedy to be titled "Speechless," with Brian Dannelly as director and Adrien Brody and Lindsay Lohan in talks to star.

According to Daily Variety, the adaptation involves an introverted man (Brody) so terrified of having to give a speech at a friend's wedding that he turns to a service allowing someone else (Lohan) to speak through him.