CHAPTER VI.
When the dead summer season arrived, there was quite a panic at The Ladies' Paradise. The reign of terror commenced, a great many employees were sent away on leave, and others were dismissed in dozens by the principals, who wished to clear the shop, no customers appearing during the July and August heat. Mouret, on making his daily inspection with Burdoncle, called aside the managers, whom he had prompted during the winter to engage more men than were necessary, so that the business should not suffer, leaving them to weed out their staff later on. It was now a question of reducing expenses by getting rid of quite a third of the shop people, the weak ones who allowed themselves to be swallowed up by the strong ones.
“Come,” he would say, “you must have some who don't suit you. We can't keep them all this time doing nothing.”
And if the manager hesitated, hardly knowing whom to sacrifice, he would continue; “Make your arrangements, six salesmen must suffice; you can take on others in October, there are plenty to be had!”
As a rule Bourdoncle undertook the executions. He had a terrible way of saying: “Go and be paid!” which fell like a blow from an axe. Anything served him as a pretext for clearing off the superfluous staff. He invented misdeeds, speculating on the slightest negligence. “You were sitting down, sir; go and be paid!”
“You dare to answer me; go and be paid!”
“Your shoes are not clean; go and be paid!” And even the bravest trembled in presence of the massacre which he left behind him. Then, this system not working quick enough, he invented a trap by which he got rid in a few days, without fatigue, of the number of salesmen condemned beforehand. At eight o'clock, he took his stand at the door, watch in hand; and at three minutes past the hour, the breathless young people were greeted with the implacable “Go and be paid!” This was a quick and cleanly method of doing the work.
“You've an ugly mug,” he ended by saying one day to a poor wretch whose nose, all on one side, annoyed him, “go and be paid!”
The favoured ones obtained a fortnight's holiday without pay, which was a more humane way of lessening the expenses. The salesmen accepted their precarious situation, obliged to do so by necessity and habit. Since their arrival in Paris, they had roamed about, commencing their apprenticeship here, finishing it there, getting dismissed or themselves resigning all at once, as interest dictated. When business stood still, the workmen were deprived of their daily bread; and this was well understood in the indifferent march of the machine, the useless workmen were quietly thrown aside, like so much old plant, there was no gratitude shown for services rendered. So much the worse for those who did not know how to look after themselves!