Geisner laughed "You see it all right, Ned. Suppose the first man you sounded said no?"
"I'd try another."
"And if the other said no?"
"Well, I'd have to keep on trying."
"And you'd get more inclined to humour the boss every time you had to try again."
"Naturally. That's how they get at us. No man's a crawler who's sure of a job."
"Then you might take lower wages, and work longer hours, after you'd been out of work till you'd got thoroughly disheartened than you would now."
"I wouldn't. Not while there was—I might have to, though I say I'd starve or steal first. There are lots who do, I suppose."
"Lots who wouldn't dream of doing it if there was plenty of work to be had?"
"Of course. Who'd work for less than another man if he needn't, easily? There isn't one man in a thousand who'd do another fellow out of a job for pure meanness. The chaps who do the mischief are those who're so afraid the boss'll sack them, and that another boss won't take them on, that they'd almost lick his boots if they thought it would please him."