r/Glasgow Tools

>Note that you aren't bound to give notice. You can just fuck off if you want.

Technically he is, but I suspect this is a situation much like *Down and Out in Paris and London*:

>'We will give you a permanent job if you like,' he said. 'The head waiter says he would enjoy calling an Englishman names. Will you sign on for a month?'

>Here was a job at last, and I was ready to jump at it. Then I remembered the Russian restaurant, due to open in a fortnight. It seemed hardly fair to promise working a month, and then leave in the middle. I said that I had other work in prospect—could I be engaged for a fortnight? But at that the *chef du personnel* shrugged his shoulders and said that the hotel only engaged men by the month. Evidently I had lost my chance of a job.

>Boris, by arrangement, was waiting for me in the Arcade of the Rue de Rivoli. When I told him what had happened, he was furious. For the first time since I had known him he forgot his manners and called me a fool.

>'Idiot! Species of idiot! What's the good of my finding you a job when you go and chuck it up the next moment? How could you be such a fool as to mention the other restaurant? You'd only to promise you would work for a month.'

>'It seemed more honest to say I might have to leave,' I objected.

>'Honest! Honest! Who ever heard of a *plongeur* being honest? *Mon ami*'—suddenly he seized my lapel and spoke very earnestly—'*mon ami*, you have worked here all day. You see what hotel work is like. Do you think a *plongeur* can afford a sense of honour?'

>'No, perhaps not.'

>'Well, then, go back quickly and tell the *chef du personnel* you are quite ready to work for a month. Say you will throw the other job over. Then, when our restaurant opens, we have only to walk out.'

>'But what about my wages if I break my contract?

>'Boris banged his stick on the pavement and cried out at such stupidity. 'Ask to be paid by the day, then you won't lose a *sou*. Do you suppose they would prosecute a *plongeur* for breaking his contract? A *plongeur* is too low to be prosecuted.'