noon
He learned so much in that first week that when Sunday came it seemed as though aeons had passed over his head . He learned that the crime of murder was as nothing compared to the crime of allowing a customer to depart shoeless ; he learned that the lunch hour was invented for the purpose of making dates ; that no one had ever heard of Oskaloosa , Iowa ; that seven dollars a week does not leave much margin for laundry and general recklessness ; that a madonna face above a V-cut gown is apt to distract one 's attention from shoes ; that a hundred-dollar nest egg is as effective in Chicago as a pine stick would be in propping up a stone wall ; and that all the other men clerks called Sophy `` sweetheart . '' Some of his newly acquired knowledge brought pain , as knowledge is apt to do . He saw that State Street was crowded with Sophys during the noon hour ; girls with lovely faces under pitifully absurd hats . Girls who aped the fashions of the dazzling creatures they saw stepping from limousines . Girls who starved body and soul in order to possess a set of false curls , or a pair of black satin shoes with mother-o ' - pearl buttons . Girls whose minds were bounded on the north by the nickel theatres ; on the east by `` I sez to him '' ; on the south by the gorgeous shop windows ; and on the west by `` He sez t ' me . ''