Saturday noon
Una was doubtless purely perverse in competing with men for the commercial triumphs of running that gray , wet towel round and round on its clattering roller , and of wondering whether for the entire remainder of her life she would see that dead scrub-rag . It was no less annoying a fact that Bessie and she had only one waste-basket , which was invariably at Bessie 's desk when Una reached for it . Or that the door of the supply-cupboard always shivered and stuck . Or that on Thursday , which is the three P.M. of the week , it seemed impossible to endure the tedium till Saturday noon ; and that , invariably , her money was gone by Friday , so that Friday lunch was always a mere insult to her hunger , and she could never get her gloves from the cleaner till after Saturday pay-day . Una knew the office to a point where it offered few beautiful surprises . And she knew the tactics of Mr. Troy Wilkins . All managers -- `` bosses '' -- `` chiefs '' -- have tactics for keeping discipline ; tricks which they conceive as profoundly hidden from their underlings , and which are intimately known and discussed by those underlings ... .