BLUMFELD, AN ELDERLY BACHELOR
97
ruptedly in his division, to study the many different kinds of work to
be
mastered there, to apply
his
own supposedly better methods, and
finally by the collapse of the department, which that would necessarily
involve, to be convinced of Blumfeld's rightness. So Blumfeld goes
about
his
work calmly as before. He is a little startled, however, when
after a long time Ottomar finally appears. Out of a subordinate's
sense of duty he makes a feeble attempt to explain to Ottomar
this
or
that arrangement, while the latter, nodding silently and with lowered
eyes, passes on by: for the rest, he suffers less from
this
indifference
than from the thought that
if
he ever has to give up his position, the
immediate consequence will be a huge confusion that no one
will
be
able to disentangle, for he knows of no one in the factory who could
replace
him
and take over
his
position without tying up the business
for months with the severest congestion. Naturally, when the
boss
underrates someone, the employees take pleasure in outdoing
him
wherever possible. Hence everyone underrates Blumfeld's work. No
one considers it necessary to work for a time in Blumfeld's division for
his
training, and when new employees are taken on, no one is assigned
to
him
of
his
own accord. For this reason Blumfeld's department is
lacking in recruits. When Blumfeld, who had hitherto managed every–
thing all alone except for the help of one attendant, demanded the ap–
pointment of an assistant, there were weeks of the severest kind of
s>JUggling. Almost every day he appeared in Ottomar's office and ex–
plained quietly and in great detail why an assistant was necessary in
his
division. It is not simply that Blumfeld wants to spare himself;
he does not want to spare himself; he does his much more than ample
share of the work and doesn't propose to stop now. But Herr Ottomar
should consider how the business has developed in the course of time,
how all divisions have been expanded accordingly, and only Blum–
feld's department always forgotten; and how it is precisely there that
the work has increased! When Blumfeld first came to the factory–
probably Herr Ottomar can no longer recall those times-they were
dealing with a matter of some ten seamstresses; today their number
varies from fifty to sixty. Such an achievement requires energy; as to
that, Blumfeld can guarantee that he exhausts himself in
his
work
completely, but only so as to master it completely; from now on, how–
ever,
he can no longer guarantee anything. Herr Ottomar, of course,
never
refused Blumfeld's requests straight out; he could hardly do
that when faced with an old employee; but the way he had of scarcely
listening, of talking across
him
to other people right in the midst of
Blumfeld's request, of making half-promises, and then in a few days
of forgetting everything-this was downright insulting. Not, properly
