Translation:A pig

It happened in Troyes, this filthy bit of business. And it ain't anything rare, sadly — no need to go far to find bosses cut from the same rotten cloth.

A woman, her bloke dead, left with a little kid to feed; and for the pot, the poor gal's got nothing but her grind. The pay's nothing to write home about — forty sous a day, that's what she was pulling in, bustin' her back in the workshop.

A stroke of luck, goddammit! She lands a gig for fourty cents per day — you bet she was over the moon, no need to spell it out.

Yeah but… there's was a but... One evening, coming back to her pad after the day's slog, she clocks some bloke eyein' her, tailin' her all the way up the stairs. That spooks her real bad, and without even turnin' round to see the mug of that creep, she legs it up sharp and only feels halfway safe once the door's locked good.

Next day, the boss has her called in. He lays it on thick, nice and sweet, and lets her know it was him who followed her the night before. And the bastard adds: "If I took you on at fifty sous — while I've got plenty of girls doin' the same job for forty, even thirty-five — it's 'cause I was countin' on some… compensation. You should be thankful for the favour."

The poor gal, floored by that load of bull, doesn't find a word to answer the ape — just gives him a look that says it all, and then goes right back to the grind.

But the pig got his revenge. A few days later, when the working girl goes to pick up her pay, boom — she's booted out on the excuse that there's no more work. Lies! Just the day before, another girl had been hired to take her spot.

That's the life we get dealt, goddammit! And don't tell me otherwise — it’s damn rare to find an ape who don't expect some compensation from a shapely worker.

And to think they still try to fill our heads with fairy tales about the old regime and the scumbag lords. Hell, the scumbaggery just got a name change! The droit de jambage is still alive and kickin', for chrissake — only now the boss calls it: "treatin’ himself to a little fancy."