William Barrett （一九○○～一九八六 ）是美國短篇故事家。

我和Larry在煉油廠負責發放薪資給墨西哥工人，他們做工老練純熟，尤其是鍋爐工人，八小時輪班不停地用大鏟子把煤炭準確地送入熾熱的蒸鎦槽。公司規定每月的五日及二十日發工資，但是工人怎麼可能需要十五天才用完薪水，這太荒謬了！身邊有錢還能擺個三天，那真是個守財奴哩！先生，守財奴的血液中何嘗有西班牙人後裔（墨西哥人）的血呢？所以每隔三、四天他們就來預支錢。
To a Mexican, this was absurd. What man with money will make it last fifteen days? If he hoarded money beyond the spending of three days, he was a miser—and when , Senor, did the blood of Spain flow in the veins of misers? Hence, it was the custom for our stokers to appear every third or fourth day to draw the money due them.

公司不久宣布：除非是真正急需，不然是不准預支工資。司爐工人Juan來時，他慢慢地讀著布告，看到genuine emergency（真正急需）兩個字，他問我那是什麼意思；聽我解釋後，他低頭默默地走了。不多久廠內所有的工人都傳著：「從現在起，太太生病或小孩要吃藥，才能預支錢。」第二天，Juan說他太太病得快死了，Pete說他母親撐不過今天，許多孩子都得到傳染病，只有一個工人說他爸爸生病。
Every Mexican in the plant was explaining the order to every other Mexican. "To get money now, the wife must be sick. There must be medicine for the baby." The next morning Juan's wife was practically dying. Pete's mother would hardly last the day, there was a veritable epidemic among children, and, just for variety, there was one sick father.

公司只好訂更嚴格的規定：離職的人才能在非發薪日拿錢。這些工人隔天都來辦離職領錢。鍋爐不能沒有人，他們又回來應徵臨時工，就這樣反覆離職又續聘，有時離職作業來不及送，我重複發給Juan薪水。公司祭出殺手：離職者三十天內不得續聘。這回嚴重了！雖然我們全力慰留，但終究彼此握手道別。
The order read: "Hereafter, no employee who resigns may be rehired within a period of 30 days." It was a grave matter and Juan took time to reflect on it. So did Gonzalez, Mendoza and Ayala. We did our best to dissuade them and we were sad about the parting. This time it was for keeps and they shook hands with us solemnly.

第二天，Juan又來應徵，他眼睛眨都不眨，鄭重其事地說：「我姓Hernandez名Manuel。」其他的工人也都改名換姓前來應徵，公司的薪水名冊頓時像是本歷史書，充斥著拉丁美洲的百家姓。望著這些熟悉的臉孔卻喊著陌生的姓名，我們都迷糊了，公司最後只好撤銷所有的規定。Larry說：「報上你最愛的名字，以後就不改了！」經過這麼長久的決鬥，他們第一次露出潔白的牙齒笑著說：「是，先生。」
"The next time we hire you hombres," Larry said grimly, "come in under the names you like best, because that's the way you are going to stay on the books." They looked at us and they looked at the board, then for first time in the long duel, their teeth flashed white. "Si Senores," they said. And so it was.