In this chapter, the young protagonist, em>/em> a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/" target="_blank" /a> , tries to convince his boss, the boss of the company , to let him become the company's new chief designer. The boss, however, refuses, saying that he is too busy with his own business. The young protagonist then tells the boss that he and his co-worker , the pattern maker , have both gotten into the company by using "con but noections" , and that everyone has treated them harshly. He says that if he loses the position of chief designer, he will take it as a "no" to his offer to become a designer.