Nearest And Dearest

As if things normally weren't bad enough, industrial efficiency comes to Pledge's Pickle works - and the employees are soon out on strike.

Nellie's struggling to sort out the company accounts. If she's doesn't get them straight, she'll get a "financial distemper", but the numbers are just making her "so diffused".

The factory is losing money hand over fist with the workers not doing enough work per man, seeing as most of them are women. Lily suggests them getting a man in like they did at the humbug factory: a "deficiency excerpt", a fella stood standing there timing everybody's motions.

The "Management Insultent" offers his service to the pickle factory for £1,000, much more than the £5 and jars of pickles that the Pledges offer, so they decide to man the stopwatch themselves and time their own motions. However, the factory workers take unkindly to being clock watched and vote to strike!

Soon enough, the lack of factory output results in no money coming in. Nellie drags Eli into the pickling shed to do some pickling. He soon gets into the swing of things and fills the picking shed top to toe in jars of pickles, but he can't keep up the relentless pace of work and wants to apologies to the workers, on home territory in the Spread Eagle of course. A round of drinks and crisps, along with a whole heap of praise later, the picklers agree that the strike is off and to carry on working. The next morning, full of "renewed vinegar", the factory is full, for about a minute. As they notice the huge wall of pickles, they announce another strike, not wanting to work in a factory that employs black leg labour!