- Tereza fears that the engineer will come back to the bar, because she knows she won't be able to resist him.
- But then, after a month goes by without him, she wonders why he didn't come back.
- One day the rude bald-headed man tells a dirty joke.
- Tereza feels her mother's vulgar world intruding on her again, and so she interrupts him.
- They begin to argue. The bald-headed man tells her to be careful, since the only reason she's allowed to work at the bar is because "we let you" (4.23.6).
- He then makes it clear that, if he wanted to get rid of her, he could just accuse her of prostitution and get her fired.