He never had time for his direct responsibilities. This approach began in his very first workplace, when his father got him a job as a clerk at the London Borough of Lambeth. Barnes quickly realized what advantages he had in comparison with ordinary citizens, and what decisions he could make in favour of those who wanted to “agree” with him.
На свои прямые обязанности у него никогда не было времени. Повелось это еще с самого первого его места работы, когда отец пристроил его клерком в правительство лондонского боро Ламбет. Барнз быстро смекнул, что к чему, какими преимуществами перед простыми гражданами он обладает и какие решения может принимать в пользу тех, кто с ним хочет «договориться».
Since then, the official Joseph Barnes, holding an official position with a stable salary from the city budget, tried not to waste a minute of working time doing business concerned with his official job responsibilities. For that kind of work there were other, not so smart, employees. And Barnes himself was engaged in two activities at work: pleasing his superior and using his official position for kickbacks for personal gain.
С тех пор чиновник Йозеф Барнз, сидя в чиновничьем кресле на стабильной зарплате из городского бюджета, старался не тратить ни минуты рабочего времени на то, чтобы решать вопросы, касающиеся своих должностных обязанностей. Для такого рода дел были другие, не столь хваткие сотрудники. А сам Барнз занимался на работе двумя проблемами: угождал вышестоящему руководителю и, за отдельное вознаграждение, использовал служебное положение в личных целях.
So by the time he was fifty-five years of age he had gained the reputation of being a man with whom it is easy to do business, and since he did not forget to share the gains of this business with people of a higher social position, he had many useful people in his circle of friends.
Так, к своим пятидесяти пяти годам, он обзавёлся репутацией человека, с которым легко вести дела, а поскольку он не забывал делиться результатами этих дел с людьми с более высоким положением в обществе, то у него было множество полезных связей.
Barnes had one weakness – he collected in his mansion all kinds of esoteric things from different parts of the world. The more mysterious the story around the object of his desire, the greater was the lord’s interest in this thing. All the benefits of ordinary life were available to him and had therefore ceased to excite him. But rarities attracted him very much. Sometimes he was ready to do anything in the world to get some ancient scroll of the Jin Dynasty or a Roman tapestry.