Once Lantier brought a woman with him to the "Galette Windmill" and Coupeau left immediately after dessert.
One naturally cannot both guzzle and work; so that ever since the hatter was made one of the family, the zinc-worker, who was already pretty lazy, had got to the point of never touching a tool.

When tired of doing nothing, he sometimes let himself be prevailed upon to take a job.

Then his comrade would look him up and chaff him unmercifully when he found him hanging to his knotty cord like a smoked ham, and he would call to him to come down and have a glass of wine.

And that settled it.

The zinc-worker would send the job to blazes and commence a booze which lasted days and weeks.