The hotel manager called Len a sluggard. (sluggard: idler, loafer, lazybones) A somnolent face and a sluggish step looked like indolence to a man who timed his porters with a watch. (somnolent: drowsy, sleepy, slumberous; sluggish: slow, lethargic, torpid; indolence: laziness, idleness, sloth) He was unwilling to pay an indolent worker for the lackluster spectacle of carrying one chair at a time. (indolent: lazy, idle, slothful; lackluster: dull, uninspired, flat)
He staged a race. The fastest employees piled chairs so high they could scarcely see. Len made one unhurried journey after another. When the stacks began to waver on a turn, his competitors had to stop and restrain them. (waver: vacillate, hesitate, falter; restrain: curb, restrict, constrain) A single fall would have been costly.
At noon Len had moved thirty-six chairs and scuffed none. His employer had to reconsider what counted as a fruitful morning. (fruitful: productive, rewarding, profitable) He put away the watch. Len, who built clocks on his day off, offered to wind it for him.