Old Woodifield is stirring some pretty unpleasant memories by mentioning the war grave of the boss's son. He doesn't mean anything by it, of course; he's simply relating the story of his daughters going to visit their own brother's war grave in Belgium. While they were staying at their hotel, they were charged the exorbitant sum of ten francs for a pot of jam. Old Woodifield reckons that the hotel was just taking advantage of them. In any case, the episode illustrates the huge difference in how Old Woodifield and the boss deal with their respective losses. Old Woodifield talks about his son's war grave in an almost casual, matter-of-fact manner, while the boss has been emotionally destroyed by his loss; he is unable to move on with his life in any meaningful sense.

In “The Fly,” the pot of jam is mentioned by old Woodifield as he tells of his girls traveling in Belgium: "’D'you know what the hotel made the girls pay for a pot of jam?’ he piped. ‘Ten francs! Robbery, I call it….Gertrude brought the pot away with her to teach 'em a lesson.’” What he means by this is really quite simple—a pot is just a small container in which jam is served. The term isn’t very popular nowadays, but a good comparison could be a honey pot, which is still in common usage. "Pot" is really just another way to refer to a small jar in this context.

Ten francs for a small container of jam—a container the size of a large coin—seems an exorbitant price to pay, and Gertrude is so disgusted at being ripped off for something as simple as jam that she steals the pot from the dining room.