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diff --git a/23025.txt b/23025.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2b299f --- /dev/null +++ b/23025.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6713 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Book of Business Etiquette, by Nella Henney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Book of Business Etiquette + +Author: Nella Henney + +Release Date: October 13, 2007 [EBook #23025] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ETIQUETTE *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images from the Home Economics +Archive: Research, Tradition and History, Albert R. Mann +Library, Cornell University) + + + + + + + + + +_The Book of_ +BUSINESS ETIQUETTE + + + + +_The Book of_ +Business Etiquette + +Garden City New York +Doubleday, Page & Company +1922 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION +INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES +AT +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. + +_First Edition_ + + + + +RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED +(AS BEFITS AN AUTHOR) + +TO +THREE BUSINESS MEN + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + + +It would be a pleasure to call over by name and thank individually the +business men and the business organizations that so graciously furnished +the material upon which this little book is based. But the author feels +that some of them will not agree with all the statements made and the +inferences drawn, and for this reason is unable to do better than give +this meager return for a service which was by no means meager. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PART I + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE AMERICAN BUSINESS MAN 1 + + II. THE VALUE OF COURTESY 17 + + III. PUTTING COURTESY INTO BUSINESS 40 + + IV. PERSONALITY 70 + + V. TABLE MANNERS 94 + + VI. TELEPHONES AND FRONT DOORS 108 + + VII. TRAVELING AND SELLING 130 + +VIII. THE BUSINESS OF WRITING 153 + + IX. MORALS AND MANNERS 183 + + +PART II + + X. "BIG BUSINESS" 209 + + XI. IN A DEPARTMENT STORE 242 + + XII. A WHILE WITH A TRAVELING MAN 250 + +XIII. TABLES FOR TWO OR MORE 268 + + XIV. LADIES FIRST? 279 + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: Please note that the book does not credit an +author. The Library of Congress lists Nella Henney as the author.] + + + + +PART I + + + + +THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ETIQUETTE + + + + +I + +THE AMERICAN BUSINESS MAN + + +The business man is the national hero of America, as native to the soil +and as typical of the country as baseball or Broadway or big +advertising. He is an interesting figure, picturesque and not unlovable, +not so dashing perhaps as a knight in armor or a soldier in uniform, but +he is not without the noble (and ignoble) qualities which have +characterized the tribe of man since the world began. America, in common +with other countries, has had distinguished statesmen and soldiers, +authors and artists--and they have not all gone to their graves +unhonored and unsung--but the hero story which belongs to her and to no +one else is the story of the business man. + +Nearly always it has had its beginning in humble surroundings, with a +little boy born in a log cabin in the woods, in a wretched shanty at +the edge of a field, in a crowded tenement section or in the slums of a +foreign city, who studied and worked by daylight and firelight while he +made his living blacking boots or selling papers until he found the +trail by which he could climb to what we are pleased to call success. +Measured by the standards of Greece and Rome or the Middle Ages, when +practically the only form of achievement worth mentioning was fighting +to kill, his career has not been a romantic one. It has had to do not +with dragons and banners and trumpets, but with stockyards and oil +fields, with railroads, sewer systems, heat, light, and water plants, +telephones, cotton, corn, ten-cent stores and--we might as well make a +clean breast of it--chewing gum. + +We have no desire to crown the business man with a halo, though judging +from their magazines and from the stories which they write of their own +lives, they are almost without spot or blemish. Most of them seem not +even to have had faults to overcome. They were born perfect. Now the +truth is that the methods of accomplishment which the American business +man has used have not always been above reproach and still are not. At +the same time it would not be hard to prove that he--and here we are +speaking of the average--with all his faults and failings (and they are +many), with all his virtues (and he is not without them), is superior in +character to the business men of other times in other countries. This +without boasting. It would be a great pity if he were not. + +Without trying to settle the question as to whether he is good or bad +(and he really can be pigeon-holed no better than any one else) we have +to accept this: He is the biggest factor in the American commonwealth +to-day. It follows then, naturally, that what he thinks and feels will +color and probably dominate the ideas and the ideals of the rest of the +country. Numbers of our magazines--and they are as good an index as we +have to the feeling of the general public--are given over completely to +the service or the entertainment of business men (the T. B. M.) and an +astonishing amount of space is devoted to them in most of the others. + +It may be, and as a matter of fact constantly is, debated whether all +this is good for the country or not. We shall not go into that. It has +certainly been good for business, and in considering the men who have +developed our industries we have to take them, and maybe it is just as +well, as they are and not as we think they ought to be. + +There was a time when the farmer was the principal citizen. And the +politician ingratiated himself with the people by declaring that he too +had split rails and followed the plow, had harvested grain and had +suffered from wet spells and dry spells, low prices, dull seasons, +hunger and hardship. This is still a pretty sure way to win out, but +there are others. If he can refer feelingly to the days when he worked +and sweated in a coal mine, in a printing shop, a cotton, wool, or silk +mill, steel or motor plant, he can hold his own with the ex-farmer's +boy. We have become a nation of business men. Even the "dirt" farmer has +become a business man--he has learned that he not only has to produce, +he must find a market for his product. + +In comparing the business man of the present with the business man of +the past we must remember that he is living in a more difficult world. +Life was comparatively simple when men dressed in skins and ate roots +and had their homes in scattered caves. They felt no need for a code of +conduct because they felt no need for one another. They depended not on +humanity but on nature, and perhaps human brotherhood would never have +come to have a meaning if nature had not proved treacherous. She gave +them berries and bananas, sunshine and soft breezes, but she gave them +trouble also in the shape of wild beasts, and savages, terrible +droughts, winds, and floods. In order to fight against these enemies, +strength was necessary, and when primitive men discovered that two were +worth twice as much as one they began to join forces. This was the +beginning of civilization and of politeness. It rose out of the oldest +instinct in the world--self-preservation. + +When men first organized into groups the units were small, a mere +handful of people under a chief, but gradually they became larger and +larger until the nations of to-day have grown into a sort of world +community composed of separate countries, each one supreme in its own +domain, but at the same time bound to the others by economic ties +stronger than sentimental or political ones could ever be. People are +now more dependent on one another than they have ever been before, and +the need for confidence is greater. We cannot depend upon one another +unless we can trust one another. + +The American community is in many respects the most complex the world +has ever seen, and the hardest to manage. In other countries the manners +have been the natural result of the national development. The strong who +had risen to the top in the struggle for existence formed themselves +into a group. The weak who stayed at the bottom fell into another, and +the bulk of the populace, which, then as now, came somewhere in between, +fell into a third or was divided according to standards of its own. +Custom solidified the groups into classes which became so strengthened +by years of usage that even when formal distinctions were broken down +the barriers were still too solid for a man who was born into a certain +group to climb very easily into the one above him. Custom also dictated +what was expected of the several classes. Each must be gracious to those +below and deferential to those above. The king, because he was king, +must be regal. The nobility must, _noblesse oblige_, be magnificent, and +as for the rest of the people, it did not matter much so long as they +worked hard and stayed quiet. There were upheavals, of course, and now +and then a slave with a braver heart and a stouter spirit than his +companions incited them to rebellion. His head was chopped off for his +pains and he was promptly forgotten. The majority of the people for +thousands of years honestly believed that this was the only orderly +basis upon which society could be organized. + +Nebulous ideas of a brotherhood, in which each man was to have an equal +chance with every other, burned brightly for a little while in various +parts of the world at different times, and flickered out. They broke +forth with the fury of an explosion in France during the Revolution and +in Russia during the Red Terror. They have smoldered quietly in some +places and had just begun to break through with a steady, even flame. +But America struck the match and gathered the wood to start her own +fire. She is the first country in the world which was founded especially +to promote individual freedom and the brotherhood of mankind. She had, +to change the figure slightly, a blue-print to start with and she has +been building ever since. + +Her material came from the eastern hemisphere. The nations there at the +time when the United States was settled were at different stages of +their development. Some were vigorous with youth, some were in the +height of their glory, and some were dying because the descendants of +the men who had made them great were futile and incapable. These nations +were different in race and religion, in thought, language, traditions, +and temperament. When they were not quarreling with each other, they +were busy with domestic squabbles. They had kept this up for centuries +and were at it when the settlers landed at Jamestown and later when the +_Mayflower_ came to Plymouth Rock. Yet, with a cheerful disregard of +the past and an almost sublime hope in the future they expected to live +happily ever after they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Needless to add, +they did not. + +Accident of place cannot change a man's color (though it may bleach it a +shade lighter or tan it a shade darker), nor his religion nor any of the +other racial and inherent qualities which are the result of slow +centuries of development. And the same elements which made men fight in +the old countries set them against each other in the new. Most of the +antagonisms were and are the result of prejudices, foolish narrow +prejudices, which, nevertheless, must be beaten down before we can +expect genuine courtesy. + +Further complications arose, and are still arising, from the fact that +we did not all get here at the same time. Those who came first have +inevitably and almost unconsciously formulated their own system of +manners. Wherever there is community life and a certain amount of +leisure there is a standard of cultivated behavior. And America, young +as she is, has already accumulated traditions of her own. + +It is beyond doubt that the men who came over in the early days were, as +a rule, better timber than the ones who come now. They came to live and +die, if necessary, for a religious or a political principle, for +adventure, or like the debtors in Oglethorpe's colony in Georgia, to +wipe clean the slate of the past and begin life again. To-day they come +to make money or because they think they will find life easier here than +it was where they were. And one of the chief reasons for the discontent +and unrest (and, incidentally, rudeness) which prevails among them is +that they find it hard. We are speaking in general terms. There are +glorious exceptions. + +The sturdy virtues of the pioneers did not include politeness. They +never do. So long as there is an animal fear of existence man cannot +think of minor elegances. He cannot live by bread alone, but he cannot +live at all without it. Bread must come first. And the Pilgrim Father +was too busy learning how to wring a living from the forbidding rocks of +New England with one hand while he fought off the Indians with the other +to give much time to tea parties and luncheons. Nowhere in America +except in the South, where the leisurely life of the plantations gave +opportunity for it, was any great attention paid to formal courtesy. But +everywhere, as soon as the country had been tamed and prosperity began +to peep over the horizon, the pioneers began to grow polite. They had +time for it. + +What we must remember--and this is a reason, not an excuse, for bad +manners--is that these new people coming into the country, the +present-day immigrants, are pioneers, and that the life is not an easy +one whether it is lived among a wilderness of trees and beasts in a +forest or a wilderness of men and buildings in a city. The average +American brings a good many charges against the foreigner--some of them +justified, for much of the "back-wash" of Europe and Asia has drifted +into our harbor--but he must remember this: Whatever his opinion of the +immigrant may be the fault is ours--he came into this country under the +sanction of our laws. And he is entitled to fair and courteous treatment +from every citizen who lives under the folds of the American flag. + +The heterogeneous mixture which makes up our population is a serious +obstacle (but not an insuperable one) in the way of courtesy, but there +is another even greater. The first is America's problem. The second +belongs to the world. + +Material progress has raced so far ahead of mental and spiritual +progress that the world itself is a good many years in advance of the +people who are living in it. Our statesmen ride to Washington in +automobiles and sleeping cars, but they are not vastly preferable to +those who went there in stagecoaches and on horseback. In other words, +there has been considerably more improvement in the vehicles which fill +our highways than there has been in the people who ride in them. + +The average man--who is, when all is said and done, the most important +person in the state--has stood still while the currents of science and +invention have swept past him. He has watched the work of the world pass +into the keeping of machines, shining miracles of steel and electricity, +and has forgot himself in worshipping them. Now he is beginning to +realize that it is much easier to make a perfect machine than it is to +find a perfect man to put behind it, and that man himself, even at his +worst (and that is pretty bad) is worth more than anything else in the +scheme of created things. + +This tremendous change in environment resulting from the overwhelming +domination of machinery has brought about a corresponding change in +manners. For manners consist, in the main, of adapting oneself to one's +surroundings. And the story of courtesy is the story of evolution. + +It is interesting to run some of our conventions back to their origin. +Nearly every one of them grew out of a practical desire for lessening +friction or making life pleasanter. The first gesture of courtesy was, +no doubt, some form of greeting by which one man could know another as a +friend and not an enemy. They carried weapons then as habitually as they +carry watches to-day and used them as frequently, so that when a man +approached his neighbor to talk about the prospects of the sugar or +berry crop he held out his right hand, which was the weapon hand, as a +sign of peace. This eventually became the handshake. Raising one's hat +is a relic of the days of chivalry when knights wore helmets which they +removed when they came into the house, both because they were more +comfortable without them and because it showed their respect for the +ladies, whom it was their duty to serve. And nearly every other ceremony +which has lasted was based on common sense. "Etiquette," as Dr. Brown +has said, "with all its littlenesses and niceties, is founded upon a +central idea of right and wrong." + +The word "courtesy" itself did not come into the language until late +(etiquette came even later) and then it was used to describe the polite +practices at court. It was wholly divorced from any idea of character, +and the most fastidious gentlemen were sometimes the most complete +scoundrels. Even the authors of books of etiquette were men of great +superficial elegance whose moral standards were scandalously low. One of +them, an Italian, was banished from court for having published an +indecent poem and wrote his treatise on polite behavior while he was +living in enforced retirement in his villa outside the city. It was +translated for the edification of the young men of England and France +and served as a standard for several generations. Another, an +Englishman, spent the later years of his life writing letters to his +illegitimate son, telling him exactly how to conduct himself in the +courtly (and more or less corrupt) circles to which his noble rank +entitled him. The letters were bound into a fat, dreary volume which +still sits on the dust-covered shelves of many a library, and the name +of the author has become a synonym for exquisite manners. Influential as +he was in his own time, however, neither he nor any of the others of the +early arbiters of elegance could set himself up as a dictator of what is +polite to American men, of no matter what class, and get by with it. Not +very far by, at any rate. + +It is impossible now to separate courtesy and character. Politeness is a +fundamental, not a superficial, thing. It is the golden rule translated +into terms of conduct. It is not a white-wash which, if laid on thick +enough, will cover every defect. It is a clear varnish which shows the +texture and grain of the wood beneath. In the ideal democracy the ideal +citizen is the man who is not only incapable of doing an ungallant or an +ungracious thing, but is equally incapable of doing an unmanly one. +There is no use lamenting the spacious days of long ago. Wishing for +them will not bring them back. Our problem is to put the principles of +courtesy into practice even in this hurried and hectic Twentieth Century +of ours. And since the business man is in numbers, and perhaps in power +also, the most consequential person in the country, it is of most +importance that he should have a high standard of behavior, a high +standard of civility, which includes not only courtesy but everything +which has to do with good citizenship. + +We have no desire for candy-box courtesy. It should be made of sterner +stuff. Nor do we care for the sort which made the polite Frenchman say, +"Excusez-moi" when he stabbed his adversary. We can scarcely hope just +yet to attain to the magnificent calm which enabled Marie Antoinette to +say, "I'm sorry. I did not do it on purpose," when she stepped on the +foot of her executioner as they stood together on the scaffold, or Lord +Chesterfield, gentleman to the very end, to say, "Give Dayrolles a +chair" when his physician came into the room in which he lay dying. But +we do want something that will enable us to live together in the world +with a minimum degree of friction. + +The best of us get on one another's nerves, even under ordinary +conditions, and it takes infinite pains and self-control to get through +a trying day in a busy office without striking sparks somewhere. If +there is a secret of success, and some of the advertisements seem trying +to persuade us that it is all secret, it is the ability to work +efficiently and pleasantly with other people. The business man never +works alone. He is caught in the clutches of civilization and there is +no escape. He is like a man climbing a mountain tied to a lot of other +men climbing the same mountain. What each one does affects all the +others. + +We do not want our people to devote themselves entirely to the art of +being agreeable. If we could conceive of a world where everybody was +perfectly polite and smiling all the time we should hardly like to live +in it. It is human nature not to like perfection, and most of us, if +brought face to face with that model of behavior, Mr. Turveydrop, who +spent his life serving as a pattern of deportment, would sympathize +with the delightful old lady who looked at him in the full flower of +his glory and cried viciously (but under her breath) "I could bite you!" + +When Pope Benedict XI sent a messenger to Giotto for a sample of his +work the great artist drew a perfect circle with one sweep of his arm +and gave it to the boy. Before his death Giotto executed many marvelous +works of art, not one of them perfect, not even the magnificent bell +tower at Florence, but all of them infinitely greater than the circle. +It is better, whether one is working with bricks or souls, to build +nobly than to build perfectly. + + + + +II + +THE VALUE OF COURTESY + + +Every progressive business man will agree with the successful Western +manufacturer who says that "courtesy can pay larger dividends in +proportion to the effort expended than any other of the many human +characteristics which might be classed as Instruments of +Accomplishment." But this was not always true. In the beginning "big +business" assumed an arrogant, high-handed attitude toward the public +and rode rough-shod over its feelings and rights whenever possible. This +was especially the case among the big monopolies and public service +corporations, and much of the antagonism against the railroads to-day is +the result of the methods they used when they first began to lay tracks +and carry passengers. Nor was this sort of thing limited to the large +concerns. Small business consisted many times of trickery executed +according to David Harum's motto of "Do unto the other feller as he +would like to do unto you, but do him fust." The public is a +long-suffering body and the business man is a hard-headed one, but +after a while the public began to realize that it was not necessary to +put up with gross rudeness and the business man began to realize that a +policy of pleasantness was much better than the "treat 'em rough" idea +upon which he had been acting. He deserves no special credit for it. It +was as simple and as obvious a thing as putting up an umbrella when it +is raining. + +People knew, long before this enlightened era of ours, that politeness +had value. In one of the oldest books of good manners in the English +language a man with "an eye to the main chance" advised his pupils to +cultivate honesty, gentleness, propriety, and deportment because they +paid. But it has not been until recently that business men as a whole +have realized that courtesy is a practical asset to them. Business +cannot be separated from money and there is no use to try. Men work that +they may live. And the reason they have begun to develop and exploit +courtesy is that they have discovered that it makes for better work and +better living. Success, they have learned, in spite of the conspicuous +wealth of several magnates who got their money by questionable means, +depends upon good will and good will depends upon the square deal +courteously given. + +The time is within the memory of living men, and very young men at that, +when the idea of putting courtesy into business dealings sprang up, but +it has taken hold remarkably. When the Hudson Tubes were opened not +quite a decade and a half ago Mr. McAdoo inaugurated what was at that +time an almost revolutionary policy. He took the motto, "The Public be +Pleased," instead of the one made famous by Mr. Vanderbilt, and posted +it all about, had pamphlets distributed, and made a speech on courtesy +in railroad management and elsewhere. Since that time, not altogether +because of the precedent which had been established, but because people +were beginning to realize that with this new element creeping into +business the old regime had to die because it could not compete with it, +there have been all sorts of courtesy campaigns among railroad and bus +companies, and even among post office and banking employees, to mention +only two of the groups notorious for haughty and arrogant behavior. The +effects of a big telephone company have been so strenuous and so well +planned and executed that they are reserved for discussion in another +chapter. + +Mr. McAdoo tells a number of charming stories which grew out of the +Hudson Tubes experiment. One day during a political convention when he +was standing in the lobby of a hotel in a certain city a jeweler came +over to him after a slight moment of hesitation, gave him one of his +cards and said, "Mr. McAdoo, I owe you a great debt of gratitude. For +that," he added, pointing to "The Public be Pleased" engraved in small +letters on the card just above his name. "I was in New York the day the +tunnel was opened," he continued, "and I heard your speech, and said to +myself that it might be a pretty good idea to try that in the jewelry +trade. And would you believe it, my profits during the first year were +more than fifty per cent bigger than they were the year before?" And we +venture to add that the jeweler was more than twice as happy and that it +was not altogether because there was more money in his coffers. + +Mr. McAdoo is a man with whom courtesy is not merely a policy: it is a +habit as well. He places it next to integrity of character as a +qualification for a business man, and he carries it into every part of +his personal activity, as the statesmen and elevator boys, waiters and +financiers, politicians and stenographers with whom he has come into +contact can testify. "I never have a secretary," he says, "who is not +courteous, no matter what his other qualifications may be." During the +past few years Mr. McAdoo has been placed in a position to be sought +after by all kinds of people, and in nearly every instance he has given +an interview to whoever has asked for it. "I have always felt," we quote +him again, "that a public servant should be as accessible to the public +as possible." Courtesy with him, as with any one else who makes it a +habit, has a cumulative effect. The effect cannot always be traced as in +the case of the jeweler or in the story given below in which money plays +a very negligible part, but it is always there. + +On one occasion--this was when he was president of the Hudson +Railroad--Mr. McAdoo was on his way up to the Adirondacks when the train +broke down. It was ill provided for such a catastrophe, there was no +dining car, only a small buffet, and the wait was a long and trying one. +When Mr. McAdoo after several hours went back to the buffet to see if he +could get a cup of coffee and some rolls he found the conductor almost +swamped by irate passengers who blamed him, in the way that passengers +will, for something that was no more his fault than theirs. The +conductor glanced up when Mr. McAdoo came in, expecting him to break +into an explosion of indignation, but Mr. McAdoo said, "Well, you have +troubles enough already without my adding to them." + +The conductor stepped out of the group. "What did you want, sir?" he +asked. + +"Why, nothing, now," Mr. McAdoo responded. "I did want a cup of coffee, +but never mind about it." + +"Come into the smoker here," the conductor said. "Wait a minute." + +The conductor disappeared and came back in a few minutes with coffee, +bread, and butter. Mr. McAdoo thanked him warmly, gave him his card and +told him that if he ever thought he could do anything for him to let him +know. The conductor looked at the card. + +"Are you the president of the Hudson Railroad?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, maybe there's something you can do for me now. There are two men +out here who say they are going to report me for what happened this +morning. You know how things have been, and if they do, I wish you would +write to headquarters and explain. I'm in line for promotion and you +know what a black mark means in a case like that." + +Mr. McAdoo assured him that he would write if it became necessary. The +men were bluffing, however, and the complaint was never sent in. +Apparently the incident was closed. + +Several years later Mr. McAdoo's son was coming down from the +Adirondacks when he lost his Pullman ticket. He did not discover the +fact until he got to the station, and then he had no money and no time +to get any by wire before the train left. He went to the conductor, +explained his dilemma, and told him that if he would allow him to ride +down to the city his father, who was to meet him at the Grand Central +station, would pay him for the ticket. The conductor liked the +youngster--perhaps because there was something about him that reminded +him of his father, for as chance would have it, the conductor was the +same one who had brought Mr. McAdoo the coffee and bread in the smoking +car so many months before. + +"Who is your father?" he asked. + +"Mr. McAdoo." + +"President of the Hudson Railroad?" + +"Yes." + +"Boy, you can have the train!" + +So far as monetary value of courtesy is concerned we might recount +hundreds of instances where a single act of politeness brought in +thousands of dollars. Only the other morning the papers carried the +story of a man who thirty years ago went into a tailor's shop with a +ragged tear in his trousers and begged the tailor to mend it and to +trust him for the payment which amounted to fifty cents. The tailor +agreed cheerfully enough and the man went his way, entered business and +made a fortune. He died recently and left the tailor fifty thousand +dollars. Not long before that there was a story of an old woman who came +to New York to visit her nephew--it was to be a surprise--and lost her +bearings so completely when she got into the station that she was about +ready to turn around and go back home when a very polite young man +noticed her bewilderment. He offered his services, called a taxi and +deposited her in front of her nephew's door in half an hour. She took +his name and address and a few days later he received a check large +enough to enable him to enter the Columbia Law School. A banker is fond +of telling the story of an old fellow who came into his bank one day in +a suit of black so old that it had taken on a sickly greenish tinge. He +fell into the hands of a polite clerk who answered all his +questions--and there were a great many of them--clearly, patiently, and +courteously. The old man went away but came back in a day or so with +$300,000 which he placed on deposit. "I did have some doubts," he said, +"but this young man settled them all." Word of it went to people in +authority and the clerk was promoted. + +Now it is pleasant to know that these good people were rewarded as they +deserved to be. We would be very happy if we could promise a like reward +to every one who is similarly kind, but it is no use. The little words +of love and the little deeds of kindness go often without recompense so +far as we can see, except that they happify the world, but that in +itself is no small return. + +Courtesy pays in dollars and cents but its value goes far beyond that. +It is the chief element in building good will--we are speaking now of +courtesy as an outgrowth of character--and good will is to a firm what +honor is to a man. He can lose everything else but so long as he keeps +his honor he has something to build with. In the same way a business can +lose all its material assets and can replace them with insurance money +or something else, but if it loses its good will it will find in ninety +cases out of a hundred that it is gone forever and that the business +itself has become so weakened that there is nothing left but to +reorganize it completely and blot out the old institution altogether. + +One must not make the mistake of believing that good will can be built +on courtesy alone. Courtesy must be backed up by something more solid. +An excellent comparison to show the relation that good manners bear to +uprightness and integrity of character was drawn a number of years ago +by a famous Italian prelate. We shall paraphrase the quaint English of +the original translator. "Just as men do commonly fear beasts that are +cruel and wild," he says, "and have no manner of fear of little ones +such as gnats and flies, and yet because of the continual nuisance which +they find them, complain more of these than they do of the other: so +most men hate the unmannerly and untaught as much as they do the wicked, +and more. There is no doubt that he who wishes to live, not in solitary +and desert places, like a hermit, but in fellowship with men, and in +populous cities, will find it a very necessary thing, to have skill to +put himself forth comely and seemly in his fashions, gestures, and +manners: the lack of which do make other virtues lame." + +Granting dependability of character, courtesy is the next finest +business builder an organization can have. One of the largest trust +companies in the world was built up on this hypothesis. A good many +years ago the man who is responsible for its growth was cashier in a +"busted" bank in a small city. The situation was a desperate one, for +the bank could not do anything more for its customers than it was +already doing. It could not give them more interest on their money and +most of its other functions were mechanical. The young cashier began to +wonder why people went to one bank in preference to another and in his +own mind drew a comparison between the banking and the clothing +business. He always went to the haberdasher who treated him best. Other +men he knew did the same thing. Would not the same principle work in a +bank? Would not people come to the place which gave them the best +service? He decided to try it. Not only would they give efficient +service, they would give it pleasantly. It was their last card but it +was a trump. It won. The bank began to prosper. People who were annoyed +by rude, brusque, or indifferent treatment in other banks came to this +one. The cashier was raised to a position of importance and in an +incredibly short time was made president of a trust company in New York. +He carried with him exactly the same principle that had worked so well +in the little bank and the result in the big one was exactly the same. + +In a leaflet which is in circulation among the employees at this +institution there are these paragraphs: + + We ask you to remember: + + That our customers _can_ get along without us. + + (There are in Greater New York nearly one hundred banks and trust + companies, every one of them actively seeking business.) + + We _cannot_ get along without our customers. + + A connection which, perhaps, it has taken us several months to + establish, can be terminated by one careless or discourteous act. + + Our customers are asked to maintain balances of certain + proportions. If they wish to borrow money, they must deposit + collateral. They must repay loans when they mature; or arrange + for their extension. + + If a bank errs, it must err on the side of safety, for the money + it loans is not its own money but the money of its depositors. We + (and every other bank and trust company) operate almost entirely + on money which our customers have deposited with us. The least we + can do, then, is to serve them courteously. They really are our + employers. + + Ours is a semi-public institution. + + Every day, men try to interest us in matters with which we have + no concern. It is our duty to tell these men, very courteously, + why their proposals do not appeal to us. But they are entitled to + a hearing. It may be that they are not in a position to benefit + us, and never will be. But almost every man can harm us, if he + tries to do so. And a pleasantly expressed declination invariably + makes a better impression than a favor grudgingly granted. We ask + you, then, to remember that our growth--and your + opportunities--depend not only upon the friends we make, but _the + enemies we do not make_. + + Remember names and faces. Do something, say something that will + bring home to those who do business with us the fact that the + Blank Trust Company is a very human institution--that it wants + the good will of every man and woman in the country. + +That is the kind of courtesy which has builded this particular +organization. It is a pleasure to visit it to-day because of the spirit +of cooeperation which animates it. They have done away with the elaborate +spy systems in use in so many banks, although they keep the management +well enough in hand to be able to fasten the blame for mistakes upon the +right person. The employees work with one another and with the +president, whom they adore. It is, as a matter of fact, largely the +influence of the personality of the president filtering down through the +ranks which has made possible the phenomenal success which the +institution has enjoyed during the past few years, another proof of the +fact that every institution--and Emerson was speaking of great +institutions when he said it--"is the lengthened shadow of one man." + +Banks have almost a peculiar problem. Money is a mighty power, and to +the average person there is something very awesome about the place where +it is kept. Mr. Stephen Leacock is not the only man who ever went into a +bank with a funny little guilty feeling even when he had money in it. +When one is in this frame of mind it takes very little on the part of +the clerk to make him believe that he has been treated rudely. Bank +clerks are notoriously haughty, but the fault is often as much in the +person on the outside as in the one on the inside of the bars, +especially when he has come in to draw out money which he knows he +should not, such as his savings bank account, for instance. The other +day a young man went into a savings bank to draw out all of his money +for a purpose which he knew was extravagant although he had persuaded +himself that it was not. Throughout the whole time he was in the bank he +was treated with perfect courtesy, but in spite of it he came out +growling about "the dirty look the paying teller gave him!" + +It is not only in the first contact that civility is important. Eternal +vigilance is the price of success as well as of liberty. Another +incident from the banking business illustrates this. Several years ago a +bank which had been steadily losing customers called in a publicity +expert to build up trade for them. The man organized a splendid campaign +and things started off with a flourish. People began to come in most +gratifying numbers. But they did not stay. An investigation conducted +by the publicity man disclosed the fact that they had been driven away +by negligent and discourteous service. He went to the president of the +bank and told him that he was wasting money building up advertising so +long as his bank maintained its present attitude toward the public. The +president was a man of practical sense. There was a general clearing up, +those who were past reform were discharged and those who stayed were +given careful training in what good breeding meant and there was no more +trouble. Advertising will bring in a customer but it takes courtesy to +keep him. + +Business, like nearly everything else, is easier to tear down than to +build up, and one of the most devastating instruments of destruction is +discourtesy. A contact which has taken years to build can be broken off +by one snippy letter, one pert answer, or one discourteous response over +the telephone. Even collection letters, no matter how long overdue the +accounts are, bring in more returns when they are written with tact and +diplomacy than when these two qualities are omitted. If you insult a man +who owes you money he feels that the only way he can get even is not to +pay you, and in most cases, he can justify himself for not doing it. + +Within the organization itself a courteous attitude on the part of the +men in positions of authority toward those beneath them is of immense +importance. Sap rises from the bottom, and a business has arrived at the +point of stagnation when the men at the top refuse to listen to or help +those around them. It is, as a rule, however, not the veteran in +commercial affairs but the fledgling who causes most trouble by his bad +manners. Young men, especially young men who have been fortunate in +securing material advantages, too many times look upon the world as an +accident placed here for their personal enjoyment. It never takes long +in business to relieve their minds of this delusion, but they sometimes +accomplish a tremendous amount of damage before it happens. For a pert, +know-it-all manner coupled with the inefficiency which is almost +inseparable from a total lack of experience is not likely to make +personal contacts pleasant. Every young man worth his salt believes that +he can reform the world, but every old man who has lived in it knows +that it cannot be done. Somewhere half way between they meet and say, +"We'll keep working at it just the same," and then business begins to +pick up. But reaching the meeting ground takes tolerance and patience +and infinite politeness from both sides. + +"It is the grossest sort of incivility," the quotation is not exact, +for we do not remember the source, "to be contemptuous of any kind of +knowledge." And herein lies the difficulty between the hard-headed +business man of twenty years' experience and the youngster upon whose +diploma the ink has not yet dried. "Ignorance," declares a man who has +spent his life in trying to draw capital and labor together and has +succeeded in hundreds of factories, "is the cause of all trouble." And a +lack of understanding, which is a form of ignorance, is the cause of +nearly all discourtesy. + +So long as there is discourtesy in the world there must be protection +against it, and the best, cheapest, and easiest means of protection is +courtesy itself. Boats which are in constant danger of being run into, +such as the tug and ferry boats in a busy harbor, are fitted out with +buffers or fenders which are as much a part of their equipment as the +smokestack, and in many cases, as necessary. Ocean liners carry fenders +to be thrown over the side when there is need for them, but this +naturally is not as often as in more crowded waters. A single boat on a +deserted sea with nothing but sea-gulls and flying fish in sight cannot +damage any one besides herself. But the moment she enters a harbor she +has to take into account every other vessel in it from the _Aquitania_ +to the flat-bottomed row-boat with only one man in it. It is a +remarkable fact that most of the boats that are injured or sunk by +collision are damaged by vessels much smaller than themselves. Most of +these accidents (this statement is given on the authority of an able +seaman) could have been prevented by the use of a fender thrown over the +side at the proper moment. Politeness is like this. It is the finest +shock absorber in the world, as essential from an economic point of view +as it is pleasant from a social one. In business there is no royal +isolation. We are all ferry boats. We need our shock absorbers every +minute of the day. + +No boat has a right to run into another, but they do it just the same, +and a shock absorber is worth all the curses the captain and the crew +can pronounce, however righteous their indignation toward the offending +vessel. Sometimes politeness is better than justice. + +Most of the causes of irritation during the course of a business day are +too petty to bother about. Many of them could be ignored and a good many +more could be laughed at. A sense of humor and a sense of proportion +would do away with ninety per cent of all the wrangling in the world. +Some one has said, and not without truth, that a highly developed sense +of humor would have prevented the World War. Too many people use +sledge-hammers when tack hammers would do just as well. They belong in +the same company with William Jay whose immortal epitaph bears these +words: + + Here lies the body of William Jay + Who died maintaining his right of way. + He was right, dead right, as he sped along, + But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong. + +Courtesy is restful. A nervous frenzy of energy throughout the day +leaves one at sunset as exhausted as a punctured balloon. The fussy +little fellow who fancies himself rushed to death, who has no time to +talk with anybody, who cannot be polite to his stenographer and his +messenger boys because he is in such a terrible hurry, is dissipating +his energy into something that does not matter and using up the vitality +which should go into his work. He is very like the engine which +President Lincoln was so fond of telling about which used so much steam +in blowing its whistle that every time it did it it had to stop. + +The Orientals manage things better than we do. "We tried hurrying two +thousand years ago," a banker in Constantinople said to a tired American +business man, "and found that it did not pay. So we gave it up." There +is always time to be polite, and though it sounds like a contradiction, +there will be more time to spare if one devotes a part of his day to +courtesy. + +But there is danger in too much courtesy. Every virtue becomes a vice if +it is carried too far, and frank rudeness is better than servility or +hypocrisy. Commercial greed, there is no other name for it, leads a firm +to adopt some such idiotic motto as "the customer is always right." No +organization could ever live up to such a policy, and the principle back +of it is undemocratic, un-American, unsound and untrue. The customer is +not always right and the employer in a big (or little) concern who +places girls (department stores are the chief sinners in this) on the +front line of approach with any such instructions is a menace to +self-respecting business. America does not want a serving class with a +"king-can-do-no-wrong" attitude toward the public. Business is service, +not servility, and courtesy works both ways. There is no more sense in +business proclaiming that the customer is always right than there would +be in a customer declaring that business is always right, and no more +truth. + +No good business man will argue with a customer, or anybody else, not +only because it is bad policy to do so, but because his self-respect +will not allow it. He will give and require from his employees +courteous treatment toward his customers, and when doubt arises he will +give them (the customers) the benefit of it. And he will always remember +that he is dealing with an intelligent human being. The customer has a +right to expect a firm to supply him with reliable commodities and to do +it pleasantly, but he has no right to expect it to prostrate itself at +his feet in order to retain his trade, however large that trade may be. + +Too little has been said about courtesy on the part of the customer and +the public--that great headless mass of unrelated particles. Business is +service, we say, and the master is the public, the hardest one in the +world to serve. Each one of us speaks with more or less pitying contempt +of the public, forgetting that we ourselves are the public and that the +sum total of the good breeding, intelligence, and character of the +public can be no greater than that of the individuals who make it up. + +"Sid," of the _American Magazine_, says that he once asked the manager +of a circus which group of his employees he had most trouble keeping. +Quite unexpectedly the man replied, "The attendants. They get +'sucker-sore' and after that they are no good." This is how it happens. +The wild man from Borneo is placed in a cage with a placard attached +bearing in big letters the legend "The Wild Man from Borneo." An old +farmer comes to the circus, looks at the wild man from Borneo in his +cage, reads the placard, looks at the attendant, "Is this the wild man +from Borneo?" he asks. No human being can stand an unlimited amount of +this sort of thing, and the attendant, after he has explained some +hundred thousand or so times that this really is the wild man from +Borneo begins to lose his zest for it and to answer snappishly and +sarcastically. An infinite supply of courtesy would, of course, be a +priceless asset to him, but does not this work both ways? What right +have people to bother other people with perfectly foolish and imbecile +questions? Is there any one who cannot sympathize with a "sucker-sore" +attendant? And with the people who are stationed about for the purpose +of answering questions almost anywhere? There are not many of us who at +one time and another have not had the feeling that we were on the wrong +train even after we had asked the man who sold us the ticket, the man +who punched it at the gate, the guard who was standing near the +entrance, and the guard who was standing near the train, the porter, the +conductor, and the news-butcher if it was the right one and have had an +affirmative answer from every one of them. How many times can a man be +expected to answer such a question with a smile? For those who are +exposed to "suckers" the best advice is to be as gentle with them as +possible, to grit your teeth and hold your temper even when the +ninety-thousandth man comes through to ask if this is the right train. +For the "suckers" themselves there are only two words of advice. They +include all the rest: Stop it. + +It is impossible to tell what the value of courtesy is. Perhaps some day +the people who have learned to measure our minds will be able to tell us +just what a smile is worth. Maybe they can tell us also what Spring is +worth, and what happiness is worth. Meanwhile we do not know. We only +know that they are infinitely precious. + + + + +III + +PUTTING COURTESY INTO BUSINESS + + +We talk a great deal about gentlemen and about democracy and a good many +other words which describe noble conceptions without a very clear idea +of what they mean. The biggest mistake we make is in thinking of them as +something stationary like a monument carved in granite or a stone set +upon a hill, when the truth is that they are living ideas subject to the +change and growth of all living things. No man has ever yet become a +perfect gentleman because as his mind has developed his conception of +what a gentleman is has enlarged, just as no country has ever become a +perfect democracy because each new idea of freedom has led to broader +ideas of freedom. It is very much like walking through a tunnel. At +first there is only darkness, and then a tiny pin point of light ahead +which grows wider and wider as one advances toward it until, finally, he +stands out in the open with the world before him. There is no end to +life, and none to human development, at least none that can be conceived +of by the finite mind of man. + +There are hundreds of definitions of a gentleman, none of them +altogether satisfactory. Cardinal Newman says it is almost enough to say +that he is one who never gives pain. "They be the men," runs an old +chronicle, "whom their race and bloud, or at the least, their virtues, +do make noble and knowne." Barrow declares that they are the men lifted +above the vulgar crowd by two qualities: courage and courtesy. The +Century Dictionary, which is as good an authority as any, says, "A +gentleman is a man of good breeding, courtesy, and kindness; hence, a +man distinguished for fine sense of honor, strict regard for his +obligations, and consideration for the rights and feelings of others." +And this is a good enough working standard for anybody. The Dictionary +is careful to make--and this is important--a gentleman not one who +conforms to an outward and conventional standard, but one who follows an +inward and personal ideal. + +Of late days there has been a great deal of attention paid to making +gentlemen of business men and putting courtesy into all the +ramifications of business. Without doubt the chief reason for it is the +fact that business men themselves have discovered that it pays. One +restaurant frankly adopted the motto, "Courtesy Pays," and had it all +fixed up with gilt letters and framed and hung it near the front door, +and a number of other places have exactly the same policy for exactly +the same reason though they do not all proclaim the fact so boldly. It +is not the loftiest motive in the world but it is an intelligent one, +and it is better for a man to be polite because he hopes to win success +that way than for him not to be polite at all. + +Human conduct, even at its best, is not always inspired by the highest +possible motives. Not even the religions which men have followed have +been able to accomplish this. Most of them have held out the hope of +heavenly reward in payment for goodness here on earth and countless +millions of men (and women, too, for that matter) have kept in the +straight and narrow path because they were afraid to step out of it. It +may be that they were, intrinsically, no better men than the ones who +trod the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire, but they were much +easier to live with. And the man who is courteous, who is a gentleman, +whatever his motives, is a more agreeable citizen than the one who is +not. + +Now how--this is our problem--does one go about making a gentleman? +Environment plays, comparatively speaking, a very small part. "The +appellation of gentleman," this is from a gentleman of the Seventeenth +Century, "is not to be affixed to a man's circumstances, but to his +behavior in them." It is extremely doubtful if courtesy can be taught by +rule. It is more a matter of atmosphere, and an instinct "for the better +side of things and the cleaner surfaces of life." And yet, heredity, +training, and environment all enter into the process. + +It is a polite and pleasant fiction that courtesy is innate and not +acquired, and we hear a great deal about the "born lady" and the "born +gentleman." They are both myths. Babies are not polite, and the "king +upon 'is throne with 'is crown upon 'is 'ead" has had, if he is a +gentleman, life-long training in the art of being one. There is still in +existence a very interesting outline which was given by Queen Victoria +and Prince Albert to their oldest son, the Prince of Wales, on his +seventeenth birthday. It contained a careful summary of what was +expected of him as a Christian gentleman and included such items as +dress, appearance, deportment, relations with other people, and ability +to acquit himself well in whatever company he happened to be thrown. + +The King and Queen, although they were probably unaware of the fact, +were acting upon the advice of an authority on good manners at court a +number of years before their time. "Indeed," says the old manuscript, +"from seven to seventeen young gentlemen commonly are carefully enough +brought up: but from seventeen to seven-and-twenty (the most dangerous +time of all a man's life, and the most slippery to stay well in) they +have commonly the rein of all license in their own hand, and specially +such as do live in the court." If we bring the sentence up to date, and +it is as true now as it was then, we may substitute "business" for +"court." Business men as well as courtiers find the ages between +seventeen and seven-and-twenty "the most slippery to stay well in" for +it is during these years that they are establishing themselves in the +commercial world. As a general thing, but it is wise to remember that +there is no rule to which there are not exceptions, by the time a man is +twenty-seven his habits are formed and it is too late to acquire new +ones. + +Most children undergo a painstaking and more or less painful course of +instruction in good manners and know by the time they are men and women +what should be done whether they do it or not. Our social code is not a +complicated one, and there is no excuse except for the youngsters who +have just growed up like Topsy or have been brought up by jerks like +Pip. It is, without doubt, easier to be polite among people who are +naturally courteous than among those who snap and snarl at one another, +but it is a mistake to place too much emphasis on this part of it. Too +many men--business men, at that--have come up out of the mire for us to +be able to offer elaborate apologies for those who have stayed in it. +The background is of minor importance. A cockroach is a cockroach +anywhere you put him. + +It is easy to envy the men who have had superior advantages, and many a +man feels that if he had another's chance he, too, might have become a +great gentleman. It is an idle speculation. His own opportunities are +the only ones any man can attend to, and if he is sensible he will take +quick advantage of those that come, not in dreams, but in reality, and +will remember what a very sagacious English statesman said about matters +of even graver import: "It makes no difference where you are going. +You've got to start from where you are." + +The lack of early training is a handicap but not a formidable one, +especially to a business man. As the Spaniards say, there is little +curiosity about the pedigree of a good man. And no man needs to be +ashamed of his origin. The president of a firm would naturally be +interested in the ancestry of a young man who came to ask him for the +hand of his daughter, but if the man has come to sell a bill of goods he +does not care a snap. In discussions of the social evil it is often said +that every child has a right to be well born, but Robert Louis Stevenson +saw more deeply and spoke more truly when he said, "We are all nobly +born; fortunate those who know it; blessed those who remember." + +The finest Gentleman the world has ever seen was born some two thousand +years ago to the wife of a carpenter in Bethlehem and spent most of His +time among fishermen, tax-collectors, cripples, lepers, and outcasts of +various sorts; and yet in the entire record of His short and troubled +life there is not one mention of an ungraceful or an ungainly action. He +was careful to observe even the trivialities of social life. Mary and +Martha were quarreling before dinner. He quieted them with a few +gracious words. The people at the marriage feast at Cana were worried +because they had only water to drink. He touched it and gave them wine. +The multitude who came to hear Him were tired, footsore, and hungry. He +asked them to be seated and gave them food. He dined with the +Pharisees, He talked with the women of Samaria, He comforted Mary +Magdalen, and He washed the feet of His disciples. He was beset and +harassed by a thousand rude and unmannerly questions, but not once did +He return an impatient answer. Surely these things are godlike and +divine whatever one may believe about the relation of Jesus Christ to +God, the Father. + +It has been said that every man should choose a gentleman for his +father. He should also choose a gentleman for his employer. +Unfortunately he often has no more option in the one than he has in the +other. Very few of us get exactly what we want. But however this may be, +a gentleman at the head of a concern is a priceless asset. The +atmosphere of most business houses is determined by the man at the top. +His character filters down through the ranks. If he is a +rough-and-tumble sort of person the office is likely to be that kind of +place; if he is quiet and mannerly the chances are that the office will +be quiet and mannerly. If he is a gentleman everybody in the place will +know it and will feel the effects of it. "I am always glad John was with +Mr. Blank his first year in business," said a mother speaking of her +son. Mr. Blank was a man who had a life-long reputation for being as +straight as a shingle and as clean as a hound's tooth, every inch a +gentleman. + +"How do you account for the fact that you have come to place so much +emphasis on courtesy?" a business man was asked one day as he sat in his +upholstered office with great windows opening out on the New York +harbor. He thought for a moment, and his mind went back to the little +Georgia village where he was born and brought up. "My father was a +gentleman," he answered. "I remember when I was a boy he used to be +careful about such trifles as this. 'Now, Jim,' he would say, 'when you +stop on the sidewalk don't stop in the middle of it. Stand aside so you +won't be in anybody's way.' And even now," the man smiled, "I never stop +on the sidewalk without stepping to one side so as to be out of the +way." + +The life of a young person is plastic, easy to take impressions, strong +to retain them. And the "old man" or the "governor," whether he is +father, friend, or employer, or all three, has infinitely more influence +than either he or the young man realizes. At the same time it is +perfectly true that young people do not believe what older ones tell +them about life. They have to try it out for themselves. One generation +does not begin where the other left off. Each one of us begins at the +beginning, and the world, with all that it holds, is as wonderful +(though slightly different, to be sure) and as new to the child who is +born into it to-day as it was to Adam on the first morning after it was +created. + +It is almost tragic that so many young men take the tenor of their lives +from that of their employers, especially if the latter have been +successful. This places a terrific responsibility upon the employer +which does not, however, shift it from the employee. His part in +business or in life--and this is true of all of us--is what he makes it, +great or small. And the most important thing is for him to have a +personal ideal of what he thinks best and hold to it. He cannot get it +from the outside. + +"Courtesy is not one of the company's rules," wrote the manager of a +large organization which has been very successful in handling men and +making money. "It is a tradition, an instinct. It is an attribute of the +general tone, of the dominating influence of the management in all its +relations. It is a part of the general tone, the honor, the integrity of +the company. For three generations it has been looked upon as an +inheritance to be preserved and kept irreproachable. Employees are drawn +into this influence by the very simple process of their own +development. Those who find themselves in harmony with the character of +the company or who deliberately put themselves in tune, progress. Those +who do not, cannot, for long, do congenial or acceptable service." This +is the statement from the manager of a firm that is widely known for +courteous dealing. Their standard is now established. It is a part of +the atmosphere, and their chief problem is to get men who will fit into +it. + +An employer does not judge a man on an abstract basis. He takes him +because he thinks he will be useful to his business. This is why most +places like to get men when they are young. They are easier to train. + +Every one likes good material to work with, and employers are no +exception. They take the best they can find, and the higher the standard +of the firm the greater the care expended in choosing the employees. +"Whenever we find a good man," said the manager of a big trust company, +"we take him on. We may not have a place for him at the time but we keep +him until we find one." + +Except during times of stress such as that brought about by the war when +the soldiers were at the front, no business house hires people +indiscriminately. They know, as the Chinese have it, that rotten wood +cannot be carved. "It is our opinion," we quote from another manager, +"that courtesy cannot be pounded into a person who lacks proper social +basis. In other words, there are some people who would be boorish under +any circumstances. Our first and chief step toward courtesy is to +exercise care in selecting our employees. We weigh carefully each +applicant for a sales position and try to visualize his probable +deportment as our representative, and unless he gives promise of being a +fit representative we do not employ him." + +But it is not enough to take a man into a business organization. Every +newcomer must be broken in. Sometimes this is done by means of formal +training, sometimes it consists merely of giving him an idea of what is +expected of him and letting him work out his own salvation. Granting +that he is already familiar with the work in a general way, and that he +is intelligent and resourceful, he ought to be able to adapt himself +without a great deal of instruction from above. All of this depends upon +the kind of work which is to be done. + +Nearly every employer exercises more caution in selecting the man who is +to meet the public than any other. It is through him that the +all-important first impression is made, and a man who is rude or +discourteous, or who, for any reason, rubs people the wrong way, simply +will not do. He may have many virtues but unless they are apparent they +are for the time being of little service. + +Most salesmen have to go to school. Their work consists largely of the +study of one of the most difficult subjects in the catalogue: human +psychology. They must know why men do what they do and how to make them +do what they, the salesmen, want them to do. They must be able to handle +the most delicate situations courteously and without friction. It takes +the tact of a diplomat, the nerve of a trapeze performer, the physical +strength of a prize fighter, the optimism of William J. Bryan or of +Pollyanna, and the wisdom of Solomon. Not many men are born with this +combination of qualities. + +The best training schools base their teaching on character and common +sense. One very remarkable organization, which has at its head an +astonishingly buoyant and optimistic--and, it is hardly necessary to +add, successful--man, teaches that character is nine-tenths of success +in salesmanship and technique is only one-tenth. They study technique +and character along with it, in a scientific way, like the students in +a biological laboratory who examine specimens. Their prospects are their +subjects, and while they do not actually bring them into the +consultation room, they hold experience meetings and tell the stories of +their successful and unsuccessful contacts. The meetings are held at the +end of the day, when the men are all tired and many of them are +depressed and discouraged. They are opened with songs, "My Old Kentucky +Home," "Old Black Joe," "Sweet Adeline," and the other good old familiar +favorites that make one think of home and mother and school days and +happiness. One or two catchy popular songs are introduced, and the men +sing or hum or whistle or divide into groups and do all three with all +their might. It is irresistible. Fifteen or twenty minutes of it can +wipe out the sourest memory of the day's business, and trivial +irritations sink to their proper place in the scheme of things. The +little speeches follow, and the men clap and cheer for the ones who have +done good work and try to make an intelligent diagnosis of the cases of +the ones who have not. When the leader talks he sometimes recounts his +early experiences--he, like most good salesmanagers, was once on the +road himself--and if he is in an inspirational mood, gives a sound talk +on the principle back of the golden rule. The spirit of cooeperation +throughout the institution is amazing and the morale is something any +group of workers might well envy them. + +Most business houses recognize their responsibilities toward the young +people that they hire. Well-organized concerns build up from within. The +heads of the departments are for the most part men who have received +their training in the institution, and they take as much pains in +selecting their office boys as they do in selecting any other group, for +it is in them that they see the future heads and assistant heads of the +departments. In hiring office boys "cleanness, good manners, good +physique, mental agility, and good habits are primary requisites," +according to Mr. J. Ogden Armour in the _American Magazine_. + +In one of the oldest banks in New York each boy who enters is given a +few days' intensive training by a gentleman chosen for the purpose. The +instructor stresses the fundamentals of character and, above all things, +common sense. Courtesy is rarely discussed as a separate quality but +simple instructions are given about not going in front of a person when +there is room to go around him, not pushing into an elevator ahead of +every one else, not speaking to a man at a desk until he has signified +that he is ready, and about sustaining quiet and orderly behavior +everywhere. The atmosphere in the bank is the kind that encourages +gentlemanly conduct and the new boys either fall in with it or else get +out and go somewhere else. + +It takes more patience on the part of the youngsters in the financial +district than it does in most other places, for the men there work under +high tension and are often cross, worried, nervous, and irritable, and +as a result are, many times, without intending it, unjust. The +discipline is severe, and the boy would not be human if he did not +resent it. But the youngster who is quick to fly off the handle will +find himself sadly handicapped, however brilliant he may be, in the race +with boys who can keep their tempers in the face of an injury. + +Three boys out of the hundreds who have passed through the training +school in the bank of which we were speaking have been discharged for +acts of discourtesy. One flipped a rubber clip across a platform and hit +one of the officials in the eye, one refused to stay after hours to +finish some work he had neglected during the day, and one was +impertinent. All three could have stayed if each had used a little +common sense, and all three could have stayed if each act had not been +a fair indication of his general attitude toward his work. + +One of the most difficult organizations to manage and one against which +the charge of discourtesy is frequently brought is the department store. +Yet a distinguished Englishwoman visiting here--it takes a woman to +judge these things--said, "I had always been told that people in New +York were in such a hurry that, although well-meaning enough, they were +inclined to appear somewhat rude to strangers. I have found it to be +just the reverse. During my first strolls in the streets, in the shops, +and elsewhere, I have found everybody most courteous. Your stores, I may +say, are the finest I have ever seen, not excepting those of Paris. +Their displays are remarkable. Their spaciousness impressed me greatly. +Even at a crowded time it was not difficult to move about. In London, +where our shops are mostly cramped and old-fashioned, it would be +impossible for such large numbers of people to find admittance." + +The tribute is a very nice one. For a long time the department stores +have realized the difficulties under which they labor and have been +making efforts to overcome them. They have formed associations by which +they study each other's methods, and most of them have very highly +organized systems of training and management. One big department store +carries on courtesy drives. Talks are given, posters are exhibited, and +prizes are offered for the most courteous clerks in the store. "We know +that it is not fair to give prizes," the personnel manager says, +"because it is impossible to tell really which clerks are the most +courteous, but it stimulates interest and effort throughout the +organization and the effects last after the drive is over." + +One big department store which is favorably known among a large +clientele for courteous handling of customers depends upon its +atmosphere to an enormous extent, but it realizes that atmosphere does +not come by chance, that it has to be created. They have arranged it so +that each clerk has time to serve each customer who enters without the +nervous hurry which is the cause of so much rudeness. The salesclerks +who come into the institution are given two weeks' training in the +mechanical end of their work, the ways of recording sales, methods of +approach, and so on, as well as in the spirit of cooeperation and +service. By the time the clerk is placed behind the counter he or she +can conduct a sale courteously and with despatch, but there is never a +time when the head of the department is not ready and willing to be +consulted about extraordinary situations which may arise. + +It is during the rush seasons such as the three or four weeks which +precede Christmas that courtesy is put to the severest test, and the +store described in the paragraph above bears up under it nobly. It did +not wait until Christmas to begin teaching courtesy. It had tried to +make it a habit, but last year several weeks before the holidays it +issued a bulletin to its employees to remind them of certain things that +would make the Christmas shopping less nerve-racking. The first +paragraph was headed HEALTH. It ran as follows: + +"If you want to be really merry at Christmas time, it will be well to +bear in mind during this busy month at least these few 'health savers': + +"Every night try to get eight good hours of sleep. + +"All day try to keep an even temper and a ready smile. + +"Remember that five minutes lost in the morning means additional +pressure all day long. + +"Try to make your extra effort a steady one--not allowing yourself to +get excited and rushed so that you make careless mistakes. + +"Try to eat regularly three good nourishing meals, relaxing completely +while you are at the table and for a little while afterward. + +"Breathe deeply, and as often as you can, good fresh air--it cures +weariness. + +"And don't forget that a brisk walk, a sensible dinner, an hour's +relaxation, and then a hot bath before retiring, make a refreshing end +for one business day and a splendid preparation for the next." + +There were six other paragraphs in the bulletin. One asked the +salesclerks to take the greatest care in complying with a customer's +request to send gift purchases without the price tags. Another asked +them to pay strictest attention to getting the right addresses, and most +of the others were taken up with suggestions for ways to avoid +congestion by using a bank of elevators somewhat less conveniently +located than the others, by limiting their personal telephone calls to +those which were absolutely necessary, and so on. In both tone and +content the bulletin was an excellent one. It first considered the +employees and then the customers. There was no condescension in the way +it was written and there was no "bunk" about what was in it. But the +bulletin was only a small part of an effort that never stops. + +The purpose of the store is, to quote from its own statement, "to +render honest, prompt, courteous and complete service to customers" and +the qualities by which they measure their employees are as follows: + + Health + Loyalty + Cooeperation + Initiative + Industry + Accuracy + Thoroughness + Responsibility + Knowledge + +Courtesy is not included in the list but it is unnecessary. If these +qualities are developed courtesy will come of its own accord. It is +worth noting that health comes first in the list. To a business man, or +indeed to any other, it is one of the most precious possessions in the +world, and is the best of backgrounds upon which to embroider the flower +of courtesy. + +Every employer who has had any experience knows the value of a contented +workman, and does what he can to make and keep him so by paying him +adequate wages, and providing comfortable, sanitary, and pleasant +working conditions. Contentment is, however, more an attitude of mind +than a result of external circumstances. Happiness is who, not where, +you are. We do not mean by this that a workman should be wholly +satisfied and without ambition or that he should face the world with a +permanent grin, but that he should to the best of his ability follow +that wonderful motto of Roosevelt's, "Do what you can where you are with +what you have." No man can control circumstances; not even the braggart +Napoleon, who declared that he made circumstances, could control them to +the end; and no man can shape them to suit exactly his own purposes, but +every man can meet them bravely as a gentleman should. + +Most big business concerns supply rest rooms, eating places, recreation +camps, and all manner of comforts for their employees, and most of them +maintain welfare departments. No business house under heaven could take +the place of a home, but where the home influence is bad the best +counterfoil is a wholesome atmosphere in which to work. Recently an +institution advertising for help, instead of asking what the applicant +could do for it, pictured and described what it could do for the +applicant. The result was that they got a high-class group of people to +make their selection from, and their attitude was one which invited the +newcomers to do their best. + +Factory owners are paying a good deal of attention to the appearance of +their buildings. Many of them have moved out into the country so as to +provide more healthful surroundings for work. Numbers of modern factory +buildings are very beautiful to look at, trim white buildings set in +close-cut lawns with tennis courts and swimming pools not far away, red +brick buildings covered with ivy, sand-colored ones with roses climbing +over them, and others like the one famous for its thousand windows, +rather more comfortable than lovely. In our big cities there are office +buildings that look like cathedrals, railroad stations that look like +temples, and traffic bridges that look (from a distance) like fairy +arches leading into the land of dreams. They are not all like this. We +wish they were. But it is to the credit of the American business man +that he has put at least a part of his life and work into the building +of beautiful things. The influence which comes from them is, like nearly +all potent influences, an unconscious one, but it makes for happiness +and contentment. + +The problem of keeping the employees contented is somewhat different in +every place. House organs, picnics, dances, recreation parks, +sanitariums in the country and so on can be utilized by "big business," +but the spirit which animates them is the same as that which makes the +grocery man at Hicksville Centre give his delivery boy an afternoon off +when the baseball team comes to town. The spirit of courtesy is +everywhere the same, but it must be kept in mind that the end of +business is production, production takes work, and that play is +introduced in order that the work may be better. This is true whether we +are looking at the matter from the point of view of the employer or of +the employee. What is to the interest of one--this is gaining slow but +sure recognition--is to the interest of the other. + +Certain kinds of mechanical work are very trying because of their +monotony. The work must be done, however, and in well-ordered places it +is arranged so that the worker has brief periods of rest at regular +intervals or so that he is shifted from one kind of activity to another. +It is poor economy to wear out men. In the old days before the power of +steam or electricity had been discovered, boats were propelled by slaves +who were kept below decks chained to their seats, and watched by an +overseer who forced them to continue rowing long after they had reached +the point of exhaustion. The galley slave sat always on the same side of +the boat and after a few years his body became so twisted and warped +that he was no good for anything else, and pretty soon was not even good +for that. Then he was thrown into the discard--most of them died before +they got this far along--and the owner of the boat had to look out for +more men. Something like this happens to the soul of a man who is bound +to dreary, monotonous work without relief or any outlet for growth. It +is deadening to him, to his work, and to his employer. The far-sighted +employer knows it. The masters of slaves learned it many years ago. The +chain which binds the servant to the master binds the master to the +servant. And the fastening is as secure at one end as it is at the +other. + +Too strict supervision--slave-driving--is fatal to courtesy. The places +which have intricate spy systems to watch their employees are the ones +where there is most rudeness and trickery. The clerk who is hectored, +nagged, spied upon, suspected and scolded by some hireling brought in +for that purpose or by the head of the firm himself cannot be expected +to give "a smile with every purchase and a thank you for every goodbye." +The training of employees never stops, but it is something that should +be placed very largely in their own hands. After a certain point +supervision should be unnecessary. + +Most places hate to discharge a man. Labor turnover is too expensive. +Most of them try to place their men in the positions for which they are +best suited. It is easier to take a round peg out of a square hole and +put it into a round one than it is to send out for another assortment of +pegs. Men are transferred from sales departments to accounting +departments, are taken off the road and brought into the home office, +and are shifted about in various ways until they fit. If a man shows +that "he has it in him" he is given every chance to succeed. "There is +only one thing we drop a man for right off," says an employment manager +in a place which has in its service several thousand people of both +sexes, "and that is for saying something out of the way to one of our +girls." + +This same manager tells the story of a boy he hired and put into a +department which had been so badly managed that there were a number of +loose ends to be tied up. The boy threw himself into his work, cleared +up things, and found himself in a "soft snap" without a great deal to +do. He happened not to be the kind of person who can be satisfied with a +soft snap, and he became so restive and unhappy that he was recommended +for discharge. This brought him back to the head of the employment +bureau. He, instead of throwing the young man out, asked that he be +given a second trial in a department where the loose ends could not be +cleaned up. It was a place where there was always plenty of work to do, +and the young man has been happy and has been doing satisfactory work +ever since. + +The house in which this happened is always generous toward the mistakes +of its employees if the mistakes do not occur too persistently and too +frequently. In one instance a boy made three successive errors in +figures in as many days. He was slated for discharge but sent first +before the employment manager. As they talked the latter noticed that +the boy leaned forward with a strained expression on his face. Thinking +perhaps he was slightly deaf, he lowered his voice, but the boy +understood every word he said. Then he noticed that there was a tiny red +ridge across his nose as if he were accustomed to wearing glasses, +although he did not have them on, and when he asked about it he +discovered that the boy had broken his glasses a few days before, and +that he had not had them fixed because he did not have money enough. + +"Why didn't you tell us about it?" the employment manager asked. + +"It was not your fault that I broke them," the boy replied. "It was up +to me," an independent answer which in itself indicates how much worth +while it was to keep him. + +The manager gave him money enough to have the glasses mended, the next +day the boy was back at work, and there was no more trouble. + +An employee in the same organization unintentionally did something which +hurt the president of the firm a great deal. But when he went to him and +apologized (it takes a man to admit that he is wrong and apologize for +it) the president sent him back to his desk, "It's all right, boy," he +said, "I know you care. That's enough." + +In a big department store in New England there was a girl a few years +back with an alert mind, an assertive personality, and a tremendous fund +of energy. She was in the habit of giving constructive suggestions to +the heads of the departments in which she worked, and because of her +youth and manner, they resented it. "I took her into my office," the +manager said. "I'm the only one she can be impertinent to there and I +don't mind it. It is a bad manifestation of a good quality, and in time +the disagreeable part of it will wear off. She will make an excellent +business woman." + +"If a man finds fault with a boy without explaining the cause to him," +we are quoting here from an executive in a highly successful Middle +Western firm, "I won't fire the boy, I fire the man. We have not a +square inch of space in this organization for the man who criticizes a +subordinate without telling him how to do better." Unless the plan of +management is big enough to include every one from the oldest saint to +the youngest sinner it is no good. Business built on oppression and +cut-throat competition, whether the competition is between employer and +employee or between rival firms, is war, and war, industrial or +political, is still what General Sherman called it some years ago. + +We hold no brief for paternalism. We have no patience with it. All that +we want is a spirit of fairness and cooeperation which will give every +man a chance to make good on his own account. This spirit inevitably +flowers into courtesy. In every place courtesy should be, of course, so +thoroughly a part of the surroundings that it is accepted like air or +sunshine without comment. But it is not, and never has been except in +old civilizations where manners have ripened and mellowed under the +beneficent influence of time. Our traditions here--speaking of the +country as a whole--are still in the making, but we have at least got +far enough along to realize that it is not only worth while to do things +that are good, but, as an old author has it, to do them with a good +grace. It cannot be accomplished overnight. Courtesy is not like a +fungous growth springing up in a few hours in the decayed parts of a +tree; it is like that within the tree itself which gives lustre to the +leaves and a beautiful surface to the whole. It takes time to develop +it--time and patience--but it is worth waiting for. + + + + +IV + +PERSONALITY + + +All that makes a man who he is and not someone else is called +personality. It is the sum total of his qualities, a thing inborn, but +including besides such externals as dress, manner, and appearance. It is +either a tremendous asset or a terrific liability, and so important that +certain schools which purport to teach success in business declare that +it is everything. Which is just as foolish as saying that it is nothing. + +One of these success-before-you-wake-to-morrow-morning schools of +business instruction dismisses the fact which has remained true through +three thousand years of change, namely, that there is no short cut to +success, as a myth, and even goes so far as to say that it is almost +impossible to achieve success to-day by working for it. E. H. Harriman +they give as an example of a man who did no work but won success by +smoking cigars while other men built railroads for him, quoting a joking +remark of his to prove a serious point, when, as a matter of fact, Mr. +Harriman was one of the large number of American business men who have +literally worked themselves to death. Foch said that he won the war by +smoking his pipe, but does any one believe that the great commander won +the war by not working? What he meant was that he won the war by +thinking, and the worn face, which seemed almost twice as old when the +conflict was over, showed how hard that work was. + +It is so impossible for a false doctrine to stand on its own feet that +the spread-eagle advertisement of this school contradicts itself long +before it gets to the "Sign here and mail to-day" coupon. "The first +time you try to swim," shouts the advertisement, "for instance, you +sink; and the first time you try to ride a bicycle you fall off. But the +ability to do these things was born in you. And shortly you can both +swim and ride. Then you wonder why you could not always do these things. +They seem so absurdly simple." It may be that there are people who have +learned to swim and to ride a bicycle by sitting in a chair and +cultivating certain inherent qualities but we have never heard of them. +Everybody that we ever knew worked and worked hard swimming and riding +before they learned. The only way to learn to do a job is to do it, and +the only way to succeed is to work. Any school or any person who says +that "the most important thing for you to do is not to work, but first +to find the short road to success. After that you may safely work all +you like--but as a matter of fact, you won't have to work very hard," is +a liar and a menace to the country and to business. + +But the value of personality is not to be under-estimated. "Nature," +says Thackeray somewhere in "The Virginians," "has written a letter of +credit upon some men's faces, which is honored almost wherever +presented. Harry Warrington's [Harry Warrington was the hero who brought +about this observation] countenance was so stamped in his youth. His +eyes were so bright, his cheeks so red and healthy, his look so frank +and open, that almost all who beheld him, nay, even those who cheated +him, trusted him." It was the "letter of credit" stamped upon the face +of Roosevelt, pledge of the character which lay behind it, which made +him the idol of the American people. + +Personality is hard to analyze and harder still to acquire. The usual +advice given to one who is trying to cultivate a pleasing manner and +address is "Be natural," but this cannot be taken too literally. Most of +us find it perfectly natural to be cross and disagreeable under trying +circumstances. It would be natural for a man to cry out profane words +when a woman grinds down on his corn but it would not be polite. It was +natural for Uriah Heep to wriggle like an eel, but that did not make it +any the less detestable. It was natural, considering the past history of +Germany and the system under which he was educated, for the Kaiser to +want to be lord of the world, but that did not make it any the less +horrible. + +Another bromidic piece of advice is "Be perfectly frank and sincere." +But this, too, has its limits. Some people pride themselves on saying +exactly what they think. Usually they are brutal, insensitive, wholly +incapable of sympathetic understanding of any one else, and cursed, +besides, with a colossal vanity. A man may determine to tell nothing but +the truth, but this does not make it necessary for him to tell the whole +truth, especially when it will hurt the feelings or the reputation of +some one else. No man has a right to impose his opinions and prejudices, +his sufferings and agonies, on other people. It is the part of a coward +to whine. + +And yet a man must be himself, must be natural and sincere. Roosevelt +could no more have adopted the academic manner of Wilson than Wilson +could have adopted the boyish manner of Roosevelt. Lincoln could no +more have adopted the courtly grace of Washington than Washington could +have adopted the rugged simplicity of Lincoln. Nor would such +transformations be desirable even if they were possible. The world would +be a very dreary place if we were all cut by the same pattern. + +A number of years ago in an upstate town in New York there was a shoe +store which had been built up by the engaging personality of the man who +owned it. He had worked his way up from a tiny shoe shop in New Jersey +where, as a boy, he made shoes by hand before there were factories for +the purpose, and he had always kept in close touch with the business +even after he owned a large establishment and had a number of men +working under him. He stayed in the shop, greeted his customers as they +came in, and many times waited on them himself. + +When he retired from active business he sold out to a man exactly his +opposite in temperament, as good a man, so far as character went, as +himself, but very quiet and taciturn. A woman who had always patronized +the shop and was a friend of them both came to him soon after the +transfer was made and said, "Now, Mr. Tillis, the reason this place has +prospered so is on account of the personality of Mr. Kilbourne. His +shoes are good but people can get good shoes at other places. They come +here because of Mr. Kilbourne. They like him, and if you are not careful +they will stop coming now that he is gone. You've got to smile and show +them you are glad to see them." + +Mr. Tillis felt that the woman was telling the truth. He decided that he +would stay in the shop and greet each customer with a gladsome smile and +make himself generally pleasant and agreeable. The next day he was +fitting a shoe on a woman who was also an old customer and a friend of +both men. He was smiling in his best manner and congratulating himself +that he was doing very well when the woman abruptly took her foot off +the stand. "What are you laughing at?" she demanded. + +Some years later he told Mr. Kilbourne about it. "I decided then that +there was no use in me trying to be you. You had been yourself, and I +made up my mind that I'd be myself." + +And that is, after all, the only rule that can be given. Be yourself, +but be very sure that it is your best self. + +It is personality which permits one man to do a thing that another would +be shot for. What is charming in this man is disgusting in that. What is +a smile with one becomes a smirk with another. What makes one succeed +will cause another to fail. It is personality that opens the doors of +opportunity. It cannot, alone, keep them open, but it is worth a good +deal to get inside. + +We were interested to observe the methods used by three young men who +were looking for jobs, not one of whom would probably have succeeded if +he had used the tactics of either of the others. + +The first wanted to talk with the biggest executive in a large +organization. He had fought his way through the ranks until he had got +as far as the man's secretary. "Mr. So-and-So does not see people who +want jobs," said that young lady. + +"I don't want a job," he prevaricated mildly, "I want to talk to him." + +The girl let him in. + +"Mr. So-and-So," he said, "I don't want a job. I want advice." + +His manner was so ingenuous and charming, his earnestness so glowing, +that the man at the desk listened while he talked, and then talked a +while himself, and ended by giving the young man the position (as well +as the advice) that he wanted. But if he had been less attractive +personally and the older man had been shrewd enough to see through the +ruse (or perhaps he did see through it but made the proper discount for +it) or had been opposed to trick methods, the scheme might not have +worked so well. + +The most universal weakness of intellect lies in the part of the brain +which listens to flattery. Very few people like compliments laid on with +a trowel, but no man can resist the honest admiration of another if it +seems sincere. And since it is the sort of thing that one likes almost +above all else he often takes the false coin for the true. + +The second young man met the rebuff so familiar to young men looking for +their first job, "We want men with experience." + +"That's what everybody says," the boy answered, "but what I want to know +is how we are going to get that experience if you don't give us a +chance." + +The older man sympathized, but had no place for the other and told him +so. + +"What would you do if you were I?" the young man asked as he turned to +leave. The other grinned. "Why, I'd work for a firm for a week for +nothing," he said, "and show them that they could not get along without +me." + +The boy stopped. "All right," he said, "let me work for you a week." + +The older man had not expected this but he gave the youngster a chance +and he made good. + +The third young man had reached the point of desperation. He had been +out of a job several weeks. He had been trying to get one all that time +and had not succeeded. He walked into the employment bureau of a certain +concern and said, "I want a job. I want a good job. Not some dinky +little place filing letters or picking up chips. If you've got an +executive position where there is plenty of work and plenty of +responsibility, I want it." They asked him a few questions about what he +had been doing and a few more about what he thought he could do, and +ended by giving him a desk and an office. + +It would be foolish to advise any one to follow any of these plans. Each +man must work out his own method, all the better if it is an original +one. Most business men like a simple approach without any flourishes. +"It is astonishing," says one man whose income runs to six figures, "how +many things one can get just by asking for them." The best reporter in +America says that he has always found the direct method of approach +better than any other. None is infallible but this has the highest +percentage of success. + +So far as personal appearance is concerned--and this is one of the most +important elements in the fashioning of personality--the greatest +variations are not due to intrinsic differences in character, nor to +differences of feature or form, but to the use and disuse of the +bathtub. More sharp than the distinction between labor and capital or +between socialism and despotism is that between the people who bathe +daily and those who go to the tub only on Saturday night or less often. +The people with whom personal cleanliness is a habit find dirt, grime, +and sweat revolting. To them "the great unwashed" are repulsive. + +"When you teach a man to bathe," says John Leitch in his book on +"Industrial Democracy," "you do more than merely teach him to cleanse +his body. You introduce him to a new kind of life and create in him a +desire for better living." + +The month before he began his wonderful work at Tuskegee, Booker +Washington spent visiting the Negro families in the part of Alabama +where he was to teach. "One of the saddest things I saw during the month +of travel which I have described," he writes in his autobiography, "was +a young man, who had attended some high school, sitting down in a +one-room cabin, with grease on his clothing, filth all around him, and +weeds in the yard and garden, engaged in studying a French grammar." + +Farther on he writes, "It has been interesting to note the effect that +the use of the tooth-brush has had in bringing about a higher degree of +civilization among the students. With few exceptions, I have noticed +that, if we can get a student to the point where, when the first or +second tooth-brush disappears, he of his own motion buys another, I have +not been disappointed in the future of that individual. Absolute +cleanliness of the body has been insisted upon from the first." + +Cleanliness is an attribute of civilization. We find it amusing to read +that three or four hundred years ago bathing for pleasure was unknown, +that when soap was first invented it was used only for washing clothes, +and that even so late as the Seventeenth Century an author compiling a +book of rules for the gentleman of that day advises him to wash his +hands every day and his face almost as often! In the monasteries bathing +was permitted only to invalids and the very old. Perfume was used +copiously, and filth and squalor abounded. This even in royal circles. +Among the common people conditions were unspeakable. + +To-day a gentleman bathes and shaves every day. He keeps his hair +brushed, his finger nails immaculate (or as clean as the kind of work +which he does permits), his linen is always clean and his shoes are +polished. He is not over-fastidious about his clothes, but he has +respect enough for himself as well as for the people among whom he lives +to want to present as agreeable an appearance as possible. "Dress," +wrote Lord Chesterfield to his son, "is a very foolish thing, and yet it +is a very foolish thing for a man not to be well-dressed, according to +his rank and way of life.... The difference in this case between a man +of sense and a fop is that the fop values himself upon his dress; and +the man of sense laughs at it, and at the same time knows he must not +neglect it." + +It is a cheap device for a man to trick himself out with lodge pins and +fraternity symbols, rings, and badges in the hope that they will open +doors for him. Highly ornamental jewelry of any kind is inappropriate. +Not many men can offset a heavy gold watch chain stretched full length +across their bosoms, not many can live down a turquoise ring set with +pearls, and very few can bear the handicap of a bright gold front tooth. +Artists, alone, may gratify their taste for velvet jackets, +Tam-o'-Shanters, and Windsor ties, but the privilege is denied business +men. Eccentricity of dress usually indicates eccentricity of temper, and +we do not want temperamental business men. It is hard enough to get +along with authors and artists and musicians. The business man who is +wise wears conventional clothes of substantial material in conservative +colors. Good sense and good taste demand it. + +The time has passed when uncouthness of dress and manner can be taken as +a pledge of honesty and good faith. The President of the United States +to-day is a well-dressed, well-groomed man, and no one thinks any the +less of him for it. Men no longer regard creased trousers, nicely tied +cravats, well-chosen collars, and harmonious color combinations as signs +of sissiness, snobbishness, or weak-mindedness. + +Formal dinners and other ceremonious functions require evening dress. It +is the custom, as the Orientals say; and for the sake of other people +present if not for his own, a man should undergo the discomfort, if he +finds it a discomfort, and many men do, of conforming to it. Holiday +attire gives a happy note of festivity which might otherwise be lacking. +It is quite possible to point to a number of men who have succeeded in +business who were wholly indifferent to matters of dress. But it does +not prove anything. Men rise by their strength, not by their weakness. +Some men wait until after they have become rich or famous to become +negligent of their personal appearance. But it is well to remember that +"if Socrates and Aristippus have done aught against custom or good +manner, let not a man think he can do the same: for they obtained this +license by their great and excellent good parts." + +A well-dressed man is so comfortably dressed that he is not conscious of +his clothes and so inconspicuously dressed that no one else is conscious +of them. + +In a good many instances it is not his own dress which bothers a +business man so much as it is that of some one else--his stenographer, +for instance. Men do not have quite so much opportunity to make +themselves ridiculous as women. Their conventions of dress are stricter, +and, as a rule, they can express their love of color and ornamentation +only in their choice of ties and socks. Girls have practically no +restrictions except what happens to be the style at the moment, and a +young girl untrained in selecting and combining colors and lines, and +making money for the first time in her life, is more likely than not to +make herself look more like a Christmas tree than a lily of the field. + +The big department stores which employ hundreds of girls to meet and +serve their customers have settled the problem for themselves by +requiring the girls to wear uniforms. The uniform is very simple; often +a certain color during working hours is prescribed, but the girls are +permitted to choose their own styles. Other places have women who look +after the welfare of the girls and prevent them from laying themselves +open to misunderstanding by the way they dress. Large organizations can +afford to have a special person to take care of such matters, but in a +small office the problem is different. + +Of course, a man can always dismiss a girl who dresses foolishly or +carelessly, but this is sneaking away from a problem instead of facing +it. High-class offices have comparatively little trouble this way. In +the first place, they do not attract the frivolous, light-headed, or +"tough" girls; in the second place, if such girls come, the atmosphere +in which they work either makes them conform to the standards of the +office or leave and go somewhere else. If a girl in his office dresses +in a way that he considers inappropriate, a man may tactfully suggest +that something simpler would be more dignified and more in keeping with +business ideals and traditions. But, oh, he must be careful! On no +subject is one so sensitive as on his personal appearance, and women, +perhaps, more so than men. + +There is a limit to how far an employer should go in dictating the +manner of his employees' dress. When the head of a big Western +department store declared that he would discharge all the girls who +bobbed their hair, most of us felt that he had gone a bit too far, even +while we saw the logic of his position. While it is the only sensible +way in the world for a woman to wear her hair the majority of people +have not yet come to think so. To the average person, especially to Mrs. +Grundy, who is really the most valuable customer a department store has, +the impression given by bobbed hair is one of frivolity or eccentricity. +The impression given the customer as she enters a store is a most +important item; the head of the store knew it, and therefore he placed +the ban on bobbed hair. Whichever side we take in this particular case +this is true: The business woman should give, like the business man, an +impression of dependability, and she cannot do it if her appearance is +abnormal, or if her mind is divided between how she is looking and what +she is doing. + +It is almost funny that we let the faults and mannerisms of other people +affect us to such an extent. They are nothing to us, and yet a man can +work himself into a perfect frenzy of temper merely by looking at or +talking to another who has a fidgety way of moving about, a dainty +manner of using his hands, or a general demean--or that is delicate and +ladylike. Men like what the magazines call "a red-blooded, two-fisted, +he-man." But the world is big enough to accommodate us all whether the +blood in our veins is red or blue, and it is perfectly silly for a man +to throw himself into a rage over some harmless creature who happens to +exasperate him simply because he is alive. + +It is an altogether different matter when it is a question of one man +taking liberties with another. Most people object to the physical +nearness of others. It is the thing that makes the New York subways +during the rush hours such a horror. It is not pleasant to have a person +so near that his breath is against your face, and there are not many men +who enjoy being slapped on the back, punched in the ribs, or held fast +by a buttonhole or a coat lapel. A safe rule is never to touch another +person. He may resent it. + +The garrulous or impertinent talker is almost as objectionable as the +hail-fellow-well-met, slap-on-the-back fellow. Charles Dickens has a +record of this kind of American in the book which he wrote after his +visit in this country: "Every button in his clothes said, 'Eh, what's +that? Did you speak? Say that again, will you?' He was always wide +awake, always restless; always thirsting for answers; perpetually +seeking and never finding.... + +"I wore a fur great-coat at that time, and before we were well clear of +the wharf, he questioned me concerning it, and its price, and where I +bought it, and when, and what fur it was, and what it weighed, and what +it cost. Then he took notice of my watch, and asked me what _that_ cost, +and whether it was a French watch, and where I got it, and how I got it, +and whether I bought it or had it given me, and how it went and where +the keyhole was, and when I wound it, every night or every morning, and +whether I ever forgot to wind it at all, and if I did, what then? Where +I had been to last, and where I was going next, and where I was going +after that, and had I seen the President, and what did he say, and what +did I say, and what did he say when I had said that? Eh? Lor' now! Do +tell!" + +This sort of curiosity is harmless enough, but exasperating, and so +childish that one hates to rebuke the person who is asking the foolish +questions. There is another kind which is perhaps worse--the man who +asks intrusive questions about how much salary another is getting, how +old he is (men are as sensitive on this subject as women) and so on and +on. It is perfectly legitimate to refuse to answer any question to +which one does not wish to reply. Every man has a right to mental +privacy even when he is denied, as he is in so many modern offices, any +other kind of privacy. + +A loud or boisterous person is objectionable. Many times this is through +carelessness, but sometimes, as when a man recounts the story of his +dinner with Mr. Brown, who is a national figure, in a voice so loud that +all the people in the car or room or whatever place he happens to be in, +can hear him, it is deliberate. The careless person is the one who +discusses personalities aloud in elevators, on the train, and in all +manner of public places. Exchanging gossip is a pretty low form of +indoor sport and exchanging it aloud so that everybody can hear makes it +worse than ever. Names should never be mentioned in a conversation in a +place where strangers can overhear, especially if the connection is an +unpleasant one. Private opinions should never be aired in public places +(except from a platform). + +The highly argumentative or aggressive person is another common type of +nuisance. He usually raises his voice, thus drowning out the possibility +of interruption, and talks with so much noise and so many vigorous +gestures that he seems to try to make up for his lack of intellect by +an excess of tumult. Arguments have never yet convinced anybody of the +truth, and it is a very unpleasant method to try. Most arguments are +about religion or politics and even if they were settled nothing would +be accomplished. In the Middle Ages men used to debate about the number +of angels that could stand on the point of a pin. Hours and hours were +wasted and learned scholars were brought into the discussion, which was +carried forward as seriously as if it were a debate between the merits +of the Republican and Democratic parties. Suppose they had settled it. +Would it have mattered? + +One of the most offensive public plagues is the man who leaves a trail +of untidiness behind him. No book of etiquette, not even a book of +business etiquette, could counsel eating on the streets in spite of the +historic and inspiring example of Mr. Benjamin Franklin walking down the +streets of Philadelphia with a loaf of bread under each arm while he +munched from a third which he held in his hand. One can forgive a man, +however, if he, feeling the need of nourishment, eats a bar of chocolate +if he takes great care to put the wrappings somewhere out of the way. No +man with any civic pride will scatter peanut hulls, cigarette boxes, +chocolate wrappings, raisin boxes, and other debris along the streets, +in the cars, on the stairs, and even on the floors of office buildings. +Garbage cans and waste-baskets were made to take care of these things. + +Tidiness is worth more to a business man than most of them realize. In +the first place it gives a favorable impression to a person coming in +from the outside, and, in the second place, it helps those on the inside +to keep things straight. Folders for correspondence, card indexes, +memorandum files and other similar devices are essential to the orderly +transaction of business. + +Keeping ashes and scraps of paper off the floor may seem trifles, but +such trifles go far toward making the atmosphere, which is another word +for personality, of an office. Some men have secretaries who take care +of their desks and papers and supervise the janitor who cleans the +floors and windows, but those who do not, find that they can manage +better when they have a place to put things and put them there. + +Nothing has more to do with making a gentleman than a courteous and +considerate attitude toward women. In business a man should show +practically the same deference toward a woman that he does in society. +Any man can be polite to a woman he is anxious to please, the girl he +loves, for instance, but it takes a gentleman to be polite to every +woman, especially to those who work for him, those over whom he +exercises authority. + +It is unnecessary for a man to rise every time one of the girls in his +office enters his private audience room, but he should always rise to +receive a visitor, whether it is a man or woman, and should ask the +visitor to be seated before he sits down himself. In witheringly hot +weather a man may go without his coat even if his entire office force +consists of girls, but he should never receive a guest in his shirt +sleeves. He should listen deferentially to what the visitor has to say, +but if she becomes too voluble or threatens to stay too long or if there +is other business waiting for him, he may (if he can) cut short her +conversation. When she is ready to go he should rise and conduct her to +the door or to the elevator, as the case may be, and ring the bell for +her. He cannot, of course, do this if his visitors are frequent, if +their calls are about matters of trifling importance, or if he is +working under high pressure. + +We once had an English visitor here in America who thought our manners +were outrageously bad, but there was one point on which we won a perfect +score. "Any lady," he said, "may travel alone, from one end of the +United States to the other, and be certain of the most courteous and +considerate treatment everywhere. Nor did I ever once, on any occasion, +anywhere, during my rambles in America, see a woman exposed to the +slightest act of rudeness, incivility, or even inattention." Conditions +have changed since then. Women had not left their homes to go into +offices and factories, but unless we can hold to the standard described +by the Englishman, the change has not been for the better, for any of +the people concerned. + +Since the Victorian era our ideas of what constitutes an act of rudeness +have been modified. Then it would have been unthinkable that a woman +should remain standing in a coach while men were seated. Now it is +possible for a man to keep his place while a woman swings from a strap +and defend himself on the grounds that he has worked harder during the +day than she (how he knows is more than we can say), and that he has +just as much right (which is certainly true) as any one else. Yet it is +a gracious and a chivalrous act for a man to offer a woman his place on +a car, and it is very gratifying to see that hundreds of them, even in +the cities, where life goes at its swiftest pace and people live always +in a hurry, surrender their seats in favor of the women who, like +themselves, are going to work. Old people, afflicted people, men and +women who are carrying children in their arms, and other people who +obviously need to sit down are nearly always given precedence over the +rest of us. This is, of course, as it should be. + +But the heart of what constitutes courtesy has not changed and never +will. It is exactly what it was on that day nearly four hundred years +ago when Sir Philip Sidney, mortally wounded on the field of Zutphen, +gave his last drop of water to the dying soldier who lay near him and +said, "Thy need is greater than mine." + + + + +V + +TABLE MANNERS + + +In the old books of etiquette in the chapter on table manners the +authors used to state that it was not polite to butter your bread with +your thumb, to rub your greasy fingers on the bread you were about to +eat, or to rise from the table with a toothpick in your mouth like a +bird that is about to build her nest. We have never seen any one butter +his bread with his thumb, but---- + +There are in the United States nearly five million people who can +neither read nor write. We have no statistics but we venture to say +there are as many who eat with their knives. There are people among +us--and they are not all immigrants in the slum districts or Negroes in +the poorer sections of the South--who do not know what a napkin is, who +think the proper way to eat an egg is to hold it in the hand like a +piece of candy, and bite it, the egg having previously been fried on +both sides until it is as stiff and as hard as a piece of bristol board, +who would not recognize a salad if they saw one, and who have never +heard of after-dinner coffee. + +Very few of them are people of wealth, but an astonishing number of +successful business men were born into such conditions. They had no +training in how to handle a knife and fork and they probably never read +a book of etiquette, but they had one faculty, which is highly developed +in nearly every person who lifts himself above the crowd, and that is +observation. + +In addition to this a young man is very fortunate, especially if his way +of life is cast among people whose manners are different from those to +which he has been accustomed, if he has a friend whom he can consult, +not only about table manners but about matters of graver import as well. +And he should not be embarrassed to ask questions. The disgrace, if +disgrace it could be called, lies only in ignorance. + +A number of years ago a young man who was the prospective heir to a +fortune--this charming story is in Charles Dickens's wonderful novel, +"Great Expectations"--went up to London for the express purpose of +learning to be a gentleman. It fell about that almost as soon as he +arrived he was thrown into the company of a delightful youth who had +already attained the minor graces of polite society. Very much in +earnest about what he had set out to do, and blessed besides with a +goodish bit of common sense, he explained his situation to Herbert, for +that was the other boy's name, mentioned the fact that he had been +brought up by a blacksmith in a country place, that he knew practically +nothing of the ways of politeness, and that he would take it as a great +kindness if Herbert would give him a hint whenever he saw him at a loss +or going wrong. + +"'With pleasure,' said he, 'though I venture to prophesy that you'll +want very few hints.'" + +They went in to dinner together, a regular feast of a dinner it seemed +to the ex-blacksmith's apprentice, and after a while began to talk about +the benefactress who, they believed, had made it possible. + +"'Let me introduce the topic,' began Herbert, who had been watching +Pip's table manners for some little time, 'by mentioning that in London +it is not the custom to put the knife in the mouth--for fear of +accidents--and that while the fork is reserved for that use it is not +put further in than necessary. It is scarcely worth mentioning, only +it's as well to do as other people do. Also, the spoon is not generally +used over-hand but under. This has two advantages. You get at your mouth +better (which after all is the object), and you save a good deal of the +attitude of opening oysters on the part of the right elbow.' + +"He offered these suggestions (said Pip) in such a lively way, that we +both laughed and I scarcely blushed." + +The conversation and the dinner continued and the friendship grew apace. +Presently Herbert broke off to observe that "society as a body does not +expect one to be so strictly conscientious in emptying one's glass, as +to turn it bottom upwards with the rim on one's nose." + +"I had been doing this," Pip confessed, "in an excess of attention to +his recital. I thanked him, and apologized. He said, 'Not at all,' and +resumed." + +This was written many years ago but neither in life nor in literature is +there a more beautiful example of perfect courtesy than that given by +Herbert Pocket when he took the blacksmith's boy in hand and began his +education in the art of being a gentleman. Not only was he at perfect +ease himself but--and this is the important point--he put the +blacksmith's boy at ease. + +It is worth remarking, by way of parenthesis, that Herbert's father was +a gentleman. "It is a principle of his," declared the boy, "that no man +who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, +a true gentleman in manner. He says, no varnish can hide the grain of +the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will +express itself." + +The American table service is not complicated. Any intelligent person +who knows the points covered by Herbert Pocket, who knows that one +should not cut up all of his meat at the same time but mouthful by +mouthful as he needs it, that it is not customary to butter a whole +slice of bread at once nor to plaster cheese over the entire upper +surface of a cracker, can by a dint of watching how other people do it +find his way without embarrassment through even the most elaborate array +of table implements. The easiest way to acquire good table manners (or +good manners of any other kind, as far as that goes) is to form the +habit of observing how the people who manage these things most +gracefully go about it. It is best to begin early. To use one of David +Harum's expressive maxims, "Ev'ry hoss c'n do a thing better 'n' spryer +if he's ben broke to it as a colt." + +Eating should be, and, as a matter of fact, is, when one follows his +usual custom, an unconscious process like the mechanical part of reading +or writing. It is only when he is trying to be a bit more formal or +fastidious than is habitual with him that a man gets tangled, so to +speak, in the tines of his fork. + +Cooking is one of the fine arts. Poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, +and millionaires have always paid tribute to it as such--and so is +dining. Like a great many other arts it was first developed among royal +circles, and there was a time when the king resented the idea of a +commoner being able to dine with grace and elegance. Since then it has +become democratized, and now there are no restrictions except those +which a man places about himself. And there is no earthly (or heavenly) +reason why a man should not eat in the way which society has established +as correct, and a good many reasons why he should. + +Physicians--and this is the strongest argument we know--might advance +their plea on the grounds of good health. In this case we find, as we do +in a number of others, that what good manners declares should be done is +heartily endorsed at the same time by good sense. It is only among +people of blunted sensibilities that nice table manners count for +nothing; for + + There's no reproach among swine, d'you see, + For being a bit of a swine. + +Among business men it is often perplexing to know whom and when to +invite. Generally speaking, the older man or the man with the superior +position takes the initiative, but there are an infinite number of +exceptions. Generally speaking, also, the man who is resident in a place +entertains the one who is visiting, but there are infinite exceptions to +this as well, especially in the case of traveling salesman. All courtesy +is mutual, and it is almost obligatory upon the salesman who has been +entertained to return the courtesy in kind. Such invitations should be +tendered after a transaction is completed rather than before. The burden +of table courtesy falls upon the man who is selling rather than the one +who is buying, probably because he is the one to whom the obvious profit +accrues. + +Social affairs among the wives of business men which grow out of the +business relations of their husbands follow the same rules as almost any +other social affairs. Nearly always it is the wife of the man with the +higher position who issues the first invitation, and it is permissible +for her to invite a woman whom she does not know personally if she is +the wife of a business friend of her husband. + +The biggest hindrance to the establishment of good manners among +business men is the everlasting hurry in which they (and all the rest of +us) live. There must first of all be leisure, not perhaps to the extent +advocated by a delightful literary gentleman of having three hours for +lunch every day, but time enough to sit down and relax. Thousands of +business men dash out to lunch--bad manners are at their worst in the +middle of the day--as if they were stopping off at a railroad junction +with twenty minutes to catch a train and had used ten of them checking +baggage. And they do not always do it because they are in a hurry. They +have so thoroughly developed the habit of living in a frenzied rush that +even when they have time to spare they cannot slow down. + +Pleasant surroundings are desirable. It is much easier to dine in a +quiet spacious room where the linen is white and the china is thin, the +silver is genuine silver, and the service is irreproachable, than in a +crowded restaurant where thick dishes rattle down on white-tiled tables +from the steaming arms of the flurried waitress, where there is no +linen, but only flimsy paper napkins (which either go fluttering to the +floor or else form themselves into damp wads on the table), where the +patrons eat ravenously and untidily, and where the atmosphere is dense +with the fumes of soup and cigarettes. But luxury in eating is expensive +and most of us must, perforce, go to the white-tiled places. And the art +of dining is not a question of what one has to eat--it may be beans or +truffles--or where one eats it--from a tin bucket or a mahogany +table--it all depends upon _how_; and the man who can eat in a +"hash-house," an "arm-chair joint," a "beanerie," a cafeteria, a +three-minute doughnut stand or any of the other quick-lunch places in as +mannerly a way as if he were dining in a hotel _de luxe_ has, we think, +a pretty fair claim to the title of gentleman. + +The responsibility for a dinner lies with the host. If his guest has had +the same social training that he has or is accustomed to better things +he will have comparatively little trouble. All he can do is to give him +the best within his means _without apology_. We like to present +ourselves in the best possible light (it is only human) and for this +reason often carry our friends to places we cannot afford. This imposes +upon them the necessity of returning the dinner in kind, and the vicious +circle swings around, each person in it grinding his teeth with rage but +not able to find his way out. Entertaining is all right so long as it is +a useful adjunct to business, but when it becomes a burden in itself it +is time to call a halt. + +Smoking during and immediately after a meal is very pleasing to the man +who likes tobacco, but if he has a guest (man or woman) who objects to +the smell of it he must wait until later. On the other hand if his guest +likes to smoke and he does not he should insist upon his doing so. It is +a trifling thing but politeness consists largely of yielding gracefully +in trifles. + +Old-fashioned gentlemen held it discourteous to mention money at table, +but in this degenerate age no subject is taboo except those that would +be taboo in any decent society. Obviously when men meet to talk over +business they cannot leave money out of the discussion. In a number of +firms the executives have lunch together, meeting in a group for perhaps +the only time during the day. It helps immeasurably to cooerdinate +effort, but it sometimes fails to make the lunch hour the restful break +in the middle of the day which it should be. It is generally much more +fun and of much more benefit to swap fish stories and hunting yarns than +to go over the details of the work in the publicity department or to +formulate the plans for handling the Smith and Smith proposition. +Momentous questions should be thrust aside until later, and the talk +should be--well, _talk_, not arguing, quarreling, or scandal-mongering. +The subject does not greatly matter except that it should be something +in which all of the people at the table are interested. Whistler was +once asked what he would do if he were out at dinner and the +conversation turned to the Mexican War, and some one asked him the date +of a certain battle. "Do?" he replied. "Why, I would refuse to associate +with people who could talk of such things at dinner!" + +Polite society has always placed a high value on table manners, but it +is only recently that they have come to play so large a part in +business. Some one has said that you cannot mix business and friendship. +It would be nearer the truth to say that you cannot separate them. More +and more it is becoming the habit to transact affairs over the table, +and a very pleasant thing it is, too. Aside from the coziness and warmth +which comes from breaking bread together one is free from the +interruptions and noise of the office, and many a commercial +acquaintance has ripened into a friend and many a business connection +has been cemented into something stronger through the genial influence +of something good to eat and drink. It is, of course, a mistake to +depend too much upon one's social gifts. They are very pleasant and +helpful but the work of the world is done in offices, not on golf links +or in dining rooms. We have little patience with the man who sets his +nose to the grindstone and does not take it away until death comes in +between, but we have just as little with the man who has never touched +the grindstone. + +Stories go the rounds of executives who choose their subordinates by +asking them out to lunch and watching the way they eat. One man always +calls for celery and judges his applicant by what he does with it. If he +eats only the tender parts the executive decides that he is extravagant, +at least with other people's money, but if he eats the whole stalk, +green leaves and all, he feels sure that he has before him a man of +economy, common sense, and good judgment! The story does not say what +happens when the young man refuses celery altogether. Another uses +cherry pie as his standard and judges the young man by what he does with +the pits. There are three ways to dispose of them. They may be lowered +from the mouth with the spoon, they may be allowed to drop unaided, or +they may be swallowed. The last course is not recommended. The first is +the only one that will land a job. But tests like this work both ways +and one is rather inclined to congratulate the young men who were turned +down than those who were accepted. + +All this aside, an employer does want to know something about the table +manners of an employee who is to meet and dine with his customers. An +excellent salesman may be able to convince a man of good breeding and +wide social training if he tucks his napkin into his bosom, drinks his +soup with a noise, and eats his meat with his knife, but the chances are +against it. + +A man who is interested heart and soul in one thing will think in terms +of it, will have it constantly in his mind and on the tip of his tongue. +But the man of one subject, whatever that subject may be, is a bore. It +is right that a man should live in his work, but he must also live +outside of it. One of the most tragic chapters in the history of +American life is the one which tells of the millions and millions of men +who became so immersed in business affairs that they lost sight of +everything else. The four walls of the narrow house which in the end +closes around us all could not more completely have cut them off from +the light of day. It is a long procession and it has not ended--that +line of men passing single file like convicts down the long gray vaults +of business, business, business, with never a thought for the stars or +the moon or books or trees or flowers or music or life or love--nothing +but what casts a shadow over that dismal corridor. + + These are dead men with no thought + Of things that are not sold or bought. + + * * * * * + + In their bodies there is breath, + But their souls are steeped in death. + +It is not a cheerful picture to contemplate (and it seems a good long +way away from table manners), but the men who form it are more to be +pitied than blamed. They are blind. + + + + +VI + +TELEPHONES AND FRONT DOORS + + +"If the outside of a place is not all right," says a man who spends the +greater part of his time visiting business houses and talking with +business men, "the chances are that it is not worth while to go inside." + +There are three ways of getting inside: by letter (which has a chapter +to itself), by the front door, and by telephone. And there are more +complaints against the telephone way than either or both the others, +which is perfectly natural, since it is the most difficult to manage. In +the first place, it requires good behavior from three people at the same +time, and that is a good deal to expect. Secondly, they cannot see one +another--they are like blind people talking together--and no one of them +can do his part unless the other two do theirs. In the third place, the +instrument is a lifeless thing, and when something goes wrong with it it +rouses the helpless fury inspired by all inanimate objects which +interfere with our comfort--like intermittent alarm clocks, collar +buttons that roll under the furniture, and flivvers that go dead without +reason in the middle of country roads. In each case whatever one does +has no effect. The alarm clock continues to ring (unless one gets out of +bed to shut it off, which is worse than letting it ring), the collar +button remains hid in the darkest part of the room, the flivver remains +stuck in the muddiest part of the road, and the telephone is worst of +all, for the source of the trouble is usually several miles away and +there is no means of getting at it. + +The telephone is a nuisance--no one denies it--but it is a necessity +also--no one denies that, either--and one of the greatest conveniences +in an age of great conveniences. Some of the disagreeable features +connected with it cannot be done away with but must be accepted with as +much tranquility as we can master, like the terrific noise which an +aeroplane makes or the trail of smoke and cinders which a railway train +leaves behind. The one who is calling, for instance, cannot know that he +is the tenth or eleventh person who has called the man at the other end +of the wire in rapid succession, that his desk is piled high with +correspondence which must be looked over, signed, and sent out before +noon, that the advertising department is waiting for him to O. K. their +plans for a campaign which should have been launched the week before, +that an important visitor is sitting in the library growing more +impatient every minute, and that his temper has been filed down to the +quick by an assortment of petty worries. (Of course, no office should be +run like this, but it sometimes happens in the best of them.) + +Some one has said that we are all like islands shouting at each other +across a sea of misunderstanding, and this was long before telephones +were thought of. It is hard enough to make other people understand what +we mean, even with the help of facial expression and gestures, and over +the wire the difficulty is increased a hundred fold. For telephoning +rests upon a delicate adjustment between human beings by means of a +mechanical apparatus, and it takes clear thinking, patience, and +courtesy to bring it about. + +The telephone company began its career some few years ago unhampered by +the traditions to which the earlier corporations were slave, the old +"public be damned" idea. Their arbitrary methods had brought them to +grief, and the new concern, with a commendable regard for the lessons +taught by the experience of others, inaugurated a policy of usefulness, +service, and courtesy. The inside history of the telephone is one of +constant watchfulness, careful management, and continuous improvement; +and every improvement has meant better service to the public. (We are +not trying to advertise the telephone company. We realize that it has +been guilty, like every other business, of manifold sins.) + +Even the fact that there is a telephone girl instead of a telephone boy +is due to the alertness and good business sense of the company. To put a +boy before a switchboard and expect him not to pull it apart to see how +it was made; or to place him in a position to entertain himself by +connecting the wrong parties and listening to the impolite names they +called each other and expect him not to do it, would be expecting the +laws of nature to reverse themselves. The telephone company tried +it--for a while. They discovered, besides, that a boy will not "take" +what a girl will. It makes no difference what goes wrong with a +connection, the subscriber blames the operator when many times the +operator, especially the one he is talking to, has had nothing to do +with it. The girls have learned to hold their tempers (not always, but +most of the time), but when boys had charge of the switchboards and the +man at the end of the wire yelled, "You cut me off!" and the youngster +had not, he denied it hotly: "You're a liar! I didn't!" The subscriber +would not stand for this, angry words flew back and forth, and more than +once the indignant young operator located the subscriber (not a very +difficult thing for him to do) and went around to settle things in +person. Words were not always the only weapons used. + +If this had continued the telephone would never have become a public +utility. People would have looked upon it as an ingenious device but not +of universal practical value. As it is, good salesmanship and efficient +service first elevated a plaything to a luxury and then reduced the +luxury to a necessity. And it was possible not only because the +mechanism itself is a miraculous thing but because it has had back of it +an intelligent human organization working together as a unit. + +We say this deliberately, knowing that the reader will think of the +times when the trouble he has had in getting the number he wanted has +made him think there was not a thimbleful of intelligence among all of +the people associated with the entire telephone company. But considering +the body of employees as a whole the standard of courteous and competent +service is extraordinarily high. The public is impatient and prone to +remember bad connections instead of good ones. It is ignorant also and +has very small conception of what a girl at central is doing. And it is +quick to blame her for faults of its own. + +One of the worst features of telephone service is the fact that when one +is angry or exasperated he seldom quarrels with the right person. Some +time ago a man was waked in the middle of the night by the ringing of +the telephone bell. He got out of bed to answer it and discovered that +the man was trying to get another number. He went back to bed and to +sleep. The telephone bell rang again, and again he got out of bed to +answer it. It was the same man trying to get the same number. He went to +bed and back to sleep. The telephone bell rang the third time, he got +out of bed again and answered it again and found that it was still the +same man trying to get the same number! "I wasn't very polite the third +time," he confessed when he told about it. But the poor fellow at the +other end of the wire probably had just as touching a story to tell, for +unless it had been very important for him to get the number he would +hardly have been so persistent. The girl at the switchboard may have had +a story of her own, but what it was is one of those things which, as +Lord Dundreary used to say, nobody can find out. + +The girls who enter the service of the New York Telephone Company (and +the same thing is true in the other branches of the telephone service, +especially in big cities where there are large groups to work with) are +carefully selected by an employment bureau and sent to a school where +they are thoroughly grounded in the mechanical part of their work and +the ideals for which the company stands. They are not placed on a +regular switchboard until they have proved themselves efficient on the +dummy switchboard, and then it is with instructions to be courteous +though the heavens fall (though they do not express it exactly that +way). "It is the best place in the world to learn self-control," one of +the operators declares, and any one who has ever watched them at work +will add, "Concentration, also." One of the most remarkable sights in +New York is a central exchange where a hundred or more girls are working +at lightning speed, undisturbed by the low murmur around them, intent +only on the switchboard in front of them, making something like five +hundred connections a minute. + +They are a wonderfully level-headed group, these telephone girls, +wonderfully unlike their clinging-vine Victorian grandmothers. They do +not know how to cling. If a man telephones that he has been shot, the +girl who receives the call does not faint. She sends him a doctor +instead and takes the next call almost without the loss of a second. If +a woman wants a policeman to get some burglars out of the house, she +sends her one; if some one telephones that a house is burning, she calls +out the fire department--and goes straight on with her work. Now and +then something spectacular happens to bring the splendid courage of the +girls at the switchboards to the attention of the public, such as the +magnificent service they gave from the exchange located a few feet from +Wall Street on the day of the explosion, but ordinarily it passes, like +most of the other good things in life, without comment. + +The New York Telephone Company tries to keep its girls healthy and +happy. At regular intervals they are given rest periods. Attractive +rooms are prepared for them, tastefully furnished, well-lighted, and +filled with comfortable chairs, good books, and magazines. Substantial +meals are supplied in the middle of the day at a nominal charge. Special +entertainments are planned from time to time, and best of all, the play +time is kept absolutely distinct from the work time, a condition which +makes for happiness as well as usefulness. + +The girls are not perfect, they are not infallible. And they are only a +third part of a telephone call. They work under difficulties at a task +which is not an easy one, and their efficiency does not rest with them +alone but with the people whom they serve as well. + +A telephone call begins with the subscriber. Very few people understand +the intricate system of cable and dynamos, vacuum tubes, coil racks, +storage batteries, transmitters and generators which enable them to talk +from a distance, and a good many could not understand them even if they +were explained. Fortunately it is not necessary that they should. The +subscriber's part is very simple. + +He should first make sure that he is calling the right number. In New +York City alone, forty-eight thousand wrong numbers are asked for every +day by subscribers who have not consulted the telephone directory first, +or who have unconsciously transposed the digits in a number. For +example, a number such as 6454 can easily be changed to 6544. The +telephone directory is a safe guide, much more so than an old letter or +bill head or an uncertain memory. Information may be called if the +number is not in the directory, but one should be definite even with +her. She cannot supply the number of Mr. What-you-may-call-it or of Mr. +Thing-um-a-bob or of Mr. Smith who lives down near the railroad station, +and she cannot give the telephone number of a house which has no +telephone in it. She has no right to answer irrelevant questions; is, in +fact, prohibited from doing so. Her business is to furnish numbers and +she cannot do it efficiently if she is expected also to explain why a +cat has whiskers, how to preserve string beans by drying them, what time +it is, what time the train leaves for Wakefield, or what kind of +connection can be made at Jones's Junction. + +In calling a number the name of the exchange should be given first. The +number itself should be called with a slight pause between the hundreds +and the tens, thus, "Watkins--pause--five, nine--pause--hundred" for +"Watkins 5900" or "Murray Hill--pause--four, two--pause--six, three" for +"Murray Hill 4263." The reason for this is that the switchboard before +which the operator sits is honeycombed with tiny holes arranged in +sections of one hundred each. Each section is numbered and each of the +holes within it is the termination of a subscriber's line. In locating +"Watkins 5900" the girl first finds the section labelled "59" and then +the "00" hole in that section, and if the "59" is given first she has +found it by the time the subscriber has finished calling the number. + +The number should be pronounced slowly and distinctly. + +When the operator repeats it the subscriber should acknowledge it, and +if she repeats it incorrectly, should stop her and give her the number +again. And he should always remember, however difficult it may be to +make her understand, that he is talking to a girl, a human being, and +that the chances are ten to one that the poor connection is not her +fault. + +To recall the operator in case the wrong person is connected it is only +necessary to move the receiver hook slowly up and down. She may not be +able to attend to the recall at once but jiggling the hook angrily up +and down will not get her any sooner. In fact, the more furious the +subscriber becomes the less the girl knows about it, for the tiny signal +light fails to register except when the hook is moved slowly; or if the +switchboard is one where the operator is signalled by a little disk +which falls over a blank space the disk fails to move down but remains +quivering almost imperceptibly in its usual position. + +After he has placed a call a man should wait at the telephone or near it +until the connection is made. Too many men have a way of giving their +secretaries a number to send through and then wandering off somewhere +out of sight so that when the person is finally connected he has to wait +several minutes while the secretary locates the man who started the +call. It is the acme of discourtesy to keep any one waiting in this +manner. It implies that your time is much more valuable than his, which +may be true, but it is hardly gracious to shout it in so brazen a +fashion. + +It has been estimated that in New York City alone, more than a full +business year is lost over the telephone every day between sunrise and +sunset. There are 3,800,000 completed connections made every day. Out of +each hundred, six show a delay of a minute or more before the person +called answers. In each day this amounts to a delay of 228,000 +connections. Two hundred and twenty-eight thousand minutes (and +sometimes the delay amounts to much more than a minute) is the +equivalent of 475 days of eight hours each, or as the gentleman who +compiled these interesting statistics has it, a business year and a +third with all the Sundays and holidays intact. In the course of a year +it amounts to more than all the business days that have elapsed since +Columbus discovered America! + +It may be argued that we would be better off if we lost more than a year +every day and did all our work at more leisurely pace. This may be, but +the time to rest is not when the telephone bell is ringing. + +The telephone on a business man's desk should always be facing him and +it should not be tricked out with any of the patent devices except those +sanctioned by the company. Most of them lessen instead of increase +efficiency. A woman in her home where calls are infrequent may hide her +telephone behind a lacquered screen or cover it with pink taffeta +ruffles, but in a business office it is best to make no attempts to +beautify it. It is when it is unadorned that the ugly little instrument +gives its best service. + +There should always be a pad and pencil at hand so that the message (if +there is one) can be taken down without delay. The person at the other +end probably has not time (and certainly has not inclination) to wait +until you have fumbled through the papers on your desk and the rubbish +in the drawers to locate something to write on and something to write +with. + +"Hello" is a useless and obsolescent form of response in business +offices. The name of the firm, of the department, or of the man +himself, or of all three, according to circumstances, should be given. +When there is a private operator to take care of the calls she answers +with the name of the firm, Blank and Blank. If the person at the other +end of the wire says, "I want the Advertising department," she connects +them and the man there answers with "Advertising department." The other +then may ask for the manager, in which case the manager answers with his +name. It is easy to grow impatient under all these relays, but a +complicated connection involving half a dozen people before the right +one is reached can be accomplished in less than a minute if each person +sends it straight through without stopping to exchange a number of +"Helloes" like a group of Swiss yodelers, or to ask a lot of unnecessary +questions. + +It is not necessary to scream over the telephone. The mouth should be +held close to the transmitter and the words should be spoken carefully. +In an open office where there are no partitions between the desks one +should take especial pains to keep his voice modulated. One person +angrily spluttering over the telephone can paralyze the work of all the +people within a radius of fifty feet. If it were a necessary evil we +could make ourselves grow accustomed to it. But it is not. And there is +already enough unavoidable wear and tear during the course of a business +day without adding this. + +"_Hello, what do you want?_" is no way to answer a call. No decent +person would speak even to a beggar at his door in this way and the +visitor over the telephone, whoever he is, is entitled to a cordial +greeting. _The voice with the smile wins._ + +An amusing story is told of a man in Washington who was waked one +evening about eleven o'clock by the telephone bell. At first he swore +that he would not answer it but his wife insisted that it might be +something very important, and finally, outraged and angry, he blundered +through the dark across the room and into the hall, jerked down the +receiver and yelled, "Hello!" His wife, who was listening tensely for +whatever ill news might be forthcoming, was perfectly amazed to hear him +saying in the next breath, in the most dulcet tones he had ever used, +"Oh, how do you do, I'm _so_ glad you called. Oh, delightful. Charmed. +I'm sure she will be, too. Thank you. Yes, indeed. So good of you. +_Good_-bye." It was the wife of the President of the United States +asking him and his wife to dinner at the White House. + +If the person calling is given the wrong department he should be +courteously transferred to the right one. Courteously, and not with a +brusque, "You've got the wrong party" or "I'm not the man you want" but +with "Just a minute, please, and I'll give you Mr. Miller." + +The time when people are rudest over the telephone is when some one +breaks in on the wire. It might be just as well to remember that people +do not interrupt intentionally, and the intruder is probably as +disconcerted as the man he has interrupted. If he had inadvertently +opened the wrong door in a business office the man inside would not have +yelled, "Get out of here," but over the telephone he will shriek, "Get +off the wire" in a tone he would hardly use to drive the cow out of a +cabbage patch. + +In an effort to secure better manners among their subscribers the +telephone company has asked them to try to visualize the person at the +other end of the wire and to imagine that they are talking face to face. +Many times a man will say things over the telephone--rude, profane, +angry, insulting things, which he would not dream of saying if he were +actually before the man he is talking to. And to make it worse he is +often so angry that he does not give the other a chance to explain his +side of it, at least not until he has said all that he has to say, and +even then he not infrequently slams the receiver down on the hook as +soon as he has finished! + +Listening on a wire passes over from the field of courtesy into that of +ethics. On party lines in the country it is not considered a heinous +offense to eavesdrop over the telephone, but the conversation there is +for the most part harmless neighborhood gossip and it does not matter +greatly who hears it. In business it is different. But it is practically +impossible for any one except the operator to overhear a conversation +except by accident, and it is a misdemeanor punishable by law for her to +give a message to any one other than the person for whom it was +intended. + +In every office there should be a large enough mechanical equipment +manned by an efficient staff to take care of the telephone traffic +without delay. "The line is busy" given in answer to a call three or +four times will send the person who is calling to some other place to +have his wants looked after. + +Few places appreciate the tremendous volume of business that comes in by +way of telephone or the possibilities which it offers to increase +business opportunities. They are as short-sighted as the department +store which, a good many years ago, when telephones were new, had them +installed but took them out after a few weeks because the clerks were +kept so busy taking orders over them that they did not have time to +attend to the customers who came into the store! + +Another important vantage point which, like the telephone, suffers from +neglect is the reception desk. Millions of dollars' worth of business is +lost every year and perfect sandstorms and cyclones of animosity are +generated because business men have not yet learned the great value of +having the right kind of person to receive visitors. To the strangers +who come--and among the idlers and swindlers and beggars who assail +every successful business house are potential good friends and +customers--this person represents the firm,--is, for the time being, the +firm itself. + +It is very childish for a man to turn away from a reception desk because +he does not like the manner of the person behind it, but business men, +sensible ones at that, do it every day. Pleasant connections of years' +standing are sometimes broken off and valuable business propositions are +carried to rival concerns because of indifferent or insolent treatment +at the front door. Only a short time ago an advertising agency lost a +contract for which it had been working two years on account of the way +the girl at the door received the man who came to place it. He dropped +in without previous appointment and was met by a blonde young lady with +highly tinted cheeks who tilted herself forward on the heels of her +French pumps and pertly inquired what he wanted. He told her. "Mr. Hunt +isn't in." "When will he be back?" "I don't know," and she swung around +on the impossible heels. The man deliberated a moment and then swung +around on his heels (which were very flat and sensible) and carried the +contract to another agency. Instances of this kind might be multiplied. +Some business men would have persisted until they got what they wanted +from the young lady. Others would have angrily reported her to the head +of her office, but the majority would have acted as this man did. + +Most men (and women), whether they are in business or not, do not +underestimate their own importance and they like to feel that the rest +of the world does not either. They do not like to be kept waiting; they +like to be received with a nice deference, not haughtily; they do not +like to be sent to the wrong department; and they love (and so do we +all) talking to important people. Realizing this, banks and trust +companies and other big organizations have had to appoint nearly as many +vice-presidents as there were second-lieutenants during the war to take +care of their self-important visitors. Even those whose time is not +worth ten cents (a number of them are women) like to be treated as if it +were worth a great deal. It is, for the most part, an innocent desire +which does no one any special harm, and any business that sets out to +serve the public (and there is no other kind) has to take into account +all the caprices of human vanity. We cannot get away from it. Benjamin +Franklin placed humility among the virtues he wished to cultivate, but +after a time declared it impossible. "For," he said, "if I overcame +pride I would be proud of my humility." + +Courtesy is the first requirement of the business host or hostess and +after that, intelligence. Some business houses make the mistake of +putting back of the reception desk a girl who has proved herself too +dull-witted to serve anywhere else. The smiling idiot with which this +country (and others) so abounds may be harmless and even useful if she +is kept busy behind the lines, but, placed out where she is a buffer +between the house and the outside world, she is a positive affliction. +She may be pleasant enough, but the caller who comes for information and +can get nothing but a smile will go away feeling about as cheerful as if +he had stuck his hand into a jar of honey when he was a mile or so away +from soap, water, and towel. + +A litter of office boys sprawling untidily over the desks and chairs in +the reception room is as bad, and a snappy young lady of the "Now see +here, kid" variety is worse. + +The position is not an easy one, especially in places where there is a +constant influx of miscellaneous callers, and it is hardly fair to ask a +young girl to fill it. In England they use elderly men and in a number +of offices over here, too. Their age and manner automatically protect +them (and incidentally their firms) from many undesirables that a boy or +girl in the same position would have considerable difficulty in +handling. And they lend the place an air of dignity and reserve quite +impossible with a youngster. + +In some offices, especially in those where large amounts of money are +stored or handled, there are door men in uniform and often plain clothes +huskies near the entrances to protect the people (and the money) on the +inside from cranks and crooks and criminals. In others, a physician's +office, for instance, or any small office where the people who are +likely to come are of the gentler sort, a young girl with a pleasing +manner will do just as well as and perhaps better than any one else. In +big companies where there are many departments, it is customary to +maintain a regular bureau of information to which the caller who is not +sure whom or what he wants is first directed, but the majority of +businesses have only one person who is delegated to receive the people +who come and either direct them to the person they want to see or turn +them aside. + +Most of them must be turned aside. If the stage managers in New York +interviewed all the girls who want to see them, they would have no time +left for anything else, and the same thing is true of nearly every man +who is prominent in business or in some other way. (Charlie Chaplin +received 73,000 letters during the first three days he was in England. +Suppose he had personally read each of them!) Hundreds of people must be +turned away, but every person who approaches a firm either to get +something from it or to give something to it has a right to attention. +Men are in business to work, not to entertain, and they must protect +themselves. But the people who are turned away must be turned away +courteously, and the business house which has found some one who can do +it has cause to rise and give thanks. + + + + +VII + +TRAVELING AND SELLING + + +The etiquette of traveling includes very few points not covered by the +general laws of good behavior. Keeping one's place in line before the +ticket window, having money ready and moving aside as quickly as +possible instead of lingering to converse with the ticket-seller about +train schedules and divers other interesting subjects are primary rules. +It is permissible to make sure that the train is the right one before +getting on it, but it is unnecessary to do it more than half a dozen +times. When the sign over the gate says "Train for Bellevue" it probably +_is_ the train for Bellevue, and when the guard at the gate repeats that +it is the train for Bellevue the chances are that he is telling the +truth. + +An experienced traveler usually carries very little baggage. A lot of +suitcases and grips are bothersome, not only to the one who has charge +of them, but also to those who are cramped into small quarters because +of them. A traveler may make himself as comfortable as he likes so long +as it is not at the expense of the other passengers. If they object to +an open window the window must stay down. Lounging over a seat is bad +form, especially if there is some one else in it. So is prowling from +one end of the car to the other. Besides, it makes some people nervous. +Snoring is impolite and so is talking in one's sleep, but they are +beyond remedy. Talking with the person in the berth above or below is +not, however, and is much more disturbing than the noise of the train. +Forgetting the number of one's berth and blundering into the wrong place +is a serious breach of good manners in a sleeping car, and it is +extremely severe on timid persons who have gone to bed with visions +before their minds of the man who was murdered in lower ten and the +woman who brought her husband's corpse from Florida in the same berth +with her. + +Among men, "picking up" acquaintances on a train or boat is allowable if +it comes about in a natural way, but there are men who object to it. +Many business men do not discontinue their work because they are +traveling. Portable typewriters, secretaries, the telegraph and other +means of swift communication have made it possible for them to +accomplish almost as much as if they were in the office back home. Such +men do not like to be interrupted, and if a garrulous or an intrusive +person approaches it is within the bounds of courtesy to turn him aside. +Generally, however, there is a comradery of the road, a sort of good +fellowship among voyagers which lets down ordinary bars, and the men who +like to rest as they travel find it highly diverting and interesting to +talk with other men from various parts of the country. This holds true +in hotels, especially in the commercial hotels, where traveling men +foregather to meet their customers and transact their business, and in +hotels in small places where the possibilities for amusement are limited +and the people have to depend on one another for entertainment. But +there are limits. No man should ever thrust himself upon another and it +is almost an iron clad rule that he should never "pick up" women +acquaintances when traveling. It is permissible to talk with them, but +not to annoy them with personal attentions nor to place them under +obligation by paying their bills. If a man and a woman who are traveling +on the same train fall into conversation and go into the dining car +together, each one should pay his or her own check, or if he insists +upon paying at the table she should insist upon settling afterwards. In +hotels also this is essentially true. + +Hotels are judged more by the people who come to them than by anything +else. The guests indicate the quality of the service, and for this +reason, most hotels prefer that they be gentlemen. There is an +atmosphere about a first-class hotel that frightens away second-rate +people. Most places have standards and many a man has been turned away +even when there was an empty room because the management did not like +his looks. + +Tipping is one of the most vexatious petty problems with which a +traveler is confronted. It is an undemocratic custom which every +sensible man deplores but sees no way around. Waiters, porters, and +other functionaries who are in positions to receive tips draw very small +salaries, if any. They depend upon the generosity of the public they +serve. The system may be all wrong (we believe it is) but it means bread +and butter to those who live by it, and it is only just, as matters are +now arranged, for the traveler to pay. It is foolish to tip +extravagantly or to tip every pirate who performs even the most trifling +service, but a small fee, especially if the service has been good, is a +courtesy not to be forgotten. + +Tipping originally grew out of kindness. The knight who had received +special attention at the hands of his squire expressed his gratitude by +a special reward. The word "gratuity" itself indicates that the little +gift was once simply a spontaneous act of thoughtfulness. It has +degenerated into a perfunctory habit, but it should not be so. Excellent +service deserves a recompense just as slip-shod service does not. And no +one has a right to spoil a waiter (or any one else) by tipping him for +inefficient work. In hotels and restaurants the standard fee is ten per +cent of the bill. + +Regular travelling of any kind even under favorable circumstances is a +great wear and tear on the disposition. Commuters who go in and out of +town every day are a notoriously hag-ridden lot, and the men who go on +the road are not much better. But there is one enormous difference. It +is the privilege of the commuter to growl as much as he likes about the +discomforts of the road and the stupidity of the men who make up the +time tables, but travelling men--we are speaking of salesmen +especially--can never indulge in the luxury of a grouch. One of the +biggest parts of his job is to keep cheerful all the time and that in +itself is no small task. (Try it and see.) A farmer can wear a frown as +heavy as a summer thunder cloud and the potatoes will grow just the +same; a mechanic can swear at the automobile he is putting into shape +(a very impolite thing to do even when there is no one but the machine +to hear), and the bolts and screws will hold just as fast; a lawyer can +knit his brows over his brief case and come to his solution just as +quickly as if he sat grinning at it, but the salesman must smile, smile, +smile. The season may be dull, the crops may be bad, there may be +strikes, lockouts, depressions and deflations, unemployment--it makes no +difference--he must keep cheerful. It is the courtesy of salesmanship, +and it is this quality more than any other that makes selling a young +man's job--we do not mean in years, but in spirit--an old one could not +stand it. + +In the good old days when the country was young and everybody, from all +accounts we can gather, was happy, salesmen in the present sense of the +term were almost unknown. There were peddlers, characters as picturesque +as gipsies, who travelled about the country preying chiefly on the +farmers. Often they spent the night--hotel accommodations were few and +houses were far apart--and entertained the family with lively tales of +life on the road. Next morning they gave the children trifling presents, +swindled the farmer out of several dollars and made themselves generally +agreeable. The farmer took it all in good part and looked forward with +pleasure to the next visit. The peddlers came in pairs then, like +snakes, but they were for the most part welcome and there was genuine +regret when they became things of the past like top-buggies and Prince +Albert coats. + +After the peddler came the drummer, a rough, noisy chap, as his name +indicates, harmless enough, but economically not much more significant +than the peddler. He stayed in the business district where he was +tolerated with good-natured indulgence. He was less objectionable than +the man who followed him, the agent. He was (and is) a house-to-house +and office-to-office canvasser and a general nuisance. He sold +everything from books to life insurance, from patent potato peelers to +opera glasses. He still survives, but not in large numbers, for his +work, like that of the peddler and the drummer, has been swallowed up by +the salesman. + +The rewards which modern salesmanship holds out to those who succeed at +it are so large that the field has attracted all kinds of men, highly +efficient ones who love the game for its own sake, grossly incompetent +ones who, having failed at something else, have decided to try this, and +adventurers who believe they see in it a chance to get rich quick. The +teachers of salesmanship tell us that we are all selling something, +even when there is no visible product. The worker, according to them, is +selling his services just as the salesman is selling goods. It may be +true, but we all could not (and it is a blessing) go out and sell things +in the ordinary sense in which we use the word. Some of us have to be +producers. But the salesman's work is important. We do not discredit it. + +Salesmanship is built on faith. A man must believe in his product and +then must make other people believe in it as firmly as he does. So +devoted are some salesmen to their work that it is difficult to tell +whether they consider their calling a trade, a profession, a science, or +a religion. Sometimes it is all four. Sometimes it goes beyond them and +becomes a kind of mesmerism in which the salesman uses a sort of +hypnotic process (which is simply the result of being over-anxious to +sell) to persuade the prospect that he cannot wait another day before +buying the particular article that the salesman is distributing. The +article may be stocks and bonds, wash cloths, soap, or hair nets. It +makes no difference, but he must be filled with enthusiasm and must be +able to pass it along. And this very virtue which is the foundation of +successful salesmanship is likely to lead the salesman into gross +rudeness. For the man who is selling is so eager and so earnest that he +forgets that the man who is buying may have his own ideas on the +subject. + +The first step in salesmanship is to acquire a thorough knowledge of the +product. The next is to gain access to the man who is to buy it. This is +not always easy. Business men have been annoyed so much by agents that +they have had to erect barriers, in many instances almost impenetrable +ones. It is especially difficult in big cities where the pressure is +heavy, but most worth while business men have learned the value of +contact with the world outside and are willing to give almost any man an +interview if he can show a valid reason why he should have it. Whether +he gets a second interview or not depends upon how he handled the first +one. + +There are many ways of getting into an office. A salesman usually stands +a much better chance if he writes ahead for an appointment. It is much +more courteous to ask a man when he wants to see you than to drop in on +him casually and trust to luck that the time is not inopportune. Some +salesmen are afraid to write because they think the knowledge of what +they have to sell will prejudice the prospect against it. At the same +time they feel that if they can only get a chance to talk to him a few +minutes they can over-ride the prejudice. A salesman may come into an +office without letting the man know what his purpose is (though it is +best to begin with cards on the table) but he will not come in (unless +he is a crook) under false pretenses. + +The friends of a salesman can sometimes be very useful to him in +presenting him to valuable prospects, and when they feel that the +meeting will result in mutual benefit they are glad to do it. Sometimes +the friend will give a letter or a card of introduction. Sometimes he +will telephone or speak for an appointment. It is best when these come +unsolicited, though it is permissible to ask for them. No man should +depend upon the help of his friends. A salesman should be able to stand +on his own feet, and if he and his product together do not form a strong +enough combination to break down all obstructions there is something +wrong with one or the other of them. + +The best card of admission at the door of a business office is a +pleasing personal appearance coupled with a calm and assured manner. +This is a universal standard of measuring a man's character and calibre. +Until we have heard him speak we judge him by the way he looks. It is a +dangerous practice, as the proverb warns us, but the percentage of hits +is high enough to make us continue to use it. + +A favorite device with a certain cheap type of salesman is to give his +name to the girl at the entrance desk and ask her to tell Mr. Brown that +Mr. Green has sent Mr. Smith to call. The Mr. Green is entirely +fictitious, but since Mr. Brown has several business acquaintances of +that name, he interrupts his work and comes out to see Mr. Smith and +discovers that he is a life insurance agent who thinks that if he can +once get inside he can "put it across." Most business men have no use +for such practices and rarely allow the salesmen who employ them to stay +in their offices any longer than it takes to get them out. Besides, the +salesman places himself under a handicap to begin with. He will find it +pretty hard to convince the man in the office that he is not dishonest +about his goods just as he is about himself. He is the greatest enemy of +his profession. And he makes the work of every one else engaged in it +infinitely harder. It is something every business and profession has to +fight against--the dishonest grafter who is using it as a means of +swindling society. + +Most salesmen give their names at the entrance desk instead of +presenting their cards. Psychologists and experience have taught them +that the card is distracting and that even if the interview is granted +it is harder to get the attention of the other man if he has a card to +twiddle between his fingers. It is more conventional to send in a card +(a good card is a letter of introduction in itself) but if the salesman +finds it a handicap, however slight, he should by all means dispense +with it. If the card is cheap or flashy or offensive in any way it +arouses prejudice against the man who bears it before he has had a +chance to present his case in person. The business card may be the same +as the personal card, simply a bit of pasteboard bearing the name and +perhaps the address, or it may be larger than the ordinary personal card +and bear the name of the firm for which the salesman is working, and in +addition, if it is a very simple design, the trademark of the firm. + +Whether to rise when a caller enters and shake hands is a question to be +settled by each person according to the way he likes best. It is +certainly more gracious to rise and ask him to be seated before resuming +one's own place. But promiscuous handshaking is an American habit which +Europeans as a rule frown upon and in which a number of Americans do not +indulge, for they like the grasp of their hand to mean something more +than a careless greeting and reserve it for their friends. In any case, +the caller should not be the first to extend his hand. + +If a man is accustomed to see a great number of people he will find it +too much of a strain on his vitality to shake hands with them all. +Roosevelt used to surprise strangers with the laxness of his grasp, but +the Colonel had learned to conserve his strength in small things so that +he might give it to great ones. The President of the United States has +more than once in the course of the history of our country come to the +end of the day with his hands bleeding from the number of times people +have pressed it during the day. Now the President ought to be willing to +give his life for his country, but he ought not to be required to give +it in this way. It probably meant a great deal to each one of the people +in the throng to be able to say, "I once shook hands with the +President," but how much more it would have meant if each one of them +could have said, "One day I helped my President," even if the help was +so small an act of thoughtfulness as forbearing to shake his hand. + +But to get back to salesmen: Some of them have a way, especially the +over-zealous ones, of getting as close to the prospect as is physically +possible. They place their papers or their brief cases on the desk +before which the prospect is sitting, hitch their chairs up as close as +they can, and talk with their breath in his face. No one likes this and +it is only a rude and thoughtless salesman who is guilty of it. One man +who had been vexed by it over and over again had the visitor's chair +nailed to the floor in his office some little distance from his own. And +he never had a caller who didn't try to move it nearer to him! + +For years it has been the habit for business men to receive their +callers at their desks, but lately there has been a turning away from +this. The desk is usually littered with papers and letters which the +caller can hardly help reading, and there are constant interruptions +from the telephone and the other members of the office. For these +reasons a number of business men are going out to see their callers +instead of bringing them in to see them, a practice which is much more +cordial than the other if one can afford the time for it. One big +business house abolished its large reception room and built in a number +of smaller ones instead. In this way each visitor has privacy and there +is a feeling of hospitality and coziness about the little room which the +bigger one failed to give. Each room was fitted up with comfortable +chairs, books, and magazines so that if the caller had to wait he would +have the means of entertaining himself. + +Once a man agrees to see a salesman or other visitor he should give, in +so far as it is possible, his full attention to him. It is better to +refuse an audience altogether than to give it grudgingly. A prominent +man cannot possibly see all of the people, salesmen and whatnot, who +want to talk with him or he would have no time left to keep himself +prominent. A busy man has to protect himself against the cranks and +idlers who try to gain access to him, and most men have to have devices +by which they can rid themselves of objectionable or tiresome callers. +One man who has a constant stream of visitors has only one chair in his +office, and he sits in it. Another never allows a visitor to enter his +office, but goes to the outer reception room and stands while he talks. +One man stands up as a signal that the interview is at an end. Another +begins to fumble with the papers on his desk, and the salesman does not +live who is not familiar with the man who must hurry out to lunch or who +has only five minutes to catch a train. One man has his secretary or his +office boy interrupt him after a visitor has been in as much as ten +minutes, to tell him that Mr. So-and-So is waiting outside. Another +rises to his feet and walks slowly toward the door, the salesman +following, until he has maneuvered him out. If the salesman is a man of +sense none of these devices will be necessary. He knows that a courteous +and prompt departure helps his cause much more than an annoying +persistence, and the man who stays after his prospect's mind has lost +every interest except to get him out of the way is lacking in one of the +fundamentals of social good manners as well as business good manners. +Rarely, perhaps never, does he succeed. For the successful salesman is +the one who can put himself into his prospect's place and let him know +that he has made a study of his needs and is there to help him. + +Carefully prepared approaches and memorized speeches are worth much to +the beginner, but an agility in adapting himself is much more important. +Ludendorff failed to get to Paris because his original plan was upset +and he could not think quickly enough to rally the German army and +attack from a different angle. Most salesmen have to talk to men who are +continually interrupted to attend to something else. And most business +men know what they want, or think they do, and when they ask a direct +question they want a direct answer. Many a young salesman has ruined +himself so far as his career was concerned because he went out with +instructions to keep the interview in his hands and every time the man +he was "selling" asked a question he passed airily over it and kept +stubbornly on the road he had mapped out for himself. The salesman +cannot think in theoretical terms; he must think concretely and from the +point of view of the man he is trying to convince. As one very excellent +salesman has put it, he must get the prospect's own story and tell it to +him in different words, and if he can actually show him a way to +decrease expenses or to increase output he will win not only his +attention, but his heart as well. + +The salesman must be absorbed in his commodity, but not to the exclusion +of the man he is trying to "sell." A beginner of this type went into a +man's office some time ago and rattled off a speech he had memorized +about some charts. The man listened until he came to the end--the boy +was talking so rapidly and excitedly that it would have been hard to +interrupt him except by shouting at him--and then quietly told him that +he had not been able to understand a word of what he had said. "You have +not been talking to me," he explained. "You have been talking at me." + +Another salesman of the same general kind went into the office of a busy +lawyer one morning recently in a building which happened to be owned by +the lawyer. + +"I am going to give you some books," he announced. + +The lawyer asked him what they were, but the salesman refused to be +diverted before he had led up to the dramatic moment in his carefully +planned speech at which he thought it best to mention the name of the +books. He went through the whole of his canvass and then thrust a paper +under the lawyer's face with "Sign here" above the dotted line. + +"I thought you were going to give them to me," the lawyer said. + +The salesman began to explain that of course he could not give him the +books outright and so on and on and on--everybody has heard this part of +his speech. The lawyer laughed and the salesman lost his temper. Very +angry, he started out of the room. Near the door which opened into the +hall was another door which opened into a closet that contained a shelf +which was a little more than five feet high. The salesman opened this +door by mistake and struck his head smartly against the shelf. This made +him angrier than ever. He jerked the other door open and slammed it +behind him with a crash that nearly broke the glass out. This was more +than the lawyer could stand. He sprang up and started in pursuit of the +salesman, who by this time was on his way into another office in the +same building. The lawyer asked him where he was going. The salesman +told him. + +"Not in my building," the lawyer said. "I can't have the men who have +offices here disturbed by people who act like this. Now go on," he added +kindly but firmly, "and let's forget that you ever came here." + +And the salesman went. + +Salesmanship is service, and the man who persuades another to buy +something he knows he does not want, does not need, and cannot use, is a +scoundrel. "Good salesmanship," and this is the only sort that any +self-respecting man will engage in, "is selling goods that won't come +back to customers that will." It is cumulative in its effect, and the +man who sells another something that really fills a want wins his +eternal gratitude and friendship. He tells his friends about it, they +come to the same salesman and the product begins almost to sell itself. +But it takes patience and courtesy to bring it up to this point. + +Some salesmen kill a territory on their first trip. Bad manners can do +it very easily. Sometimes they make themselves so objectionable that the +customer will buy to get rid of them, especially if the purchase does +not involve more than a dollar or two. Sometimes they carry the customer +along so smoothly with plausible arguments that they persuade him to buy +something that he knows he does not want. It is all right so long as the +salesman is present, but discontent follows in his trail. +Sometimes--stocks and bonds salesmen are guilty here--they wheedle the +customer into buying more than he can afford, beginning on the premise +that since their stocks are good (and the men who sell fraudulent ones +use the same methods) a man should if he has a hundred dollars buy a +hundred dollars' worth, if he has a million he should buy a million +dollars' worth, if he has a home he must mortgage it, if he has an +automobile he must sell it. No good salesman works like this. People are +very gullible and it takes little argument to persuade them to invest +nearly all they have in something that will make them rich in a hurry, +but the fact that they are foolish is not quite sufficient justification +for fooling them. Even if the stocks and bonds are all the salesman +believes and represents them to be, no man has a right to risk his home +or his happiness for them. A worth while salesman leaves his customer +satisfied and comes back a year later and finds him still satisfied. And +this sort of customer is the best advertisement and the best friend any +business can have. + +Bad salesmen create violent prejudices against the firms they represent. +For the average customer, like the average man, judges the whole of a +thing by the part that he sees. To most of us the word Chinaman calls up +the picture of the laundryman around the corner in spite of the fact +that there are some three hundred million Chinamen in the world engaged +in other occupations. Salesmen who are consumed with their own +importance do their firms more harm than good. They usually are men in +positions too big for them (they may not be very big at that) and are +for the most part of not much more real consequence than the gnat which +sat on the tip of the bull's horn and cried, "See what a dust I raise!" +Glum and sullen salesmen--there are not many of them--are of little +genuine value to their firms. It is not true that when you weep you weep +alone. Gloomy moods are as contagious as pleasant ones, and a happy man +radiates happiness. + +It is not easy to look pleasant when one's nerves are bruised from +miscellaneous contacts with all sorts of people, but it is an actual +fact that assuming the gestures of a mood will often induce the mood +itself. The man who forces himself to _look_ cheerful (we are not +talking about the one who takes on an idiotic grin) may find himself +after a while beginning to _feel_ cheerful. After he has greeted the +elevator boy with a smile (it may be a very crooked one) and the hotel +clerk and the waitress and the bootblack and the paper boy he is likely +to find that the smile has straightened out into a genuine one. It does +not always work--it is like counting to a hundred when one is angry--but +it is worth trying. + +Salesmen find their greatest difficulties among people of little +education. It is the people with fewest ideas that cling to them most +tenaciously. Scholars and scientists and business men who have learned +to employ scientific methods are constantly watching for something new. +They welcome new discoveries and new ideas, but the man in the backwoods +of ignorance has a fence around the limits of his mind and it is hard +for anything to get inside it. He is open to conviction, but like the +Scotsman, he would like to see the person who could "convict" him. It is +hard work to get a new idea into the mind of a man who is encased in a +shell of ignorance or prejudice, but the salesman is worse than +bad-mannered who lets another man, whoever he is, know that he thinks +his religion is no good, that his political party is rotten, that his +country is not worth a cancelled postage stamp, and that the people of +his race are "frogs," "square-heads," "dagos," "wops," or "kikes." + +Salesmen who are themselves courteous usually meet with courtesy. The +people who move graciously through life find comparatively little +rudeness in the world. And a good salesman is courteous to all men +alike. With him overalls command as much respect as broadcloth. It +pays--not only in money, but in other things that are worth more. + +A salesman should be especially careful of his attitude toward the +representatives of rival houses and their products. His eagerness to +advance his own cause should never lead him into belittling them. He +need not go out of his way to praise them nor should he speak of them +insincerely in glowing terms; but an honest word of commendation shows +that he is not afraid of his rivals in spite of the fact that they too +have excellent goods, and when it is impossible to speak well of them it +is best to stay silent. + +It is not hard to see why business men spend so much time and effort in +selecting their salesmen. They know that one who is ill-mannered or +offensive in any way indicates either a lack of breeding or a lack of +judgment on the part of the parent concern. And one is about as bad as +the other. + + + + +VIII + +THE BUSINESS OF WRITING + + +Half the business letters which are written should never be written at +all, and of the other half so many are incomplete or incoherent that a +transaction which could be finished and filed away in two letters +frequently requires six or eight. + +A good letter is the result of clear thinking and careful planning. In +the case of the sales-letter it sometimes takes several weeks to write +one, but for ordinary correspondence a few minutes is usually all that +is necessary. The length of time does not matter--it is the sort of +letter which is produced at the end of it. + +Books of commercial correspondence give a number of rules and standards +by which a letter can be measured. But all rules of thumb are dangerous, +and there are only two items which are essential. The others are +valuable only as they contribute to them. The letter must succeed in +getting its idea across and it must build up good will for its firm. And +the best one is the one which accomplishes this most courteously and +most completely in the briefest space of time (and paper). + +There should be a reason back of every letter if it is only to say +"Thank you" to a customer. Too much of our national energy goes up in +waste effort, in aimless advertising, worthless salesmanship, +ineffective letter writing, and in a thousand and one other ways. A lot +of it is hammered out on the typewriters transcribing perfectly useless +letters to paper which might really be worth something if it were given +over to a different purpose. + +A good letter never attracts the mind of the reader to itself as a thing +apart from its contents. Last year a publishing house sent out a hundred +test letters advertising one of their books. Three answers came back, +none of them ordering the book, but all three praising the letter. One +was from a teacher of commercial English who declared that he was going +to use it as a model in his classes, and the other two congratulated the +firm on having so excellent a correspondent. The physical make-up of the +letter was attractive, it was written by a college graduate and couched +in clear, correct, and colorful English. And yet it was no good. No +_letter and no advertisement is any good which calls attention to itself +instead of the message it is trying to deliver_. + +There is not much room for individuality in the make-up of a letter. +Custom has standardized it, and startling variations from the +conventional format indicates freakishness rather than originality. They +are like that astonishing gentleman who walks up Fifth Avenue on the +coldest mornings in the year, bareheaded, coatless, sockless, clad in +white flannels and tennis slippers. He attracts attention, but he makes +us shiver. + +Plain white paper of good quality is always in good taste. Certain +dull-tinted papers are not bad, but gaudy colors, flashy designs, and +ornate letter heads are taboo in all high types of business. Simple +headings giving explicit and useful information are best. The name and +address of the firm (and "New York" or "Chicago" is not sufficient in +spite of the fact that a good many places go into no more detail than +this), the cable address if it has one, the telephone number and the +trademark if it is an inconspicuous one (there is a difference between +_conspicuous_ and _distinctive_) are all that any business house needs. + +Hotels are often pictured on their own stationery in a way that is +anything but modest, but there is a very good reason for it. The first +thing most people want to know about a hotel is what sort of looking +place it is. All right, here you are. Some factories, especially those +that are proud of their appearance, carry their own picture on their +stationery. There is nothing to say against it, but one of the most +beautiful factories in America has on its letter head only the name of +the firm, the address, and a small trademark engraved in black. +Sometimes a picture, in a sales letter, for instance, supplements the +written matter in a most effective way. And whenever any kind of device +is really helpful it should by all means be used, subject only to the +limits of good taste. + +It is more practical in business to use standard size envelopes. If +window envelopes are used the window should be clear, the paper white or +nearly so, and the typewritten address a good honest black. The +enclosure should fit snugly and should be placed so that the address is +in plain view without having to be jiggled around in the envelope first. +A letter passes through the hands of several postal clerks before it +reaches the person to whom it is addressed, and if each one of them has +to stop to play with it awhile an appreciable amount of time is lost, +not to mention the strain it puts on their respective tempers. The paper +of which an envelope is made should always be opaque enough to conceal +the contents of the letter. + +Practically all business letters are typewritten. Occasionally a "Help +Wanted" advertisement requests that the answer be in the applicant's own +handwriting, but even this is rare. In most places the typing is taken +care of by girls who have been trained for the purpose, but most young +girls just entering business are highly irresponsible, and it is +necessary for the men and women who dictate the letters to know what +constitutes a pleasing make-up so that they can point out the flaws and +give suggestions for doing away with them. + +The letter should be arranged symmetrically on the page with ample +margins all around. Nothing but experience in copying her own notes will +teach a stenographer to estimate them correctly so that she will not +have to rewrite badly placed letters. It is a little point, but an +important one. + +Each subject considered in a letter should be treated in a separate +paragraph, and each paragraph should be set off from the others by a +wider space than that between the lines, double space between the +paragraphs when there is single space between the lines, triple space +between the paragraphs when there is a double space between the lines, +and so on. + +A business letter should handle only one subject. Two letters should be +dispatched if two subjects are to be covered. This enables the house +receiving the letter to file it so that it can be found when it is +needed. + +When a letter is addressed to an individual it is better to begin "Dear +Mr. Brown" or "My dear Mr. Brown" than "Dear Sir" or "My dear Sir." +"Gentlemen" or "Ladies" is sometime used in salutation when a letter is +addressed to a group. "Dear Friend" is permissible in general letters +sent out to persons of both sexes. Honorary titles should be used in the +address when they take the place of "Mr.," such titles as Reverend, +Doctor, Honorable (abbreviated to Rev., Dr., Hon.,) and the like. Titles +should not be dropped except in the case of personal letters. + +Special care should be taken with the outside address. State +abbreviations should be used sparingly when there is a chance of +confusion as in the case of Ga., Va., La., and Pa. "City" is not +sufficient and should never be used. Nor should the name of the state +ever be omitted even when the letter is addressed to some other point in +the same state, as from New York to Brooklyn. And postage should be +complete. A letter on which there is two cents due has placed itself +under a pretty severe handicap before it is opened. + +It is astonishing how many letters go out every day unsigned, lacking +enclosures, carrying the wrong addresses, bearing insufficient postage, +and showing other evidences of carelessness and thoughtlessness. In a +town in New England last year one of the specialty shops received at +Christmas time twenty different lots of money--money orders, stamps, and +cash--by mail, not one of which bore the slightest clue to the identity +of the sender. Countless times during the year this happens in every +mail order house. + +The initials of the dictator and of the stenographer in the lower +left-hand corner of a letter serve not only to identify the carbon, but +often to place the letter itself if it has gone out without signature. +The signature should be legible, or if the one who writes it enjoys +making flourishes he may do so if he will have the name neatly typed +either just below the name or just above it. It should be written in ink +(black or blue ink), not in pencil or colored crayon, and it should be +blotted before the page is folded. The dictator himself should sign the +letter whenever possible. "Dictated but not read" bears the mark of +discourtesy and sometimes brings back a letter with "Received but not +read" written across it. When it is necessary to leave the office before +signing his letters, a business man should deputize his stenographer to +do it, in which case she writes his name in full with her initials just +below it. A better plan is to have another person take care of the +entire letter, beginning it something like, "Since Mr. Blake is away +from the office to-day he has asked me to let you know----" + +The complimentary close to a business letter should be "Yours truly," +"Yours sincerely" or something of the kind, and not "Yours cordially," +"Yours faithfully" or "Yours gratefully" unless the circumstances +warrant it. + +In writing a letter as a part of a large organization one should use +"We" instead of "I." A firm acts collectively, no one except the +president has a right to the pronoun of the first person, and he (if he +is wise) seldom avails himself of it. If the matter is so near personal +as to make "We" somewhat ridiculous "I" should, of course, be used +instead. But one should be consistent. If "I" is used at the beginning +it should be continued throughout. + +Similarly a letter should be addressed to a firm rather than to a +person, for if the person happens to be absent some one else can then +take charge of it. But the address should also include the name of the +addressee (whenever possible) or "Advertising Manager," "Personnel +Manager" or whatever the designation of his position may be. The name +may be placed in the lower left-hand corner of the letter "Attention Mr. +Green" or "Attention Advertising Manager," and it may also be placed +just above the salutation inside the letter. Sometimes the subject of +the letter is indicated in the same way, _Re Montana shipment_, _Re +Smythe manuscript_, etc. These lines may be typed in red or in capital +letters so as to catch the attention of the reader at once. If a letter +is more than two pages long this line is often added to the succeeding +pages, a very convenient device, for letters are sometimes misplaced in +the files and this helps to locate them. + +A business letter should never be longer than necessary. If three lines +are enough it is absurd to use more, especially if the letter is going +to a firm which handles a big correspondence. Some one has said with +more truth than exaggeration that no man south of Fourteenth Street in +New York reads a letter more than three lines long. But there is danger +that the too brief letter will sound brusque. Mail order houses which +serve the small towns and the rural districts say that, all other things +being equal, it is the long sales letter which brings in the best +results. Farmers have more leisure and they are quite willing to read +long letters _if_ (and this _if_ is worth taking note of) they are +interesting. + +All unnecessary words and all stilted phrases should be stripped from a +letter. "Replying to your esteemed favor," "Yours of the 11th inst. to +hand, contents noted," "Yours of the 24th ult. received. In reply would +say," "Awaiting a favorable reply," "We beg to remain" are dead weights. +"Prox" might be added to the list, and "In reply to same." "Per diem" +and other Latin expressions should likewise be thrown into the discard. +"As per our agreement of the 17th" should give place to "According to +our agreement of the 17th," and, wherever possible, simplified +expression should be employed. Legal phraseology should be restricted to +the profession to which it belongs. Wills, deeds, and other documents +likely to be haled into court need "whereas's" and "wherefores" and +"said's" and "same's" without end, but ordinary business letters do not. +It is perfectly possible to express oneself clearly in the language of +conversation (which is also the language of business) without burying +the meaning in tiresome verbiage. And yet reputable business houses +every day send out letters which are almost ridiculous because of the +stiff and pompous way they are written. + +The following letter was sent recently by one of the oldest furniture +houses in America: + + DEAR MADAM: + + Herewith please find receipt for full payment of your bill. + Please accept our thanks for same. + + Relative to the commission due Mrs. Robinson would say that if + she will call at our office at her convenience we shall be glad + to pay same to her. + + Thanking you for past favors, we beg to remain, + + Yours very truly, + +Contrast that with this: + + DEAR MRS. BROWN: + + We are returning herewith your receipted bill. Thank you very + much. + + If you will have Mrs. Robinson call at our office at her + convenience we shall take pleasure in paying her the commission + due her. + + Yours very truly, + +Here is another letter so typical of the kind that carelessness +produces: + + DEAR SIR: + + I have your letter of the 27th inst. and I have forwarded it to + Mr. Stubbs and will see him in a few days and talk the matter + over. + + I remain + Yours sincerely, + +Would it not have been just as easy to write: + + DEAR MR. THOMPSON: + + Thank you for your letter of the 27th. I have forwarded it to Mr. + Stubbs and will see him in a few days to talk the matter over. + + Your sincerely, + +In the preparation of this volume a letter of inquiry was sent out to a +number of representative business houses all over the country. It was a +pleasure to read the excellent replies that came in response to it. One +letter reached its destination in the midst of a strike, but the +publicity manager of the firm sent a cordial answer, which began: + + Your very courteous letter to Mr. Jennings came at a time when + his mind is pretty well occupied with thoughts concerning the + employment situation in our various plants. + + We shall endeavor, therefore, to give you such information as + comes to mind with regard to matters undertaken by the company + which have contributed to the standard of courtesy which exists + in the departments here. + +We select another at random: + + It pleases us very much to know that our company has been + described to you as one which practises courtesy in business. We + should like nothing better than to have all our employees live up + to the reputation credited to them by Mr. Haight. + + As for our methods of obtaining it---- + +Contrast these two excellent beginnings with (and this one is authentic, +too): + + In reply to yours of the 6th inst. relative to what part courtesy + plays in business and office management would say that it is very + important. + +Routine letters must be standardized--a house must conserve its own time +as well as that of its customers--but a routine letter must never be +used unless it adequately covers the situation. There is no excuse for a +poor routine letter, for there is plenty of time to think it out, and +there is no excuse for sending a routine letter when it does not +thoroughly answer the correspondent's question. The man who is answering +a letter must put himself in the place of the one who wrote it. + +This is a fair sample of what happens when a letter is written by a +person who either has no imagination at all, or does not use what he +has. + +A woman who had just moved to New York lost the key to her apartment and +wrote to her landlord for another. This answer came: + + Replying to your letter, will say am sorry but it is not the + custom of the landlord to furnish more than one key for an + apartment. Should the tenant lose or misplace the key it is up to + them to replace same. + +The woman felt a justifiable sense of irritation. She was new to the +city and thought she was taking the most direct method of replacing +"same." Perhaps she should have known better, but she did not. Buying a +key is not so simple as buying a box of matches and to a newcomer it is +a matter of some little difficulty. She was at least entitled to a bit +more information and to more courteous treatment than is shown in the +letter signed by his landlordly hand. She went to see him and found him +most suave and polite (which was his habit face to face with a woman). +He explained the heavy expense of furnishing careless tenants with new +keys (which she understood perfectly to begin with) and was most +apologetic when he discovered that she had intended all the time to pay +for it. It would have been just as easy for him in the beginning to +write: + + I am sorry that I cannot send you a key, but we have had so many + similar requests that we have had to discontinue complying with + them. + + You will find an excellent locksmith at 45 West 119 St. His + telephone number is Main 3480. + +Or: + + I am sending you the key herewith. There is a nominal charge for + it which will be added to your bill at the end of the month. I + hope it will reach you safely. It is a nuisance to be without + one. + +Imagination is indispensable to good letter writing, but it is going +rather far when one sends thanks in advance for a favor which he expects +to be conferred. Even those who take pleasure in granting favors like to +feel that they do so of their own free will. It takes away the pleasure +of doing it when some one asks a favor and then assumes the thing done. +Royalty alone are so highly privileged as to have simply to voice their +wishes to have them complied with, and royalty has gone out of fashion. + +At one point in their journey all the travellers in "Pilgrim's Progress" +exchanged burdens, but they did not go far before each one begged to +have back his original load. That is what would happen if the man who +dictates a letter were to exchange places with his stenographer. Each +would then appreciate the position of the other, and if they were once +in a while to make the transfer in their minds (imagination in business +again) they would come nearer the sympathetic understanding that is the +basis of good teamwork. + +The responsibility for a letter is divided between them, and it is +important that the circumstances under which it is written should be +favorable. The girl should be placed in a comfortable position so that +she can hear without difficulty. The dictator should not smoke whether +she objects to it or not. He should have in mind what he wants to say +before he begins speaking, and then he should pronounce his words evenly +and distinctly. He should not bang on the desk with his fist, flourish +his arms in the air, talk in rhetorical rushes with long pauses between +the phrases, or raise his voice to a thunderous pitch and then let it +sink to a cooing murmur. These things have not the slightest effect on +the typewritten page, and they make it very hard for the girl to take +correct notes. No one should write a letter while he is angry, or if he +writes it (and it is sometimes a relief to write a scorching letter) he +should not mail it. + +It is said that Roosevelt used to write very angry letters to people who +deserved them, drawing liberally upon his very expressive supply of +abusive words for the occasion. Each time his secretary quietly stopped +the letter. Each time the Colonel came in the day after and asked if the +letter had been sent. Each time the secretary said, "No, that one did +not get off." And each time the Colonel exclaimed, "Good! We won't send +it!" It came to be a regular part of the day's routine. + +Inexperienced dictators will find it good practice to have their +stenographers read back their letters so they can recast awkward +sentences and make other improvements. It can usually be discontinued +after a while, for dictating, like nearly everything else, becomes +easier with habit. + +A considerate man will show special forbearance in breaking in a new +girl. Different voices are hard to grow accustomed to, and a girl who is +perfectly capable of taking dictation from one man will find it very +difficult to follow another until she has grown used to the sound of his +voice. It is like learning a foreign language. The pupil understands his +teacher, but he does not understand any one else until he has got "the +hang of it." + +The training of a good stenographer does not end when she leaves school. +She should be able not only to take down and transcribe notes neatly and +correctly. She should be able to spell and punctuate correctly and to +make the minor changes in phrasing and diction that so often can make a +good letter of a poor one. The most fatal disease that can overtake a +stenographer (or any one else) is the habit of slavishly following a +routine. + +"Many young fellows," this is from Henry Ford, "especially those +employed in offices, fall into a routine way of doing their work that +eventually makes it become like a treadmill. They do not get a broad +view of the entire business. Sometimes that is the fault of the +employer, but that does not excuse the young man. Those who command +attention are the ones who are actually pushing the boss.... It pays to +be ahead of your immediate job, and to do more than that for which you +are paid. A mere clock watcher never gets anywhere. Forget the clock and +become absorbed in your job. Learn to love it." + +The position of secretary is a responsible one. Frequently she knows +almost as much about his business as her employer himself (and sometimes +even more). He depends upon her quite as much as she depends upon him, +though in a somewhat different way. It takes personal effort together +with native ability to raise any one to a position of importance, but +personal effort often needs supplementing, and many business houses have +taken special measures to help their employees to become good +correspondents. + +In some places there are supervisors who give talks and discuss the +actual letters, good ones and bad, which have been written. They go over +the carbons and hold conferences with the correspondents who need help. +In other places courtesy campaigns for a higher standard of +correspondence are held, while in others the matter is placed in the +hands of the heads of the various departments, acting on the assumption +that these heads are men of experience and ability or they would never +have attained the position they hold. + +The president of a bank which has branches in London and Paris and other +big foreign cities used every now and then to stop the boy who was +carrying a basket of carbons to the file clerk and look them over. If he +found a letter he did not like, or one that he did like a great deal, he +sent for the person who wrote it and talked with him. It was not +necessary for him to go over the letters often. The fact that the people +in the office knew that it was likely to happen kept them on the alert +and nearly every letter that left the organization was better because +the person who wrote it knew that the man at the head was interested in +it and that there was a strong chance that he might see it. + +What is effective in one place may not be so in another. Each house must +work out its own system. But one thing must be understood in the +beginning, and that is that the spirit of courtesy must first abide in +the home office before the people who work there can hope to send it +out through the mail. + +Roughly speaking there are eight types of business letters which nearly +every business man at one time or another has to write or to consider. + +The first is the letter of _application_. The applicant should state +simply his qualifications for the place he wants. He should not make an +appeal to sympathy (sob stuff) nor should he beg or cringe. He should +not demand a certain salary, though he may state what salary he would +like, and he should not say "Salary no object." It would probably not be +true. There are comparatively few people with whom money is no object. +If it is the first time the applicant has ever tried for a position he +should say so; if not, he should give his reason for leaving his last +place. It should not be a long letter. A direct statement of the +essential facts (age, education, experiences, etc.) is all that is +necessary. + +Many times the letter of application is accompanied by, or calls for, a +letter of _recommendation_. + +No man should allow himself to recommend another for qualities which he +knows he does not possess. If he is asked for a recommendation he should +speak as favorably of the person under consideration as he honestly +can, and if his opinion of him is disapproving he should give it with +reservations. + +At one time during the cleaning up of Panama there was considerable talk +about displacing General Gorgas and a committee waited on Roosevelt to +suggest another man for the job. He listened and then asked them to get +a letter about him from Dr. William H. Welsh of Johns Hopkins. Dr. Welsh +wrote a letter praising the man very highly, but ended by saying that +while it was true that he would be a good man for the place, he did not +think he would be as good as the one they already had--General Gorgas. +The Colonel acted upon the letter confident (because he had great faith +in Dr. Welsh) that he was taking the wise course, which subsequent +events proved it to be. "Would to heaven," he said, "that every one +would write such honest letters of recommendation!" + +The general letter of recommendation beginning "To whom it may concern" +is rarely given now. It has little weight. Usually a man waits until he +has applied for a position and then gives the name of his reference, the +person to whom he is applying writes to the one to whom he has been +referred, and the entire correspondence is carried on between these two. +In this way the letter of recommendation can be sincere, something +almost impossible in the open letter. It is needless to add that all +such correspondence should be confidential. + +The letter of _introduction_ is, in a measure, a letter of +recommendation. The one who writes it stands sponsor for the one who +bears it. It should make no extravagant claims for the one who is +introduced. He should simply be given a chance to make good on his own +responsibility. But it should give the reason for the presentation and +suggest a way of following it up that will result in mutual pleasure or +benefit. It should be in an unsealed envelope and the envelope should +bear, in addition to the address, the words, "Introducing Mr. Blank" on +the lower left-hand corner. This does away with an embarrassing moment +when the letter is presented in person and enables the host to greet his +guest by name and ask him to be seated while he reads it. + +Letters of introduction should not be given promiscuously. Some men +permit themselves to be persuaded into giving letters of introduction to +people who are absolute nuisances (it is hard to refuse any one who asks +for this sort of letter, but often kindest for all concerned) and then +they send in secret another letter explaining how the first one came +about. This really throws the burden on the person who least of all +ought to bear it, the innocent man whom the first one wanted to meet. No +letter of presentation is justified unless there is good reason behind +it, such, as for instance, in the following: + + This is Mr. Franklin B. Nesbitt. He has been in Texas for several + months studying economic conditions, and I believe can give you + some valuable information which has resulted from his research + there. He is a man upon whom you can rely. I have known him for + years, and I am sure that whatever he tells you will be + trustworthy. + +It is a common practice for a business man to give his personal card +with "Introducing Mr. Mills" or "Introducing Mr. Mills of Howard and +Powell Motor Co." written across it to a man whom he wishes to introduce +to another. This enables him to get an interview. What he does with it +rests entirely with him. + +_Sales letters_ are a highly specialized group given over, for the most +part, to experts. Their most common fault is overstatement or +patronizing. The advertisements inserted in trade papers and the letters +sent out to the "trade" are often so condescendingly written that they +infuriate the men to whom they are addressed. It is safer to assume that +the man you are writing to is an intelligent human being. It is better +to overestimate his mentality than to underestimate it, and it is better +to "talk" to him in the letter than to "write" to him. + +Sales letters are, as a rule, general, not personal, and yet the best +ones have the personal touch. The letter is a silent salesman whose +function is to anticipate the needs of its customers and offer to supply +them. In this as in any other kind of salesmanship it is the spirit +which counts for most, and the spirit of genuine helpfulness (mutual +helpfulness) gives pulling power to almost any letter. The one which +presents a special offer on special terms specially arranged for the +benefit of the customer wins out almost every time, provided, of course, +that the offer is worth presenting. There is no use in declaring that +all of the benefit is to the subscriber. It would be very foolish if it +were actually true. Once a man went into a haberdashery to buy a coat. +The shop owner unctuously declared that he was not making a cent of +profit, was selling it for less than it cost him, and so on and on. The +man walked out. "I'll go somewhere where they have sense enough to make +a profit," he said. + +A sales letter should never be sent out to a large group of people +without first having been tried out on a smaller one. In this way the +letter can be tested and improvements made before the whole campaign is +launched. The results in the small group are a pretty fair indication of +what they will be in the large one, and a tremendous amount of time and +money can be saved by studying the letter carefully to see where it has +failed before sending it out to make an even bigger failure. + +On the face of things it seems that an _order letter_ would be an easy +one to write, but the mail order houses have another story to tell. +Order blanks should be used wherever possible. They have been carefully +made and have blank spaces for the filling in of answers to the +questions that are asked. In an order letter one should state exactly +what he wants, how he wants it sent, and how he intends to pay for it. +If the order consists of several items, each one should be listed +separately. If they are ordered from a catalogue they should be +identified with the catalogue description by mention of their names, +their numbers and prices. One should state whether he is sending check, +money, stamps, or money order, but he should not say "Enclosed please +find." + +The commonest form of _letter of acknowledgment_ is sent in answer to an +order letter. If there is to be the least delay in filling the order +the letter acknowledging it should say so and should give the reason for +it, but even when the order is filled promptly (if it is a large or a +comparatively large one) the letter of acknowledgment should be sent. +Then if anything goes wrong it is easier to trace than when the customer +has no record except the copy of his order letter. The letter of +acknowledgment should simply thank the customer and assure him of prompt +and efficient service. + +Complaints should be acknowledged immediately. If there is to be a delay +while an investigation is made, the letter of acknowledgment should +simply state the fact and beg indulgence until it is finished. +Complaints should _always_ receive careful and courteous attention. Most +of them are justified, and even those that are not had something to +begin on. + +The _letter of complaint_ should never be written hastily or angrily. It +should go directly to the root of the trouble and should state as nearly +as possible when and where and how it came about. One should be +especially careful about placing the blame or charging to an individual +what was really the fault of an unfortunate train of circumstances. The +tone should never be sharp, no matter how just the complaint. "Please" +goes further than "Now, see here." + +_Collection letters_ are hardest to write. They should appeal to a man's +sense of honor first of all. It is a cheap (and ineffective) method to +beg him to pay because you need the money, and rarely brings any +reaction except rousing in his mind a contempt for you. The first letter +in a series (and the series often includes as many as six or eight) +should be simply a reminder. Drastic measures should not be taken until +they are necessary, and at no time should the letters become abrupt or +insulting. In the first place, it is ungentlemanly to write such +letters, in the second it antagonizes the debtor, and if he gets angry +enough he feels that it is hardly an obligation to pay the money; that +it will "serve 'em right" if he does not do it. + +Advertising is a sort of letter writing. Each advertisement is a letter +set before the public or some part of the public in the hope that it +will be answered by the right person. It enters into an over-crowded +field and if it is to attract attention it must be vivid, unusual, and +convincing. Increasingly--and there is cause to be thankful for +this--exaggerated statements are being forced to disappear. In the first +place the ballyhoo advertisers have shouted the public deaf. They no +longer believe. In the second place advertisers themselves have waked to +the menace of the irresponsible and dishonest people who are +advertising and are taking legal measures to safeguard the honor of the +profession. + +One of the most successful advertisers of modern times was a man who +carried the idea of service into everything he did. For a while he had +charge of soliciting advertising for automobile trucks for a certain +magazine. Instead of going at it blindly he made a careful study of the +map of the United States and marked off the areas where automobile +trucks were used, where they could be used, and where they should be +used, and sent it to the manufacturers along with a statement of the +circulation of the magazine and the advantages of reaching the public +through it. The result was that the magazine got more advertising from +the manufacturers than it could possibly handle. It is very gratifying +to know that this man succeeded extraordinarily as an advertiser, for +not once during his long career did he ever try to "put one over" on the +public or on anybody else. + +No advertisement should be impertinent or importunate. During the war +there was a splendid poster bearing a picture of Uncle Sam looking +straight into your eyes and pointing his finger straight into your face +as he said, "Young man, your country needs you!" The poster was +excellent from every point of view, but since the war, real estate +companies, barber shops, restaurants and whatnot have used posters +bearing the pictures of men pointing their fingers straight at you +saying, "There is a home at Blankville for you," "Watch out to use +Baker's Best," and "You're next!" After all, Uncle Sam is the only +person who has a right to point his finger at you in any such manner and +say, "I need you." And besides, there is the moral side of it. Imitation +is the sincerest flattery, but the dividing line between it and +dishonesty is not always clear. And the law cannot every time prosecute +the offender, for there is a kind of cleverness that enables a man to +pilfer the ideas of another and recast them just sufficiently to "get +by." It would be very stupid for a man not to profit by the experience +of other men, but there is a vast difference between intelligent +adaptation of ideas and stealing them. This is more a question of morals +than of manners, for the crime--and it is a crime--is usually +deliberate, while most breaches of manners are unintentional and due to +either carelessness or ignorance. + +House memoranda are letters among the various people who are working +there. They should be brief, above all things, and clear, but never at +the sacrifice of courtesy. Titles should not be dropped and nicknames +should not be used although initials may be. Memoranda should never be +personal unless they are sent confidentially. An open memorandum should +never contain anything that cannot be read by every one without +reflecting unfavorably upon any one. And it is wise to keep in mind--no +matter what you are writing--that the written record is permanent. + + + + +IX + +MORALS AND MANNERS + + +It has become a habit of late years for people to argue at great length +about right and wrong, and what with complexes and psycho-analysis and +what with this and that, they have almost come to the conclusion that +there is no right and wrong. Man, so they have decided, is a frail and +tender being completely at the mercy of the traits he has inherited from +his ancestors and those he has acquired from his neighbors. What he does +is simply the result of the combination of circumstances that have made +him what he is. There is some truth in it, of course, but what there is +is no bigger than a mustard seed, and all the volumes that have been +written about it, all the sermons that have been preached upon it, and +all the miles of space that have been devoted to it in the newspapers +and magazines have not served to increase it. Most of us never give any +one else credit for our achievements and there is no more reason for +giving them blame for our failures. A gentleman is "lord of his own +actions." He balances his own account, and whether there is a debit or a +credit is a matter squarely up to him. + +The pivot upon which all right-thinking conduct involving relations with +other people turns is the Golden Rule, "Whatsoever ye would that men +should do to you, do ye even so to them." It is to the moral what the +sun is to the physical world, and just as we have never made full use of +the heat and light which we derive from the sun but could not live +without that which we do use, so we have never realized more than a +small part of the possibilities of the Golden Rule, but at the same time +could not get along together in the world without the meagre part of it +that we do make use of. The principle is older than the Christian Era, +older than the sequoias of California, older than the Pyramids, older +than Chinese civilization. It is the most precious abstract truth that +man has yet discovered. It contains the germ of all that has been said +and written about human brotherhood and all that has been done toward +making it an accomplished fact. And if to-morrow it were to vanish from +the earth we should miss it almost, if not quite, as much as we should +the sun if it were to go hurtling off into space so far away that we +could neither see nor feel it. In the one case there would be no life +at all on earth, in the other there would be none worth living. + +The Golden Rule amounts to no more than putting yourself into another +person's place. It is not always easy to do. Half of the people in the +United States have very little idea of what the lives of the other half +are like and have no special interest in knowing. + +"What," we asked the manager of a bookshop which caters to a large +high-grade clientele, "do you find your greatest trouble?" + +"Lack of imagination on the part of our customers," he answered +promptly, "a total inability to put themselves into our place, to +realize that we have our lives to live just as they have theirs. If we +haven't a book in stock they want to know why. If we don't drop +everything to attend to them they want to know why. If anything goes +wrong they want to know why, but they won't listen to explanations and +won't accept them when they do. They simply can't see our side of it. +And they make such unreasonable demands. Why, last year during the +Christmas rush when the shop was fairly jammed to the door and we were +all in a perfect frenzy trying to wait on them all, a man called up to +know if his wife was here!" + +It is not always easy to see life, or even a small section of life, +from another person's point of view. A man very often thinks housework +practically no work at all (the drudgery of it he has never realized +because he has never had to do it) and a woman very often underestimates +the wear and tear and strain of working in an office and getting a +living out of it in competition with hundreds of other men. Marie +Antoinette had no conception of what it meant when the French people +cried for bread. It seemed impossible to her that a person could +actually be hungry. "Why, give them cake!" she exclaimed. It may be +pretty hard for a man who is making $10,000 a year to sympathize with +the stenographer he hires for $600 or $700 a year, or for her to see his +side of things. But it is not impossible. + +Very few of us could honestly go as far as the novelist who recently +advocated the motto: "My neighbor is perfect" or the governor who set +aside a day for the people in his state to put it into practice. We +happen to know that our neighbors are, like ourselves, astonishing +compounds of vice and virtue in whom any number of improvements might be +made. It is not necessary to think them perfect, only to remember that +each one of us, each one of them, is entitled to life, liberty, and the +pursuit of happiness. In other words, that every man has a right to a +square deal. + +In the ancient world there were four cardinal virtues: justice, +prudence, temperance, and discretion. In the modern world of business +there are only two. Others may follow, but these two must come first. +Justice, we mean, and kindness. No man was ever really a gentleman who +was not just and kind, and we think it would be almost impossible for +one who is, whatever his minor shortcomings may be, not to be a +gentleman. Just to his employees (or to his employer), to his customers, +to his friends, to himself, and this justice always tempered with +kindness, the one quality giving the firmness necessary in dealing with +people, the other the gentleness which is no less necessary. + +In the first place, and this is one of the corner stones of justice, +industrial life must be made safe for the worker. And it is a job in +which he has as large a part as the man who hires him. Under present +conditions one workman out of every eight is injured during the year and +the accident is as often his fault as it is that of his employer. In +some instances efficient safety devices are not provided, in others they +are not made use of. + +Special kinds of work, such as that in which the laborer is exposed to +poisonous fumes, to sand blasts, dangerous chemicals or mineral dusts, +need special protective devices and men with sense enough to use them. +The employer cannot do his share unless the worker does his, and the +worker is too quick to take a chance. The apprentice is usually cautious +enough, but the old hand grows unwary. Ninety-nine times he thrusts his +arm in among belts whirling at lightning speed and escapes, but the +hundredth time the arm is caught and mangled. And there is nothing to +blame but his own carelessness. + + +WHO AM I? + +I am more powerful than the combined armies of the world. + +I have destroyed more men than all the wars of the nations. + +I am more deadly than bullets, and I have wrecked more homes than the +mightiest of siege guns. + +I steal, in the United States, alone, over $300,000,000 each year. + +I spare no one, and I find my victims among the rich and poor alike, the +young and old, the strong and weak. Widows and orphans know me. + +I loom up to such proportions that I cast my shadow over every field of +labor, from the turning of the grindstone to the moving of every +railroad train. + +I massacre thousands upon thousands of wage earners a year. + +I lurk in unseen places and do most of my work silently. You are warned +against me but you heed not. + +I am relentless. + +I am everywhere--in the house, on the streets, in the factory, at the +railroad crossings, and on the sea. + +I bring sickness, degradation and death, and yet few seek to avoid me. + +I destroy, crush or maim; I give nothing but take all. + +I am your worst enemy. + + +I AM CARELESSNESS + +Any kind of carelessness which results in injury (or is likely to result +in it), whether the injury is mental or physical, is criminal. No plea +can justify building a theatre which cannot stand a snowstorm, a school +which cannot give a maximum of safety to the children who are in it, a +factory which does not provide comfortable working conditions for the +people employed there, or allowing any unsafe building or part of a +building to stand. + +There is a factory (this story is true) which places the lives of the +majority of its employees in jeopardy twice a day. There are two sets of +elevators, one at the front of the building for the executives and their +secretaries and visitors, one at the rear for the rank and file of the +employees. Since there are several hundred of the latter the advantages +of the division are too obvious to need discussion. We have no quarrel +with it. But the apparatus upon which the elevators in the rear run is +so old and so rotten and so rusty that there is constant danger of its +breaking down. Three times already there have been serious accidents. +The men who are hired to operate the cars rarely stay more than a week +or so. Protests have been sent in but nothing has been done. The +management knows what the conditions are but they have never stopped to +realize the horror of it. It is not that they value a few dollars more +than they do human life, but that they simply do not stop to think or to +imagine what it would be like to have to ride in the ramshackle elevator +themselves. In the offices of this factory there is an atmosphere of +courtesy and good breeding far beyond the ordinary--in justice to the +people there it must be said that they do not know the conditions in the +rear, but the management does. And the management is polite in most of +its dealings, both with its employees and outside, but polish laid over +a cancerous growth like this is not courtesy. + +There are three essentials for good work: _good lighting_ (it must be +remembered that a light that is too glaring is as bad as one that is too +dim), _fresh air_ (air that is hot and damp or dry and dusty is not +fresh), and _cleanliness_ (clean workrooms--and workers--clean drinking +water with individual drinking cups, and in places where the work is +unusually dirty, plenty of clean water for bathing purposes.) + +In the matter of salaries--economically one of the most important +questions in the world--the employer should pay, not as little, but as +much as he can afford. No man has a right to hire a girl (or a boy +either) at less than a living wage and expect her to live on it. The +pitiless publicity which was given the evil of hiring girls at +starvation wages some years ago (in particular through the short stories +of O. Henry, "the little shop-girl's knight" which, according to Colonel +Roosevelt, suggested all the reforms which he undertook in behalf of the +working girls of New York) did much in the way of reform, but there is +much yet to be done. + +Money has been called the root of all evil. It is not money, but greed. +Greed and thoughtlessness. Sir James Barrie says stupidity and +jealousy, but both these might be included under thoughtlessness. Men +who are generous almost to a fault when a case of individual need is +brought before them will hire girls at less than any one could exist on +in decency. When they meet these same girls in the hall or when they +come directly into contact with them in their work they may be polite +enough, but their politeness is not worth a tinker's curse. Justice must +come first. Only if the employer pays a fair day's wage can he expect a +fair day's work. "Even then," he protests, "I can't get it." And this +is, unfortunately, in large measure true. As Kipling said some few years +ago, and it still holds, + + From forge and farm and mine and bench + Deck, altar, outpost lone-- + Mill, school, battalion, counter, trench, + Rail, senate, sheepfold, throne-- + Creation's cry goes up on high + From age to cheated age: + "Send us the men who do the work + For which they draw the wage." + +"I can't even get them here on time," the employer's wail continues. The +employee may respond that the employer is not there, but this has +nothing to do with it. Most people are paid to get to their work at a +certain hour. They have a daily appointment with their business at a +specified time. It is wise and honorable to keep it. Tardiness is a +habit, and, like most others, considerably harder to break than to form, +but punctuality also is a habit, not quite so easy to establish as +tardiness because it is based on strength while the other is based on +weakness. Most of us hate to get up in the morning, but it is good +discipline for the soul, and we have the words of poets as well as of +business men that + + Early to bed and early to rise + Is the way to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. + +Time is one of the most valuable of commodities. More people are +discharged for coming in late than for any other reason, not excepting +(we believe this no exaggeration) "lay-offs" during dull seasons. +Slipping out before the regular time and soldiering on the job fall into +the same classification with tardiness. Such practices the employee too +often looks upon as a smart way of getting around authority, blithely +ignoring the fact which has so many times been called to our attention: +that what a man does to a job is not half so important as what the job +does to him. The material loss which comes from it is the least of its +harms. + +All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but he is duller yet if he +tries to mix them. Intense concentration during working hours followed +by complete rest is the only way to make a contented workman, and it is +the happy workman (just as it is the happy warrior), in spite of all +that is said about divine discontent, who counts for most both to +himself and to his community. There is a gladness about earnest eager +work which is hard to find in anything else. "I know what pleasure is," +declared Robert Louis Stevenson, "because I have done good work." + +Gossiping, idling, smoking, writing personal letters during working +hours (these usually on the firm's stationery), and a thousand and one +other petty acts of dishonesty are ruinous, not so much to the house +which tolerates them (because it cannot help itself) as to the person +who commits them. Telephones are the cause of a good deal of disturbance +during business hours in places where employees spend an appreciable +amount of time on personal calls. In some organizations they are +prohibited altogether; but in most they are allowed if not carried to +excess. It is not business people who need education in this so much as +their friends who have never been in business and seem unable to realize +that personal calls are not only annoying, but time-killing and +distracting. + +Part of the unrest and unhappiness among employees is due to the fact +that vast numbers of them are working not at what they want to do but at +what they have to do, marking time until they can get something better. +It is very commendable for a man to be constantly watching out to +improve himself, but it does not in the meanwhile excuse him from doing +his best at the job for which he is drawing pay. It is dishonest. It is +unsportsmanlike. It is unmanly. + +The question of salary is, from whatever angle it is approached, a +delicate one. "My experience is," observed David Harum, "that most men's +hearts is located ruther closter to their britchis pockets than they are +to their vest pockets." It is a tender subject, and one that causes more +trouble than almost any other in the world. Employees who are trusted +with the payroll should not divulge figures and employees who are on the +payroll should not discuss and compare salaries. Jones cannot understand +why Brown gets more than he does when he knows that Brown's work is not +so good, Brown cannot see why Smith gets as much as he does when he is +out two or three days in the week, and Smith cannot see why he has not +been made an executive after all the years he has worked in the place. +There are many sides to the matter of salary adjustment and they all +have to be taken into consideration. And the petty jealousies that +employees arouse by matching salaries against one another only serve to +make a complex problem more difficult. + +There is only one base upon which a man should rest his plea for an +increase in salary, and that is good work. The fact that he has a family +dependent upon him, that he is ill or hard up may be ample reason for +giving him financial help or offering him a loan, but it is no reason +why his salary should be increased unless his work deserves it. +Paternalism is more unfair than most systems of reward, and the man who +comes whimpering with a tale of hard luck is usually (but not always) +not worth coddling. Years of experience, even though they stretch out to +three score and ten, are not in themselves sufficient argument for +promotion. Sometimes the mere fact that a man has been content to stay +in one place year after year shows that he has too little initiative to +rise in that particular kind of work and is too timid to try something +else. + +Another big cause of trouble among men working in the same organization +is rigid class distinction. When a man hires others to work _for_ him he +invites discontent; when he hires them to work _with_ him there may be +dissatisfaction, but the chances of it are lessened. A business well +knit together is like any other group, an army or a football team, bound +into a unit to achieve a result. At its best each person in it feels a +responsibility toward each one of the others; each realizes that who a +man is is not half so important as what he does, and that + + ... the game is more than the player of the game + And the ship is more than the crew, + +or, as another poet with a Kiplingesque turn of mind and phrase has it, + + It is not the guns or armament + Or the money they can pay. + It's the close cooeperation + That makes them win the day. + It is not the individual + Or the army as a whole, + But the everlastin' team work + Of every blooming soul. + +Each man is directly responsible to his immediate superior. He should +never, unless the circumstances are unusual, go over his head and he +should never do so without letting him know. It should be impossible, +and is, in a well-organized house, for men coming from the outside to +appeal over a member of a firm. Responsible men should be placed in the +contact positions and their responsibility should be respected. Salesmen +are warned not to bother with the little fellow but to go straight to +the head of a firm. Like most general advice, it is dangerous to put +into universal practice. The heads of most firms have men to take care +of visitors, and in a good many instances, the salesman helps his cause +by going to the proper subordinate in the first place. It is all very +well to go to the head of a firm but to do it at the expense of the +dignity of one of the smaller executives is doubtful business policy and +doubtful ethics. + +"Passing the buck" is a gentle vice practised in certain loosely hung +together concerns. It is a strong temptation to shift the accountability +for a mistake to the shoulders of the person on the step below, but it +is to be remembered that temptations, like obstacles, are things to be +overcome. The "buck," as has been pointed out, always passes down and +not up, a fact which makes a detestable practice all the more odious. +One of the first laws of knighthood was to defend the weak and to +protect the poor and helpless; it still holds, though knighthood has +passed out of existence; and the creature (he is not even good red +herring) who blames some one else for a fault of his, or allows him to +take the blame, is beneath contempt. + +When a mistake has been made and the responsibility fixed on the right +person the penalty may be inflicted. If it is a scolding or a "bawling +out" it should be done quietly. Good managers do not shout their +reprimands. They do not need to. The reproof for a fault is a matter +between the offender and the "boss." No one else has any concern with +it, and there is no reason why the instinct for gossip or the appetite +for malicious reports on the part of the other employees should be +satisfied. The world would be happier and business would be infinitely +more harmonious if each person in it could realize that his chief aim in +life should be to mind his own business or, at least, to let other +people's alone. + +Private secretaries and other people in more or less confidential +positions are many times tempted to give away secret information, not so +much for the benefit of the person to whom it is given as to show how +much they themselves are trusted. Nearly every one who holds a +responsible business position receives items of information which are +best not repeated, and if common sense does not teach him what should be +kept private and what should be told, nothing will. It should not be +necessary for the superior to preface each of his remarks with, "Now, +this must go no further." + +Matters concerning salaries should always be confidential, and so should +personal items such as health reports, character references, and so on, +credit reports, blacklists, and other information of a similar nature. +It is compiled for a definite purpose and for the use of a limited group +of people. It is unethical to use it in any other way. + +The reason for dismissing a person from a business organization should +be kept private, especially if it is something that reflects unfavorably +on his character. But the reason should _always_ be given to the +employee himself. He may not listen, and most of the men who have had +experience in hiring and firing say that he will not, but that is his +own responsibility. The employer has no right to let him go without +letting him know why. And the employee should listen--it may not be his +fault but he should check up honestly with himself and find out. The +same thing that lost him this place may lose him another, and a good +many times all that he can get out of being discharged is a purification +of soul. It is a pity if he misses that. + +Discharging a person is a serious matter, serious from both sides, and +it is not a thing to be done lightly. Most houses try to obviate it in +so far as possible by hiring only the kind of people they want to keep. +"Our efforts toward efficiency" (we quote from one manager who is +typical of thousands) "begin at the front door. We try to eliminate the +unfit there. We do not employ any one who happens to come along. We try +by means of an interview and references and psychological tests to get +the very highest type of employee." No human test is perfect, however, +and there are times, even in the best regulated houses, when it becomes +necessary to dismiss persons who have shown themselves unfit. + +It is not always a disgrace to be discharged and it is not always a step +downward. It may be because of business depression or it may be because +the man is a square peg in a round hole. Sometimes it is the only +experience that will reduce a man's, especially a young man's, idea of +his own importance to something like normal proportions, the only one +that will clear his mind of the delusion that he is himself the only +person who is keeping off the rocks the business for which he is +working, in which case it is one of the best things that could have +happened to him. + +A roll call of famous or successful men who were fired would take up +several reams of paper, and it is a pretty rash personnel manager (not +to say brutal and unfair) who will throw a man out like a rotten potato +and declare that he is absolutely no good. Besides, he does not know. +All that he can be sure of is that the man was not qualified for the job +he was holding. And he should think twice before giving a man a bad name +even if he feels certain that he deserves it. At the same time he must +protect himself and other business men from incompetent, weak, or +vicious employees. If after his dismissal a man sends back to his former +employer for a recommendation, the recommendation should be as favorable +as possible without sacrificing the truth. + +When a man breaks his connection with a business house, whether he does +so voluntarily or involuntarily, his departure should be pleasant, or at +the least dignified. It is childish to take advantage of the fact that +you are going away to tell all of the people you have grudges against +how you feel about them, and it is worse than a mere breach of good +manners to abuse the house that has asked you to leave. If it has done +some one else an injustice, talk about that all you please, but on your +own account be silent. Even if the fault has been altogether with the +house it does not help to call it names. Self-respect should come to the +rescue here. This is the time when it is right to be too proud to fight. + +For a long time it has been held bad ethics for the members of one trade +or profession to speak disparagingly of their competitors, and we have +grown accustomed to say that you can judge a man by the way he speaks of +his rivals. This has limits, however, and in some instances a mistaken +idea of loyalty to one's calling has led to the glossing over of certain +evils which could have been cured much earlier if they had been made +public. It is all very well to be generous and courteous toward one's +competitors but the finest courtesy in any business consists of doing +whatever tends to elevate the standard of that business. + +Every man likes his business to be well thought of, and most businesses +have organized for the promotion of a high standard of ethics as well as +for the development of more efficient methods. Notable among these, to +mention one of the most recent ones, is the Advertisers' Association. +There was a time when the whole profession was menaced by the swindlers +who were exploiting fraudulent schemes by means of advertising in +magazines and newspapers, but to-day no reputable periodical will +accept an advertisement without investigating its source and most of +them will back up the guarantee of the advertiser that his goods are +what he represents them to be with a guarantee of their own. No +publication which intends to keep alive can afford a reputation of +dishonesty, and the efforts of the publishers toward cleaning up have +been seconded by the association to such an extent that any person or +corporation that issues a deceptive advertisement, whether or not there +was intent to deceive, will be prosecuted and punished. + +There was a time when a man could do almost anything within the law in a +commercial transaction and excuse himself by saying "business is +business." Happily this is no longer true. Business men have not grown +perfect but they have raised their standards of business morality as +high as their standards of personal morality. They have learned that +business and life are one, that our lives cannot--and this has a number +of disadvantages--be separated into compartments like so many tightly +corked bottles on a shelf. We have only one vessel and whatever goes +into it colors what is already there. And it is significant to remember +that muddy water poured into clean water will make it muddy, but that +clean water poured into muddy water will not make it clean. It takes +very little ink in a pail of milk to color the whole of it, but it takes +an enormous amount of milk to have any effect on a bottle of ink. + +Business men have also learned that the only way to build a business +that will last is to lay its foundation on the Golden Rule, and many a +man who might otherwise sidetrack the principles of integrity holds by +them for this reason. "Honesty," declared one of the most insufferable +prigs America ever produced, "is the best policy." He was right. Prigs +usually are. It is only because they are so sure of it themselves that +they irritate us. + +It is a fact, in spite of the difficulty Diogenes had when he took up +his lantern and set out to find an honest man, that most people like to +pay their way as they go, and the business men who recognize this are +the ones who come out on top. They do not say that the customer is +always right nor that he is perfect, but they assume that he is honest +and trust him until he has proved himself otherwise. The biggest mail +order house in America never questions a check. As soon as an order is +received they fill it and attend to the check afterward. Their +percentage of loss is extraordinarily small. Distrust begets distrust, +and the perversity of human nature is such that even an honest man will +be tempted to cheat if he knows another suspects him of it. The converse +is equally true. There are, of course, exceptions. But the only rule in +the world to which there are no exceptions is that there is no rule that +holds good under all conditions. + + + + +PART II + + + + +X + +"BIG BUSINESS" + + +In the preceding pages we have looked over the field of etiquette in +business in a general way, and have come to the only conclusion +possible, namely, that the basis of courtesy in business is common +sense, and that whatever rules may be given must not be followed +slavishly, but must simply be used as guide posts. In the pages which +follow we shall go into detail and watch courtesy at work among certain +groups and individuals. + +Let us take, for example, a big concern which employs a thousand or more +people. We shall begin with the president. + +_President of a Big Organization._ Here is a man who bears a heavy +responsibility. He has not only his own welfare to look after but that +of the men and women who work _with_ (we like this word better than +_for_) him. His first duty is to them. How can he best perform it? + +It is a matter of fact that few men rise to such positions who are not +innately courteous. It is one of the qualities which enable them to +rise. For this reason we shall take it for granted that the president +needs no instructions. Already he has learned the great value of +courtesy. But this does not protect him always from discourtesy in other +people. + +Every man who holds a high position in a big organization is besieged +with visitors, but no one so much as the president. He is a target for +cranks and idlers and freaks as well as for earnest business men who +want to help him or to get help from him. Thousands during the course of +a year come to call on him. If he saw them all he would have to turn +over the presidency to some one else and devote himself to entertaining +visitors. Many of those who come ask for him when he is not at all the +man they want to see, but they have been taught in the schools of +salesmanship or they have read in a magazine that it never pays to +bother with the little fellow, but that they should go straight to the +top. + +Every minute of the time of the president of a big company is valuable +(all time is valuable, as far as that goes), and it must be protected +from the people who have no right to infringe upon it. + +You would think that the vice-presidents and the managers and the +various executives would be his best protection. They are not. It is +the person who is placed at the front door to receive visitors. We shall +consider him next. + +_The Man at the Door._ As a matter of fact, this person is usually a +girl, many times a very young and irresponsible one, because great +numbers of business men have not yet realized the importance of the +position. A well-poised girl or a woman who has had wide experience in +handling people can fill the place quite as efficiently as a man, and a +great deal more so if the man has not been chosen because he has the +quick sympathy and ready tact so necessary in taking care of the needs +of a miscellaneous assortment of callers. + +In the house we are observing the person at the door is a young man who +began as a messenger boy, and who, because he did what he was asked to +do cheerfully instead of sullenly, with a "Certainly, sir," and a smile +instead of a "That's Bob's business" and a frown, was made manager of +the messengers, and then first assistant of the man at the door, and +later, when that man was given another position, was promoted to his +place. The job commands a good salary and offers chances of promotion. +The young man likes it. + +A visitor comes, a young salesman, let us say, who has had little +experience. This is only the second or third time he has tried to storm +the doors of big business. He asks at once for the president. He does +not give his card because the school where he learned his trade +cautioned him against doing so. (He is perfectly correct, and he would +have been equally correct if he had given it. The more formal style is +to send in the card.) The man at the door sees at once what kind of man +he has to deal with. + +"The president is busy," he answers--a safe remark always, because if he +is not he should be; "maybe I can do something for you." + +The salesman explains that he has an attachment to increase efficiency +of typewriters. He would like to show the president how it works. + +"Oh, you don't want Mr. President," the host answers. "You want Mr. +Jones. He attends to all such things for us. Will you be seated here in +the reception room," motioning toward the door which is at one side of +his desk, "while I find out if he is busy?" + +This concern is very conservative about buying new attachments and new +machinery of any kind, but it is ever on the alert to discover means of +increasing its output and saving its manpower. Almost any new idea is +worth a demonstration. + +If the man at the desk has an intelligent messenger boy--and he should +have--he sends him in to Mr. Jones. The boy finds Mr. Jones busy. He +will be free in about fifteen minutes and then will be glad to see the +salesman. The man reports to the visitor and asks if he cares to wait. +He does. The host offers him a magazine and asks him to make himself +comfortable while he goes back to his desk to attend to the next +visitor. + +This one also wants to see the president. + +"The president is in conference just now," the young man replies. +"Perhaps there is something I can do for you in the meanwhile if you +will tell me what you want." + +"It's none of your business," he answers rudely. "I want the president." + +The chances are against a man of this sort. He may be a person the +president wants to see, but the odds are ten to one that he is not. + +"I'm sorry but you cannot possibly see him now. He is busy." + +"When will he be free?" + +"It is hard to tell. These conferences sometimes last an hour or two, +and I am sure he will not see you even then unless you tell him why you +want to see him. He is a very busy man." + +The visitor sputters around a few minutes and it develops that he is +selling insurance. The young man knows that the president will not see +him under any circumstances. He is already heavily insured, as every +wise man should be, and he cannot be bothered with agents who are trying +to sell him larger policies. + +"I'm sorry," the young man repeats, "but I am sure there is no use in +letting him waste your time. He is already carrying a heavy policy and +he positively refuses to talk insurance with anyone, no matter who it +is." + +This should be enough for the salesman. What the young man says is true. +It would be a waste of his time as well as the president's. He does not +care half so much for the salesman's time--there is no reason why he +should--but notice how tactfully he tells him that the head of the +organization has no time to spend with him. + +There is a certain rough type of salesman (we use the word salesman here +in the broadest sense, as the salesmen themselves use it, to cover all +the people who are trying to convince some one else that what they have +is worth while whether it is an idea or a washing machine or a packet of +drawings)--there is a certain rough type of salesman who tries to +bluster his way through. He never lasts long as a salesman, though +unfortunately he survives a good many years in various kinds of +business. Even he must not be turned away rudely. + +"I'm sorry," the young man says to a person of this sort, "but the +president has given positive orders that he must not be disturbed this +morning. He is engaged in a very important transaction." + +The next man who approaches the door has an authentic claim on the +president. It would be as great a calamity to turn him away as it would +be to let some of the others in. He presents his card and says that he +has an appointment. A truly courteous man, whenever possible, arranges +an appointment beforehand. The young man takes the card, waves toward +the reception room, and asks him to be seated while he finds out if the +president is busy. He telephones to the secretary of the president, +tells him who is calling, and asks if the president is ready to see him. +If the answer is affirmative he asks if he will see him in his office or +out in the reception room. It is much easier to get rid of a visitor +from the entrance hall or reception room than from an inside office. If +he says that he will see him in the reception room the girl reports to +the visitor that he will come in a few minutes, offers him a magazine, +and asks him to make himself at home. If the president says that he will +see the visitor in his office the young man sends one of the messenger +boys to usher him through the building. + +Now it may be that this man had no appointment with the president, but +that he has used it as a pretext to break through. In this case, the +secretary answers, after consulting his schedule, that the president has +never heard of such a person and has no such appointment. A man of this +sort is not worth a minute's consideration. He has shown himself +dishonest at the outset with a petty contemptible dishonesty, and the +temptation is to pitch him out on his head. But the young man says +quietly: + +"His secretary says that the president has no appointment with you. I am +afraid you have come to the wrong place. It must be some other Mr. +Beacon." + +There is a note of finality in his voice which convinces the visitor +that there is no use in going further. + +The next visitor is a woman who has come to have lunch with a friend of +hers who works in the accounting department. + +"It is fifteen minutes before time for lunch," the young man answers. "I +can call her now, of course, but if you would rather not disturb her, +I'll tell her that you will wait for her in the reception room until she +comes for you." + +The woman thanks him and agrees that it will be much better not to +disturb her. The young man offers her a chair and a magazine and +invites her to make herself comfortable. + +It grows monotonous in the telling for him to ask each of the visitors +exactly the same questions (never exactly the same, of course) in the +same cordial tone of voice and to tell them to make themselves +comfortable in exactly the same way, but the means of attaining success +in such a place lies in the fact that he greets each visitor as if he +were the only one he had to attend to, and that he is, for the time +being, at least, completely at the visitor's service. It is not so much +what the young man says as the way he says it. "Good morning" can be +spoken in such a way that it is an insult. + +_The Girl at the Telephone._ It is nerve-racking to stand at the door to +receive callers, but it is much more so to sit at the switchboard and +receive messages. The only point of contact is through the voice, but it +is remarkable how much of one's personality the voice expresses. If you +are tired your voice shows it; if you are cross your voice tells it; if +you are worried, your voice betrays it. It is possible for one +(everyone) to cultivate a pleasing voice. The telephone companies have +learned this, and there is no part of her equipment upon which they +spend more time and effort than on the voice of the telephone girl. It +is interesting to know that their very excellent motto, "The voice with +the smile wins" did not spring into being without thought. On the early +bulletins this clumsy phrase was printed: "A smiling voice facilitates +service." + +The girl at the telephone, even though she receives a thousand calls a +day, must answer each one pleasantly and patiently. Some people call +without a very clear idea of what they want, and the fact that business +houses have so many different names for exactly the same job often makes +it difficult for them to locate the person they are asking for, even +when they are fairly sure who it is they want. + +"May I speak to your personnel manager?" comes the query over the wire +to a girl who has never heard of a personnel manager. + +"I'm sorry, I did not quite hear you." + +The person at the other end repeats the word and the girl is sure she +had it right the first time. + +"We have no personnel manager here. Maybe there is some one else who +would do. If you will tell me what you want----" + +"I want a job." + +"Just a minute, please, I'll connect you with our employment manager." + +Advertising engineers, executive secretaries, and many others are old +jobs masquerading under new names. + +More business men complain of the girl at the telephone than of any +other person in business. She must, under the handicap of distance, +accomplish exactly what the man at the door does, and must do it as +efficiently and as courteously. + +No matter how angry the one who is calling becomes, no matter how +profane he may be, no matter what he says, she must not answer back, and +she must not slam the receiver down while he is talking. Perfect poise, +an even temper, patience, and a pleasant voice under control--if she has +these, and a vast number of the telephone girls have, she need not worry +about the rules of courtesy. They will take care of themselves. + +The numbers that a girl in a business office has to call frequently she +should have on a pad or card near the switchboard so that she will not +have to look them up. Many business men ask the girl at the board to +give them Blank and Blank or Smith and Smith instead of giving her the +numbers of the two concerns. She then has to look them up, quite a +difficult task when one has the headpiece on and calls coming in and +going out every minute. To stop to look up one number often delays +several, and it is a duty which should never devolve upon the girl +whose business it is to send the calls through. The man who is calling, +or his secretary, if he has one, or a person near the switchboard +stationed there for the purpose should look up the numbers and give them +to the operator. + +An efficient girl at the telephone sends numbers through as quickly as +is humanly possible, but even then she is often scolded by nervous and +harassed men who expect more than can really be done. + +Mr. Hunter has called Main 6785. It is busy. He waits. Hours pass. At +least it seems so to him, and he grows impatient. + +"What's the matter with that number, Miss Fisher?" + +"I'm still trying, Mr. Hunter. I'll call you when they answer." + +The line continues busy. Mr. Hunter looks over the papers on his desk. +His nervousness increases. He takes down the receiver again and asks +what the trouble is. He does not get the number any more quickly this +way, but it would be hard to convince him that he does not. The girl +says quietly again that she is still trying. He clings to the receiver +and in a few minutes she answers triumphantly, "Here they are," and the +connection is made. + +The telephone girl in a big concern (or a little one) is constantly +annoyed with people who have the wrong number. When it happens ten or +twelve times in the course of a day--fortunately it is not usually so +often--it is hard for her to keep a grip on her temper and answer +pleasantly, "This is not the number you want," but the snappish answer +always makes a bad situation worse, and the loss of temper which causes +it drains the energy of the person who makes it. It is not merely the +voice with the smile that wins; it is the disposition and temperament to +which such a voice is the index. + +_The Secretary._ The next in the line of defense is the president's +secretary. To him (and we use the masculine pronoun although this +position, like a good many others, is often held by women even in the +biggest organizations, where the responsibility attached to it is by no +means small)--to him the president turns over the details of his day's +work. He arranges the president's schedule and reminds him of the things +he has forgotten and the things he is likely to forget. He receives all +of his visitors by telephone first and many times disposes of their +wants without having to connect them with the president at all. He +receives many of the callers who are admitted by the man at the door +and in the same way often takes care of them without disturbing the +president. He knows more about the petty routine of the job than the +president himself. He is accurate. He is responsible. He is patient. He +is courteous. + +In order that he may be all these things it is necessary for the +president to keep him well informed as to what he is doing and where he +is going and what he is planning so that he can give intelligent answers +to the people who come, so that he can keep things running smoothly when +the president is away, so that he can answer without delay when the +president asks whether he has a luncheon engagement on Thursday, and +what he did with the memorandum from the circulation manager, and who is +handling the shipping sheets. + +Men who have their minds on larger matters cannot keep all the details +of their jobs in mind, but it is significant to know that most +successful business men know with more than a fair degree of accuracy +what these details amount to. Some secretaries feel very superior to the +men who employ them because they can remember the date on which the +representatives of the Gettem Company called and the employers cannot. +The author knows a chauffeur who drives for a famous New York surgeon +who thinks himself a much better man than the surgeon because he can +remember the numbers of the houses where his patients and his friends +live and the surgeon cannot. The author also knows a messenger boy who +thinks himself a much bigger man than one of the most successful brokers +in Wall Street because the broker sometimes gives him the same message +twice within fifteen minutes, the second time after it has already been +delivered. + +The secretary comes to the office every morning neatly clad and on time. +The hour at which his employer comes in has nothing to do with him. +There is a definite time at which he is expected to be at his desk. He +is there. + +He opens the letters on his desk--and those addressed to the president +come first to him--and sorts them, throwing aside the worthless +advertising matter, saving that which may be of some interest, marking +the letters that are to be referred to various other members of the +house, and placing them in the memorandum basket, piling into one heap +those that he cannot answer without first consulting the president, and +into another those which must be answered by the president personally. +Intimately personal letters often come mixed in with the rest of the +mail. No man wants a secretary whom he cannot trust even with letters of +this sort, but almost any secretary worth having will feel a certain +amount of delicacy in opening them unless he is requested to do so. When +these letters are from people who write often the secretary grows to +recognize the handwriting from the outside of the envelope, and +therefore does not need to open them. In other cases it is sometimes +possible to distinguish a personal from a business letter. These should +be handled according to the wishes of the man to whom they are directed. +Many business men turn practically everything--even the settlement of +their family affairs--over to their secretaries. It is a personal +matter, and the secretary's part in it is to carry out the wishes of his +employer. + +By the time the mail is sorted the president has come in. + +He rings for his secretary, telephones for him, sends a messenger for +him, or else goes to his desk himself and asks him to come in and take +dictation. There is no special courtesy or discourtesy in any of these +methods. It depends on how far apart the desks are, how busy he is, and +a number of other things. He does not yell for his secretary to come in. +He manages to get him there quietly. It is not necessary for him to rise +when the secretary enters (even if the secretary is a woman) though he +may do so (and it is a very gracious thing, especially if the secretary +is a woman) but he should greet him (or her) with a pleasant +"Good-morning." + +The secretary takes his place in the comfortable chair that has been +provided for him, with notebook and pencil in hand and at least one +pencil in reserve. He waits for the president to begin, and listens +closely so that he may transcribe as rapidly as he speaks. If he fails +to understand he waits until they come to the end of a sentence before +asking his employer to repeat. It is much better to do so then than to +depend on puzzling it out later or coming back and asking him after he +has forgotten what was said. + +Telephone interruptions and others may come during the dictation but the +secretary waits until he is dismissed or until the pile of letters has +disappeared. + +When the president has finished it is the secretary's time to begin +talking. He consults him about the various letters upon which he needs +his advice and makes notations in shorthand on them. He reports on the +various calls that have come in and the house memoranda. A good +secretary reads and digests these before turning them over to his +employer, and in most cases gives the gist of the memorandum instead of +the memorandum itself. It saves time. + +The president's secretary usually has a secretary of his own, a woman, +let us say, or a girl whose preliminary training has been good and whose +record for the year and a half she has been with the company has been +excellent. + +She comes to her desk on time every morning as fresh as a daisy and as +inconspicuous. The relation that she bears to the president's secretary +is much the same as the relation that he bears to the president. She +gets the letters that are addressed to him and sorts them in the same +way that he does those of the president. On days when he is absent she +takes care of all of his work, in so far as she is able, as well as her +own. + +Her employer is considerate of her always. He does not make a practice +of taking ten or fifteen minutes of her lunch hour or five or ten +minutes overtime at the close of the day, but when there is a good +reason why he should ask her to remain he does so, asking courteously if +she would mind staying. If she is genuinely interested in her work--and +this young lady is--she will stay, but if she has an even better reason +why she should go she explains briefly that it is impossible to stay. He +never imposes heavier burdens upon her than she can bear, but he does +not hesitate to ask her to do whatever needs to be done, and he does it +with a "Please" and a "Thank you," and not with a "See, here" and a +"Say, listen to me, now." She is a very pretty and attractive girl, but +the man she is working for is a gentleman. To him she is his secretary, +and if he were ever in danger of forgetting it she would be quick to +remind him. She does not go around with a chip on her shoulder all the +time, and she talks freely with the various men around the office just +as she does with the women and girls, but it is in an impersonal way. +She never permits intimate attentions from her immediate employer or any +one else. + +_Executives._ "Executive" is a large, loose word which rolls smoothly +off the tongue of far too many business men to-day. Office boys begin to +think in terms of it before they are out of knee trousers. "I could hold +down the job," said a youngster who had hurt his hand and whose business +was to carry a bag of mail from a suburban factory into New York, "if I +could get some one to carry the bag." "I can do the work," say smart +young men in the "infant twenties" (and many others--there is no age +limit), "but I must have a man to look after the details." + +The way to an executive position is through details. Work, plain hard +work, is the foundation of every enduring job, and the executive who +thinks he can do without it has a sharp reckoning day ahead. In most +places the executives have worked their way up slowly, and at no time +along the way have they had that large contempt for small jobs which +characterizes so many young men in business. They have been perfectly +willing to do whatever came to hand. + +But after all this is said, the fact remains that an executive is +successful not so much because of his own ability as because of his +power to recognize ability in other men. He is--and this is true of +every executive from the president down--the servant of his people in +much the same way that the President of the United States is the servant +of the American people. This means that he must be readily accessible to +them, and must listen as courteously to them as if they were important +visitors from across the sea or somewhere else. + +Many executives--and this was true especially during the war--have +surrounded themselves with a tangle of red tape which has to be unwound +every time an employee (or any one else) wants to get near enough to ask +a question. This is absurd. Sensible men destroy elaborate plans of +management and find they get along better without them. The Baldwin +Locomotive Works, which has a hundred years of solid reputation behind +it, has no management plans. "There is about the place an atmosphere of +work, and work without frills or feathers," and this is essentially true +of every business that is built to last. Look at the organizations +which, because of war conditions, rose into a prosperity they had never +enjoyed before. Most of them have collapsed, and the little men who rose +with them (so many of them and so much too small for their jobs) have +collapsed with them. + +In the big reliable concerns, and the small ones, too, the high +executives are easily approached, especially by the members of the +organization. In many of the open offices--and open offices have done +much to create a feeling of comradeship among workers--the desk of the +general manager is out on the floor with the desks of the rank and file +of the employees with nothing to distinguish it from theirs except the +fact that there is a bigger man behind it. A real man does not need a +lot of elaborate decorations. They annoy him. + +There are two sides to this, however. Visitors from the outside are not +the only ones who are likely to waste the time of other people, and a +busy man has to protect himself from indoor nuisances as well as those +that drift in from the outside. Some do it by means of secretaries, but +a good executive needs no barrier at all between himself and his own +men. They learn soon enough--we are speaking now of a good executive, +remember--that there is no use in going to him unless there is some +definite reason why they should, and that the more briefly and directly +they present their problem the more likely they are to have it settled. + +When an executive receives a caller (or when any man in a business house +receives a caller) he should _receive_ him and not merely tolerate him. +A young advertising man who began several years ago had two very +interesting experiences with two gruff executives in two different +companies. Both consented to see him, both kept on writing at their +desks after he entered and gave him scant attention throughout the +interview. Apparently they were both successful business men. Certainly +they both held positions that would indicate it. Yet both of them a few +years later came to the young advertising man at different times looking +for jobs. Needless to say neither found a place with him, not because he +held a grudge against them, but simply because he knew what kind of men +they were and that they could not help in the kind of business he was +trying to build. + +From the beginning of the interview the host should do all he can to +make his visitor comfortable. You see a lot in certain magazines about +setting the visitor at a disadvantage by giving him an awkward chair, +making him face the light and grilling him with questions. It is pure +nonsense. + +It is very gracious for a man to rise to greet a caller and extend his +hand, especially if the caller is young and ill at ease. It is +imperative if it is an old man or a woman. He should ask the visitor to +be seated before he sits down himself. + +"Well, young man, what can I do for you?" is hardly a polite way of +opening an interview. The host should wait with a cordially receptive +air until his guest begins, unless he is in a great hurry. Then he +frankly tells the caller so and asks him to make his business brief. + +Interruptions come even in the midst of conversations with important +visitors, but no visitor is so important as to permit neglect of one's +employees. These should be met courteously and dispatched quickly. The +host must always ask the pardon of the guest before turning to the +telephone or to a messenger, and if the guest is an employee the rule is +the same. + +At the conclusion of the interview the host rises and shakes hands with +the departing visitor but does not necessarily go with him (or her) to +the door or the elevator, as the case may be. This is an additional +courtesy in which a busy man cannot always indulge. The essential part +of every interview is that the visitor shall state what he wants, that +the host shall give the best answer in his power, and then the sooner +the visitor departs the better for all concerned. + +_The Rank and File._ This is the largest group in every business. It is +the one that fluctuates most. It is the one from which the discards are +made. It is the one from which officers are chosen. It is the one in +which the real growth of a business takes place. And by the same token +it is the one, generally speaking, where there is most discourtesy. +Promotion depends upon the possession of this quality much more than +people realize. Many a man with actual ability to hold a high position +is not given an opportunity to do so because the men who employ him +realize that he would antagonize those who worked under him. + +There are among the body of employees in every concern (even the very +best) discontented members. In most cases, indeed, in nearly all cases +except where there is a chronic grudge against life which is not +affected by external circumstances, these are weeded out, and those +with habitual grudges are weeded out along with the others or else are +kept in minor places. Perhaps it would be more nearly correct to say +they keep themselves there. Sometimes a subordinate feels that he is +unfairly treated by his immediate superior. He wishes to go to the man +above him in authority. Is it right for him to do so? + +It is an unwritten law that each worker shall be loyal to the head of +his department. Suppose the head does not deserve it? + +There are three courses open to the worker. He can leave the job and +find another in a different organization. He can go to the head of the +department and state the case to him. If this should fail he may appeal +to the man above him, but _he should never go over the head of his own +immediate superior without first telling him that he intends to do it_. + +This is an important rule. It holds whether one has a grievance to +present or a suggestion. Constructive plans should first be talked over +with one's immediate superior, and with his approval carried to the next +man, or he may carry them himself. If this superior is the sort of man +with whom you are constantly at loggerheads, you had much better get out +and get a place somewhere else. And if you find that continually you +are in hot water with the men who have authority over you, you may be +very sure that the fault is not altogether theirs. + +Subordinates usually have an idea that the heads of their departments +leave all of the work to them. Well, as a matter of fact, they do leave +a large part of it. If they did not they would have no excuse for having +subordinates. The reward of good work is more work. This is less of a +hardship than it sounds. Sir James Barrie once quoted Dr. Johnson's +statement that doubtless the Lord could have made a better fruit than +the strawberry, but that he doubtless never did, and added to it that He +doubtless could have created something that was more fun than hard work, +but that He doubtless never did. + +The subway guards in New York City say that the rush which comes just +before five o'clock (the closing time of most of the business houses) is +as great as the one which comes just after. They call the persons in the +former rush the clock watchers. They have left work about fifteen +minutes early, and to-morrow morning--business experience has taught +this--they will come in fifteen minutes late. For the most part these +are the discontented workers who spend "60 per cent of their time in +doing their job, and 40 per cent in doing the boss." + +It has always been considered a breach of good manners to pull out one's +watch and look at it in company. It is true in the office as well as in +the drawing room. The clock watchers are impolite. It has also been +considered a breach of good manners to hold a guest against his will +against the conventional hour for his departure. The employers who +habitually keep their employees after closing hours are equally +impolite. It is a question of honor, too. Time is money, and the time +grafters, whether employers or employees, are dishonest. + +When one employee goes over to the desk of another it is not necessary +for the second to rise. The first should wait until the one at the desk +looks up before speaking unless he is so absorbed in his work that he +does not glance up after a minute or two. Then he should interrupt with +"I beg your pardon." It makes no difference if one of the employees is a +woman and the other is a man. Work at an office can be seriously impeded +if every time one person goes to the desk of another the other rises. So +many times the whole conversation covers less time than it takes to get +out of one's chair and sit back down again. In some places subordinates +are required to stand when a superior speaks to them, but as a general +thing it is not necessary. In such houses it is correct to play the +game according to the general standard and to act according to the rules +set down by the men who are in charge of affairs. + +There is no person so wretched or so poor or so miserable but that he +can find other people who are more wretched, poorer, or more miserable. +At the same time there is no person so superior, so wealthy, or gifted +but that he can find other people who are more superior, more wealthy, +and more gifted. It is a part of good manners to recognize superiority +when one finds it. Youngsters entering business can sit at the feet of +the older men in the same business and learn a great deal. Knowledge did +not enter the world with the present generation any more than it will +depart from it when the present generation dies. It is just as well for +young people to realize this. Age has much to teach them. Experience has +much to teach them, and so have men and women of extraordinary ability. +"I have never met a man," says a teacher of business men, "from whom I +could not learn something." All of us are born with the capacity to +learn. It is those who develop it who amount to something. + +Petty quarrels should be disregarded and grudges should be forgotten. +This piece of advice is needed more by women in business than by men. +Men have learned--it has taken them several thousand years--to fight and +shake hands. They have a happy way of forgetting their squabbles--this +is a general truth--after a little while, and two men who were yesterday +abusing one another with hot and angry words are to-day walking together +down the hall smiling and talking as gently as you please. + +_The Office Boy._ If the office boy in a big business house where much +of the work is done at a white-hot tension--the office boy in a busy +Wall Street office during the peak of the day's rush, for example--could +write his intimate impressions they would make good reading. + +The temper of the great American business man is an uncertain quantity. +Famous for good humor and generosity as a general thing, he is, for all +that, at his worst moments the terror of the office boy's life. Nervous, +worried, tired, and exasperated, he is likely to "take it out" on the +office boy if there is no one else at hand. There is no defense for such +conduct--even the man who is guilty would not, the next day in his +calmer moments, defend it. Meantime, what shall the office boy do? + +A hot, tired man with papers fluttering over his desk, his telephone +ringing, and three men waiting in line to talk to him about serious +problems connected with the business, yells, "What do you want?" when +the office boy comes to answer the bell. + +"You rang for me," the boy answers. + +"I rang half an hour ago," the man snaps. + +In reality he rang two minutes before. Shall the office boy remind him +of this? + +Not if he values his job! + +Of course it is unjust, but one of the first laws of discipline is to +learn to be composed in the face of injustice, and the first law of +courtesy for the office boy (and other employees would do just as well +to follow) is: Don't be too harsh with the boss! + +It is said that the grizzly bear, who is a very strict mother, often +spanks her cubs when she herself has done something foolish. Julia Ellen +Rogers tells a story of an explorer who came suddenly upon a bear with +two cubs. He was so frightened that he stood still for a minute or two +before he could decide which way to run. Meantime the bear, fully as +frightened as he, turned and fled, spanking the two cubs at every jump +in spite of the fact that each was already going as fast as its legs +could carry it. "It was so unexpected," continues Miss Rogers, "and so +funny to see those little bears look around reproachfully at their +angry parent every time they felt the weight of her paw, helping them to +hurry, that the man sat down and laughed until he cried." + +It was not funny to the cubs. + +Cases in which the office boy is maltreated are exceptional, though +cases in which he is misunderstood are not. Most office boys have not +one boss but many. There should always be one person from whom they +receive their general orders and to whom they go with their troubles. (A +youngster should have very few troubles to report. It is usually the +worthless ones who report.) + +In most places the several office boys are stationed at a certain point, +a desk or a table, with one of their number more or less in charge. The +rule is that one person be always at the desk. + +All right. Six office boys. Five out on errands. One at the desk. The +bell rings. The boy keeps his place. The bell rings again. The boy keeps +his place. The bell rings a third time, long and insistently, but the +youngster, with a steadfastness worthy of the boy who stood on the +burning deck, still keeps his place. + +A second later an angry official bounces out and wants to know what on +earth is the matter and declares that he will report the desk to the +manager. Meanwhile one of the missing five has returned, and the +youngster who had held the place so long under fire takes the message +from the man and delivers it. + +If the boy should see an opening--and most business men except those +funny little executives puffed up with their own importance are ready +enough to listen--he may explain how it happened, but if he has to enter +a shouting contest it is best to stay silent. + +The law of business courtesy--no matter how far away from this a +discussion goes it always swings back--is the Golden Rule. The +subordinate who feels himself neglected by the men in positions above +him might check himself by honestly asking himself how he appears to +those beneath him. It is interesting to know that the one who complains +most is usually the one who is haughtiest when he enters into +conversation with the employees, who, he thinks, are not quite worth his +notice. He feels blighted because the president does not stop to say +"Good-morning" in the hall, but it is beneath his dignity to say +"Good-morning" to the girl who collects his mail or "Good-night" to the +janitor who comes to dust his desk when the day's work is over. The +means of attaining courtesy--and if you have it yourself you will find +it in other people--is by watching your own actions. Teach no one but +yourself. Worry about no one's behavior but your own. That is job enough +for any one. + + + + +XI + +IN A DEPARTMENT STORE + + +Let us now see courtesy at work in a big department store. + +Mr. Hopkins has taken a morning off to do a little shopping before he +goes away on his summer vacation. He wants to buy two shirts, a trunk, a +toy for his baby, and a present for his wife. He is not sure what he +wants for the wife and baby. + +Mr. Hopkins does not like to shop. He remembers his last expedition. A +haberdashery had sent him a cordial letter asking him to open an +account. He did so, but one morning later when he went in to buy a +waistcoat the rude and inefficient service he met disgusted him so that +he has not been back since. He knew exactly what he wanted and asked for +it. "Oh, no," answered the smart young clerk. "You don't want that. +People have not been wearing waistcoats like that for years. This is +what you want," and he exhibited a different style altogether. It +happened that Mr. Hopkins knew better than the clerk what he wanted, +and the fact that people had not been wearing waistcoats like it made no +difference to him. As a matter of fact, the only reason the clerk made +the remark was that he did not have them in stock, and thought perhaps +he could sell by substituting. + +There are other haberdasheries where the service is distinctly good, but +Mr. Hopkins decides to go to a department store instead. Haberdasheries, +however excellent, do not carry toys for one's baby nor presents for +one's wife. + +Helpem's store has been warmly recommended. He will go there. It is his +first visit. + +When he enters the door he is bewildered by an array of women's scarfs +and gloves and perfume bottles, handkerchiefs and parasols, handbags, +petticoats, knick-knacks, and whatnot. He almost loses courage and +begins backing toward the door when he catches sight of a man in uniform +standing near the entrance. He sees that this man is directing the tides +of shoppers that are surging in, and approaches him. + +"Where can I find the trunks?" + +"Third floor. Elevator in the rear," the man answers briefly (but not +gruffly). People who have to answer thousands of questions must be +brief. + +As he passes down the aisle Mr. Hopkins, who is very observant, notices +that all of the girls--most of the clerks are girls--are dressed in a +pleasant gray. This gives an agreeable uniform tone to a large +establishment which would break up into jarring patches of color if each +clerk were allowed to wear whatever color happened to strike her fancy. +Good idea, Mr. Hopkins thinks, very necessary where there are many, many +clerks. + +He does not have much trouble getting the trunk. He knows pretty well +what he wants, and the obliging salesman convinces him that the trunk +will probably last forever by assuring him that an elephant could dance +a jig on it and never make a dent. He asks Mr. Hopkins if he wants his +name on it. Mr. Hopkins had not thought of it, but he does. No, upon +second thought, he will have only his initials stenciled on in dull red, +W. H. H. The trunk will be delivered in the afternoon and he goes away +well satisfied. + +The shirts are somewhat more difficult. He is attached to a certain kind +of collar and he likes madras shirts with little black stripes or +figures in them. The man shows him white ones and wide striped ones and +colored ones with the right collar, and he almost decides that the place +does not keep madras shirts with little black figures in them, when he +suddenly realizes that he was so intent on getting the collar that he +forgot to say anything about the material or color. He begins again, +tells the clerk exactly what he wants, and in a few minutes the proper +shirts are before him and he is happy. While the clerk is folding them, +he asks about ties. It is a good thing. Mr. Hopkins remembers that he +has forgotten ties. They have great bargains in ties. He drifts over to +the counter and presently has three lovely ones. One is red, and Mr. +Hopkins resolves to be more careful than he was with the last red one. +His wife burned it. He must keep this hidden. + +The ties remind him that he needs a bathrobe. An agreeable clerk sells +him a dull figured bathrobe, comfortable and light for summer and +guaranteed to wash, and tells him that a pajama sale is in progress +about four counters away. + +When he has bought six pairs of pajamas he begins to think of the baby's +present. Toys are on the top floor. The girl there--a wise department +store always chooses carefully for this place--is very helpful. She asks +about the baby, how old he is, what toys he has, what toys he has asked +for, and so on. Mr. Hopkins tells her, and after showing him several +ingenious mechanical contrivances, she suggests a train with a real +track to run on. Mr. Hopkins is delighted. The girl asks if the +youngster likes to read. He does not, but he likes to be read to. "Why +don't you take him a book?" and in a few minutes he has the "Just-So +Stories" tucked under his arm. As he leaves the girl smiles, "Come back +to see us," she says. + +All the clerks have said this. The clerk who sold the shirts said, while +they stood waiting for the change, that he could depend on them. They +would not shrink and the colors would not run. "We are here in the +city," he continued (the store was in New York), "but we have our +regular customers just as if we were in a small town. We don't try to +make just one sale and get by with it. We want you to come back." + +The girl at the toy counter tells Mr. Hopkins that there is a woman +downstairs who will help him select something for his wife. He goes back +to the man in uniform to locate her and finds her in a secluded booth on +the first floor. She asks several questions about whether he would like +china or silver, furniture or linen, but Mr. Hopkins wants to give his +wife something personal--something she can use or wear. He has been +married several years but not long enough to know that this is a +dangerous thing to do, but the woman is wise. She suggests a silk +parasol, a kimono, or a dozen handkerchiefs. + +Such a service as this is not possible except in very large shops, but +in most places clerks are quick to respond with suggestions for gifts. +There is a pleasure about buying them and selling them that does not go +with ordinary transactions. + +When he buys a parasol the clerk suggests that they have a very large +assortment of handbags, but Mr. Hopkins's day's work is done, and the +clerk does not insist. None of the clerks in a good department store is +insistent. They offer suggestions and stand ready to serve, but they do +not try to impose their ideas or their goods upon the customers. Mr. +Hopkins leaves well satisfied with himself and his purchases. He will +come back. + +The trunk is delivered in the afternoon, not by the regular wagon, but +by an express company. It is a busy season. Mr. Hopkins is still further +delighted. These people keep their promises. And as he tips the man who +brought it up--he had to climb three flights of stairs--the man gives +him a card. "Here's one of the boss's cards," he says, "in case you want +any hauling done." Without doubt the man has been instructed by the boss +to distribute his cards, but he does it with such a grace that it seems +to be on his own initiative. + +It rarely happens that a business man or woman can shop in the leisurely +manner described above. Most of their shopping has to be done during the +half hour after lunch or during a frantic few minutes snatched at the +beginning or the end of the day's work. One morning Mr. Hopkins had to +leave home without a collar because he forgot to send the dirty ones to +the laundry (his wife was away that week) and dashed into a little shop +to get one on the way to the office. He would have felt like murdering a +clerk who wanted to show him something nice in the way of gloves or +mufflers, and he would have had a hard time to restrain himself from +violence if the clerk had started in on a eulogy of a new shipment of +English tweeds. + +An intelligent clerk can usually tell when his customer is in a tearing +hurry. It is an unpropitious time to make suggestions. The clerk must +see things from the customer's point of view. It is permissible to +suggest something else in place of the thing he has asked for but it is +not good manners to make fun of it or to insist upon a substitute. +Recently a woman wanted to buy a rug for her automobile. She knew just +what she wanted, but the bright young clerk insisted that she wanted +something else. She finally bought the rug, but it was in spite of the +clerk rather than because of him. Too many salesmen kill their sales by +thinking and talking only of their product. The customer is not half so +interested in that as he is in himself. Good salesmanship relates the +product to the customer, and does it in such a way that the customer is +hardly aware of how it is done. + + + + +XII + +A WHILE WITH A TRAVELING MAN + + +_In a Big City._ We will suppose that our traveling man has his +headquarters in some big city--New York, Chicago, San Francisco, it does +not matter--and that he has several calls to make before he goes out on +the road. + +There are two kinds of salesmen, those who make only one sale to a +customer and those who sell something that has to be renewed +periodically. The first sell pianos, real estate, encyclopedias, and so +on; the second sell raw materials and supplies. The salesman whom we are +to follow is in the second group. + +He has--and so have most men who do this kind of selling--a regular +routine that he follows, adding new names to the list and deleting old +ones as seems expedient. At this particular time he has several old +customers to visit and one or two new prospects to investigate before he +leaves town. + +It is unnecessary for him to make arrangements beforehand to gain +access to the old customers. They know him and they are always glad to +see him. But if there is a chance that the customer may be out of town, +or if it is during a busy season, he telephones ahead to make sure. He +prefers indefinite to definite appointments, especially if he has to see +two or three people during the course of a morning or an afternoon; that +is, he would rather have an appointment to come some time between ten +and eleven or between three and four than to have one for exactly half +past ten or a quarter of three. It is impossible to tell how long +interviews will last. Sometimes when the salesman counts on staying an +hour he is through in five minutes and sometimes when he thinks he can +arrange things in fifteen minutes he finds himself strung up for half a +day. + +The new prospects--there are three on this particular morning--he +handles in different ways. To one he has a note of introduction from a +mutual friend. To another he has written a letter stating why he wishes +to call and asking when it will be convenient for him to do so. The +third, whom he knows by reputation as a "hard customer" (in the slang +sense of the word) who will have nothing to do with salesmen of any +sort, he decides to approach directly, trusting to his own presence to +get past the girl at the front door and whomsoever else stands between +him and the man he wants to see. He does not write, because he knows +that the man would tear up the letter and he does not telephone, because +he knows that the man would not promise to see him and that if he were +to call after such a telephone conversation his chances for success +would be lessened. + +Our salesman is careful with his appearance. He bathes and shaves every +morning and takes special care that his linen is clean and that his +shoes are polished. He does not ornament himself with a lot of jewelry, +and the material of which his suit is made is plain. He presents, if you +should see him on the street, the appearance of a clean, solid, healthy, +progressive American citizen. He is poised but he is not aggressive. He +is persistent but he is not obstinate. + +The best public speakers, it is said, never get over a sinking feeling +of fear during the few minutes just before time for them to speak. It +vanishes as soon as they get to their feet or a very few minutes +afterward, and, strange as it may seem, it is this very fear that gives +them their power on the platform. The fact that they have the dreadful +feeling nerves them to strenuous effort, and it is this effort that +makes the orator. In the same way the best salesmen are those who never +get over the fear that perhaps they have not thought out the best way +to handle the situation ahead of them. They forget the fear as they +begin to talk to the prospect, but the fact that it is subconsciously +present makes the difference between the real salesman and the "dub." + +Did you ever get to the door of a house you were about to enter and then +turn and walk around the block before you rang the bell? Did you ever +walk around the block six or eight times? So have we. Especially on +those Wednesday and Sunday evenings when we used to go calling. There +are not many salesmen who have not had this experience and who have not, +upon hearing that a prospect they dreaded was out, turned away from the +door with a prayer of deep thanksgiving. All of which is by way of +saying that selling is not an easy job. + +The salesman whose career we are following for a short time always has +that little feeling of nervousness before an interview. It is deeper +than ever when he approaches the "hard customer," and it is not lessened +in the least degree when he finds a painted and marceled flapper at the +door who looks at him without a word. (Incidentally, she likes his +looks.) + +He takes out his card and asks her to give it to Mr. Green and say that +he is calling. + +"He won't see you," the girl says. + +"Will you tell him, please, that I am here, all the same? Wait a +minute." + +He takes the card and scribbles on it, "I want only five minutes of your +time," and hands it to the girl again. + +She carries it away and presently returns saying that Mr. Green is busy +and cannot see him. + +"I knew he wouldn't," she adds. + +"He must be very busy," the salesman says. "When shall I be most likely +to find him free?" + +"He's no busier now than usual," the girl responds. "He's smoking a +cigar and looking out the window." + +"Will you tell him, please, that I am coming back to-morrow at the same +time?" + +The girl sees that he is very much in earnest. She respects him for his +quiet persistence and because he has not tried to "kid" her. She would +most likely have joined in heartily if he had, but he would never have +got past her. + +She goes back into the office and returns with word that the salesman +may come in if he will not take more than five minutes. He thanks the +girl and goes into the office where the "hard customer" is seated. He +does not rise, he does not say "Good morning," and he does not take the +cigar out of his mouth, but this does not disconcert the salesman. He +wastes no time in preliminaries, but after a brief greeting, plunges at +once into his proposition, stating the essential points clearly and in +terms of this man's business. He knows what the customer needs pretty +accurately for he has taken the trouble to find out. He is not +broadcasting. He is using line radio, and everything he says is directed +against a single mark. The prospect is interested. He puts the cigar +aside. The salesman concludes. + +"I'm sorry," he says, "but my five minutes are up. Will you let me come +back some day when you are not so busy and tell you more about it?" + +"Sit where you are," the other says, and begins firing questions. + +Half an hour later the salesman pockets the order he wanted and makes +ready to depart, feeling that he has found another friend. The "hard +customer" is ashamed of his gruff reception and apologizes for it. "I've +been so bothered with agents and drummers and traveling men that I've +promised myself never to see another one as long as I live," he says. + +"I can well understand that," the salesman answers. "It is one of the +hardest things we are up against, the fact that there are so many +four-flushers out trying to sell things." + +He goes next to see the man with whom he has made an appointment by mail +and finds that he has been called out of town on business. He talks with +his secretary, who expresses a polite regret that they were unable to +locate him in time to tell him that his visit would be of no use. He +asks if there is some one else who can take charge of the matter, but +the girl replies that all such things have to come before Mr. Thompson. +He will not be back until next week, and by that time the salesman will +be out on the road. + +"I'll have another representative of our house, Mr. Hamilton, call," he +says. "He will write to find out when it will be convenient for him to +come." + +The third man on his list is the one to whom he has the letter of +introduction. This is one of his best prospects. That is why he took +such pains to arm himself with the letter. He has no trouble getting +inside. The man is very busy but he thrusts it completely aside for the +moment. He does not have to say "Be brief." Our salesman has been in the +game long enough to know that he must not be anything else. + +"Frankly," he says at the end of the talk, "I am not interested. I have +no doubt that what you say is true. In fact, I have heard of your firm +before and know that its reputation is good. But I buy my material, and +have for years, from Hicks and Hicks." + +"It is a good reliable concern," the salesman responds, "and there is no +reason why you should desert them. They depend upon you as much as you +do upon them. But if they happen to be short of something you want in a +hurry, please remember that our product is as good as theirs. You can +depend upon it with as much certainty." + +"Thank you, I will," the prospect answers and the interview is over. + +Did the salesman act wisely? Would he have gained anything by proving +that his house was superior to Hicks and Hicks? Not if the customer was +worth having. This salesman never forgets that his part of the job is to +build up business for his own firm, and not to tear down business for +other firms. As it stands, he has in this case established a feeling of +good will for the house he represents, and has placed it in such a light +that if the rival concern should be afflicted with a strike or a fire or +any of a hundred or two disasters which might lessen or suspend its +output, the customer will probably turn to the salesman's house. And if +Hicks and Hicks should sell out or go into bankruptcy the salesman will +have won for his own house a steady customer of great value. + +_In the Sleeping Car._ The wise traveling man--and our salesman is +wise--always engages sleeping accommodations on the train in advance. +This time he has the lower berth in No. 9. + +When he comes in to take his seat he finds that a woman has the upper +berth in the same compartment. He is reading a newspaper and she is +reading a magazine. He says nothing until toward evening, and then he +offers to exchange places with her. She thanks him cordially, explains +that she was late in securing a berth and that this was all she could +get. She is very grateful and the transfer is made. + +He goes into the smoking car and meets there several men who are talking +together. He joins them and the conversation runs along pleasantly +enough until one of the number begins to retail dirty stories. Some of +the others try to switch him off to another subject but he is wound up +and nothing short of a sledge hammer will stop him until he has run +down. Our salesman has a healthy loathing for this sort of thing. He has +a good fund of stories himself--most traveling men have--and in the +course of his journeyings he has heard many of the kind that the +foul-minded man in the smoking car is retailing with such delight. He +never retells stories of that nature, and he never, when he can avoid +it, listens to them. He knows that he cannot stop the man, but after a +little while he gets up quietly and leaves. Another man follows him and +the two stand on the rear platform of the train until time to go to bed. + +Men who are traveling together often converse without knowing one +another's names, and it is correct that they should. Only a prig refuses +to speak to a man on a train or a boat because he does not know his +name. Opening conversation with a stranger is not always easy, and +should be avoided unless it comes about in a natural way. The stranger +may not want to converse. It is correct for a man who wishes to talk to +another first to introduce himself. "My name is Hammond," he says, and +the man to whom he says it responds by holding out his hand (this is the +more gracious way, but he may omit this part of it, if he likes) and +pronouncing his own name. The same rule holds when the travelers are +women. + +Our salesman goes to bed early. + +Two men have the compartment across from his. They seem very much +interested in each other, for they continue to talk after they have gone +to bed. In order to make themselves heard they have almost to scream, +and the raucous sound of their voices is much more disturbing than the +sound of the wheels grinding against the rails. It is hard to sleep on a +train even under favorable circumstances. Our salesman has a strenuous +day ahead of him--most of his days are strenuous--and the noise is +keeping him awake. + +He could throw on his bathrobe, climb down and remonstrate with the two +men across the way. It would be correct for him to do so, but it would +hardly be expedient. People who are thoughtless enough to be noisy late +at night are often rude enough to be very unpleasant when any one +interferes. The salesman has no real authority over them, but the porter +on duty at night is supposed to see that a certain amount of peace and +quiet is maintained. The salesman rings the bell, and when the porter +appears, asks him if he would mind begging the two men across the aisle +to lower their voices. The porter has had years of experience. He has +developed a soft, pleasant way of asking people to be quiet, and in a +few minutes the car is still except for the inevitable sound of the +train and the snoring of an old lady near the end of the car. This last +cannot be helped. It must be endured, and our salesman composes himself +into a deep slumber. + +Dressing and undressing in a sleeping car are among the most difficult +operations to perform gracefully. There are no rules. Most men prefer +staying in their berths to making the attempt in the crowded dressing +rooms. Some divide the process between the two, but no gentleman ever +goes streaking down the aisle half-dressed. He is either fully clothed +or else he is wrapped in a bathrobe or a dressing gown. + +When our salesman comes in to breakfast the next morning there is only +one vacant place, a seat opposite a young woman at a table for two. He +crosses over and sits down, first asking if he may do so. In +well-managed dining cars and restaurants, the seating is taken care of +by the head waiter. He never places a person at a table with some one +else without asking permission of the one who is already seated. It is +never permissible for a stranger to go to a table that is already taken +if there is a vacant one available. The young lady bows and smiles. She +has already sent in her order. They talk during the meal quite as if +they had been introduced and had met by appointment instead of by +accident. She does not introduce herself, nor does he introduce himself. +When she has finished she asks the waiter for her bill. She pays it +herself--our salesman has too much delicacy to offer to do so--and tips +the waiter. Then with a nod and a smile she is gone. + +This salesman is a chivalrous traveler. Whenever there is an opportunity +to render a service to a woman (or to any one else) he takes pleasure in +doing it. He does not place women under financial obligation to him, +however, and he is careful not to annoy them with attentions. He has +many times found a taxi for a woman traveling alone or with children +when they have had the same destination; he has helped women decipher +time tables; he has carried bundles and suitcases and baskets and boxes +for old ladies who have not yet learned in all their long, long lives +that the way to travel is with as little, instead of with as much, +baggage as possible; and he has helped young mothers establish +themselves comfortably in place with their children. But he has +never--and he has been traveling a good many years now--thrust himself +upon a woman and he has never embarrassed one by his attentions. + +He does not "treat" the men whom he meets by accident during his +travels. They often go in to meals together but each one settles his own +bill, and when they come to the end of the journey they are without +obligations toward one another. It is much pleasanter so. + +The salesman does not, as a rule, tip the porter until he leaves the +train, and the amount that he gives then is according to what the porter +has done for him. If he has been in the car a good many hours and if he +has had to ask the porter for many things, such as bringing ice water at +night, silencing objectionable travelers, bringing pillows and tables +during the day, not to mention polishing his shoes and brushing his coat +every morning, he is much more generous than if he had been on the car +only a few hours and had not asked for any special service. Unless the +trip is long he never gives more than a dollar. Twenty-five cents is the +minimum. + +_By Automobile._ From an economic point of view this problem has come to +be almost as large as the railroad problem, and the part the automobile, +including trucks and taxis, plays in business is growing larger and +larger every year. + +Motorists have a code of their own. They--when they do as they +should--drive to the right in the United States, to the left in certain +other countries. They take up no more of the road than is necessary, and +they observe local traffic regulations scrupulously, not only because +they will be fined if they do not but because it is impolite in Rome to +do other than the Romans do. They hold out their hands to indicate that +they are about to turn, they slow down at crossings, and they sound +their horns as a warning signal but never for any other reason. + +It is often necessary for a man who is trying to sell a piece of +property to take out to look at it the man who thinks he will buy it. +Needless to say, it is the former who pays for the trip. Other business +trips are arranged by groups, the benefit or pleasure which is to result +to be shared among them. Under such conditions it is wise (and polite) +for them to divide expenses. These matters should be arranged ahead of +time. If one is to furnish the machine, and one the gasoline, and +another is to pay for the lunch, it should be understood at the outset. + +_In a Small Town._ The salesman is now completely out of the +metropolitan district. He is in a small town like hundreds of others +over the United States. The hotel is very good in itself, but compared +with the one in the city, which he has just left, it is inconvenient. He +has better judgment than to remind the people of this. Instead, when he +is talking to them--and he likes to talk with the people in the towns he +is serving--he talks about what they have rather than what they have not +and about what they can do in the future rather than what they have +failed to do in the past. It is in this way that he discovers how he +can best be useful to them. + +He likes to work at the quick pace set by the big cities but he knows it +will not do here. He goes around to see Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter is glad +to see him, but he has had a bad year. The crops have not been good, the +banks have not been generous, his wife has been sick, and one of his +children has broken a leg. The salesman listens sympathetically to this +tale of woe, leads the conversation away from the bad year behind to the +good year ahead, and in a little while they are eagerly discussing plans +for business in the next month or so. The salesman shows how he can +help, and convinces Mr. Carter that the best time to begin is right now +and gets an order for supplies from him. It has taken the better part of +the morning, and Mr. Carter asks him to go home with him to lunch. The +salesman would prefer going back to the hotel, but he knows that it will +give Mr. Carter great pleasure to have him--his invitation is +unmistakably hearty--so he accepts. + +Before he came the salesman had discovered, through consulting the +directories and by talking with friends of his who knew the town, who +were worth going to see and who were not. Mr. Carter he had learned was +immensely worth while and that is why he was willing to spend so much +time with him. No salesman can afford to stop and talk with everybody +who can give him the inside story of why business is no good. This +salesman always finds out as much as possible about a man before he goes +to see him. He never leaps blindly ahead when there is any way to get a +gleam of light first. + +Once in South Carolina he was anxious to get a large order from a +wealthy old man who, he felt sure, would be a regular customer if he +could once be persuaded to buy. The old man paid no attention to what he +was saying until he mentioned the picture of a hunting dog that hung +above the desk. The old man's eyes kindled. This was his hobby and he +forgot all about business while he talked about hunting, and ended by +asking the salesman to go home with him and spend the night. The +salesman accepted gladly, and the next morning they went rabbit hunting +instead of going back to the office. The salesman was out of practice in +handling a gun but it was great fun, and the upshot of it all was that +he "landed" the order he wanted. + +This method is pleasant but wasteful. The salesman never uses it except +as a last resource. + +Much of the success of this salesman (and of the others who are +successful) lies in the fact that he can put himself so completely into +the place of the man he is trying to sell. He talks in terms of that +man's work, and he tries to sell only where he believes the sale will +result in mutual satisfaction. He never says anything about serving +humanity, but his life is shaped around this idea, which is, when all is +said and done, the biggest idea that any of us can lay ourselves out to +follow. + +He is working for a firm that he knows is honest--no self-respecting man +will work for any other kind--and he wants its financial rating to stand +solid. He does not sell to every man who wants to buy. He investigates +his credit first, and if there is to be a delay while the investigation +is under way he frankly tells the man so, and assures him that it is for +his protection as well as for that of the house that is selling the +goods. "It is a form we go through with every new customer," he says. +"If we did not we'd find ourselves swamped with men who would not pay. +And that would work hardship on those who do." Every business man knows +that this is the only way in which reliable business can be carried on. +And it is reliable business that we are interested in. + + + + +XIII + +TABLES FOR TWO OR MORE + + +A young banker from Smithville is in New York. It is his first trip. + +You would like him if you could see him. Tall, sun-burned, clean-cut, +well-dressed, thoroughly alive and interested in everything. He is a bit +confused by the city but he is determined to learn everything that it +has to teach him. He does not hesitate to ask questions but he likes to +find out without, whenever possible. + +He goes into the dining room of the great hotel where he is staying, and +for the first time in his life is confronted with an array of silver on +both sides of his plate. At home he always has a knife, fork, and spoon +laid together at the right of his plate, by which you can see that he +has not lived among people who place much emphasis on having food +daintily or correctly served. He is not exactly prepared for this. When +he left Smithville he was thinking more of his business connections than +of what he was going to eat, and how. He is embarrassed because, like +every sanely balanced person, he likes to do things as they should be +done, and not just blunder through them. There is no one he can ask +except the waiter, and the waiter seems such a superior person that he +is afraid to ask him (though it would have been perfectly correct for +him to do so). He gets through the meal the best way he can and finds +that when the ice cream is brought the only thing he has left to eat it +with is a slender fork with a long handle and three very tiny prongs. He +knows that he has tripped up somewhere along the line, but he asks the +waiter to bring him a spoon (he should have asked for a fork) and goes +ahead. + +The next day he is invited out to dinner with a man who has all of his +life been accustomed to first-class hotels and restaurants and the +dining tables of wealthy and cultured people. He is somewhat older than +our young banker and he has had a great deal of experience in +entertaining men who have come into the city from small towns. He is +thoughtful, sympathetic, an excellent host. He leads the way into the +dining room (though they stand together in such a way that it seems that +neither is leading) and chooses a table. This nearly always means +accepting the one the head waiter indicates, though it is quite correct +for the host to suggest the table he would like to have. + +"Does this suit you?" he asks the young banker before they sit down. + +It suits him exactly. He says as much. + +"Now, what will you have to eat?" + +The waiter has given him a menu card, containing, so it seems to the +young man, a million things that he might have. A dinner served in +courses was something beyond his knowledge until the night before, and +the dinner then was _table d'hote_ instead of _a la carte_. He flounders +through the card and is about ready to thrust it aside and say, "Just +bring me some ham and eggs" when his host sees his predicament. + +"Blue Points are usually good at this time of the year," he says. "Shall +we try them?" + +The young man has not the remotest idea what Blue Points are but he +thinks it will be very delightful to try them. + +"What kind of soup do you like?" the host continues when the waiter has +departed. "I see they have vegetable soup and consomme." + +The young man clutches at the familiar straw. He will have vegetable +soup. + +Throughout the meal the host makes comments and suggestions and guides +his guest through to the end, and does it so graciously that the young +man from Smithville is not aware that he is doing it, and feels that it +is all due to his own quick observation that he is getting along so +well. No business man is a perfect host until he can accomplish this. + +Our young man knows already that one should sit up at a table and not +lean forward or lounge back, that he should not take large mouthfuls and +that he should not snap at his food, that he should eat without noise +and with great cleanliness. He knows that his napkin should be unfolded +(it should be unfolded once and not spread out) and laid across his lap, +not tucked into his collar or the top of his vest. He knows that he +should not eat with his knife. + +He has never seen a finger bowl before but he has heard of them, so that +when one is placed before him he knows that he should dip the ends of +his fingers into it and dry them on his napkin. He has also heard that +toothpicks are never used by gentlemen, at least in public, and he is +not surprised when he does not see them. + +He has read somewhere that when a knife or a fork is dropped to the +floor he should not pick it up himself but should allow the waiter to do +so, and that the waiter should be allowed to clear away the damage when +something is upset on the table. He knows that long apologies are out +of order anywhere, and he is not likely to say anything more than +"Excuse me" or "I beg your pardon" if he should by a clumsy movement +break a glass or overturn a plate of soup. + +But he does not know about the various knives and forks or about how +courses are arranged, and he does not know about tips. + +It is correct for him to explain to his host, just as Pip did when he +was dining for the first time with Herbert Pocket, that he is unused to +such things and beg him to give him a few hints as they go along. But it +is less embarrassing to consult a book of etiquette about fundamentals +and to pick up the other knowledge by close observation. + +He discovers--our young friend uses both methods--that knives are laid +at the right of the plate in the order in which they are to be used, +beginning at the outside, and that the spoons are laid just beyond the +knives in the same order. The butter knife (which rarely appears at +dinner time) is usually laid across the little bread plate at the left +of the dinner plate. Forks are placed at the left of the plate in the +order in which they are to be used, except the oyster fork, which is +laid across the knives or else is brought in with the oysters. The steel +knife is for cutting meats. The flat fork with the short prongs is for +salads. Salads are always eaten with a fork. It is sometimes not very +easy to do, but it is the only correct way. + +This is the general standard, but there are deviations from it. Nothing +but experience in dining--and a great deal of it--will teach one to know +always what fork or what knife or what spoon to use when the table +service is highly elaborate. The best policy for a stranger under such +conditions is that of watchful and unobtrusive waiting. + +The dinners that business men choose for themselves are rarely divided +into numerous courses. Often they have only two: meat and vegetables, +and dessert. The regular order for a six-course dinner is: first, an +appetizer such as oyster cocktail, grapefruit, strawberries, or +something of the sort, followed by soup, fish, meat and vegetables, +salad, dessert, cheese and crackers. One or more of the courses is often +omitted. + +The rule for tipping is universally the same: Ten per cent of the bill. + + * * * * * + +Suppose the cases had been reversed and the man from the city had been +in Smithville to take dinner with the young banker. + +He is not accustomed to seeing all of the food put on the table at one +time, nor to having to use the same fork throughout the meal. But he is +a gentleman. He adapts himself to their standard so readily that not one +of the people at the table could tell but that he had always lived that +way. + +The young banker is a gentleman, too. When his friends from the city +come to visit him he gives them the best he has and does not apologize +for it. He does not begin by saying, "I know you are used to having +better things than this but I suppose you can stand it for one meal." He +simply ushers his guest into the dining room as cordially and with as +little affectation as if he were the paying teller of the Smithville +bank. No one need ever apologize when he has done or given his best. + +It is interesting to know that the standard of our young banker is +growing higher and higher all the time. He likes to know how the people +who have had time to make an art of dining do it and to adapt his ways +to theirs whenever he can. + + * * * * * + +It is a grave mistake for a business man to feel that he must entertain +another to the standard to which the second is accustomed. A poor man +who finds himself under the necessity of entertaining a rich one should +not feel that he must do it on a grand scale if he has been so +entertained by a rich one. Aside from the moral question involved the +great game of bluff is too silly and vulgar a one for grown men to play. + +But business men play it and their wives join in. Suppose Mrs. Davis, +whose husband is an assistant of Mr. Burke, wishes to invite Mrs. Burke +to her home to dinner. She and Mr. Davis have been formally entertained +in the other home, and the dinner they had there was superintended by a +butler and carefully manipulated by two maids. Now Mrs. Davis has no +maid, her china is very simple, and the food that she and her husband +have, even when they entertain their friends, is plain and wholesome. +Should she, for the great occasion, hire more beautiful china and engage +servants? Should she draw on the savings bank for more delicate viands? + +To begin with, Mr. Burke knows exactly what salary Mr. Davis gets. He +knows whether it will warrant such expenditure. Will it make him feel +like placing more responsibility on his assistant's shoulders to see him +living beyond his means? Is it not, after all, much better for people to +meet face to face instead of hiding themselves behind masks? The masks +are not pretty, and in most cases deceive only the persons who wear +them. + +Men who are friends in business often like their wives to be friends as +well. It is many times possible to bring about a meeting at the home of +a common friend, but when this is not convenient, one of the women may +invite the other. If the invitation is to dinner, it is not correct for +Mr. Gardner to invite Mrs. Shandon even if he knows her and his wife +does not. The invitation should go from Mrs. Gardner and should be +addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Shandon. If the invitation is for tea, Mrs. +Gardner simply invites Mrs. Shandon, and the nature of the invitation +depends upon whether the affair is formal or informal. + +As to which of two women should proffer the first invitation there might +be some discussion. Usually it is the wife of the man whose position is +superior, if they both work for the same concern. It frequently happens +that a man whose position in business is high is married to a woman +whose social standing is not of corresponding importance. Perhaps such a +man has a subordinate whose wife is a social leader. In this case which +of the women should extend the first invitation? + +Most women of eminent social rank realize and appreciate the fact +thoroughly. The social leader knows that the other woman might be +embarrassed and hesitant about inviting her to her home. If she does +apprehend this it is only gracious for her to extend the first +invitation herself. + +In small towns the rule is for the old residents to call upon the new, +and the wife of a business man who has recently established himself in a +community must wait until the women who live there have called upon her +before she begins to entertain them. + +In large cities where it is impossible to know everyone this rule is +practically disregarded, and business men invite one another and ask +their wives to do the same according to the way convenience and chance +make most natural. Women whose husbands are longest in the employ of a +firm, or whose husbands hold high positions, as a rule call first on the +wives of newcomers or subordinates. + +It all comes to the same thing whether it is in a city or a small town +or the country. Those who are already established in the neighborhood or +the business extend the right hand of welcome and good fellowship to +those who are not. + +In order to bring their employees together socially most big houses now +give various entertainments such as picnics, parties, dances, and +banquets. They are in no way different from other entertainments of the +same kind so far as the etiquette of behavior is concerned. Formal +dances and banquets in the evening require evening dress just the same, +except with that very enormous group (to which most of us belong) who do +not own evening dress. This does not mean that evening parties must be +foregone by this group or that they should hire gala attire for the +occasion, but simply that the men wear their business suits and the +girls their "Sunday" dresses. It is just as correct, it is just as much +fun, and it is infinitely wiser than giving a dollar down and a dollar a +week for a _decollete_ gown or a swallow-tail outfit. + + + + +XIV + +LADIES FIRST? + + +Most girls who are in business are there to earn a living. + +It is true that an increasing number of wealthy girls who are under no +necessity to work but who want a definite place in the economic life of +the world are entering business every year, but the great army of +workers is made up of those who enter business because they are driven +into it (driven, many of them, while they are yet very young), because +it is the only way in which they can have their own money, or because it +is the only way in which they can raise their standard of living. + +The majority of business girls come from the homes of parents in +moderate circumstances. They have had advantages--a high-school or a +college diploma, a certificate from a business school, travel, +specialized training--and all these they have added to their business +capital. In many instances the opportunities they have had have not been +brilliant, but every opportunity, however small, carries with it the +responsibility to make the best of it. Upon these girls, since they +outnumber the others and because they have had advantages (a high-school +education is an enormous advantage if you are looking at it from the +point of view of a person who wanted one but was not able to get it), +rests the responsibility of setting the pace for others. And the +standard of behavior for the business girl, whether she be rich or poor +or in between, is the same. + +The wealthy girls who enter business deliberately are usually followed +by the same sensible impulse that started them on their careers, and, as +a rule, they conduct themselves with dignity and modesty. The wealthy +girls who, through a turn of fortune have been forced into work and have +gone unwillingly, are another matter. "The rudest girls we have," is the +testimony of most people who have to deal with them. Conventional social +charm and poise they may have but they are without that finer sense of +courtesy which makes them accept whatever fate gives them and make the +best of it. The fading splendor of the days of plenty envelops them like +a cloud--remember that we are speaking of the unwilling ones--they lose +themselves in self-pity, and the great fun that comes from good work +they miss entirely. + +Many of the poor girls in business have never known anything but +poverty, and their lives have been cast among people who have never +known anything else. They have had no home training in the art of +behavior (for the people at home did not know how to give it to them). +No one has ever told them how to dress or act but there have never been +lacking those to condemn them when they dressed foolishly or acted +indiscreetly. "The silly little things," they say (and oh, how superior +they are when they say it). Employers agree, for, after all, it is true, +and the silly little things hold their jobs until they are married, +until they are fired, or (and this happens frequently) until they wake +up, and then they are promoted to something better. We cannot expect +girls like these, who have grown up without contact with the gentler +side of life, to begin with a high standard of behavior, but we can (and +do) expect them, once they have been brought into touch with better +things, to raise their standard. It is no disgrace for a girl to begin +in ignorance and squalor; the disgrace lies in staying there. + +First of all, the dress of the business girl. Most of the ill-breeding +in the world is due to ignorance. Ignorance of the laws of beauty and +taste causes one to make a display of finery, and over-dressing is a +mark of vulgarity whether one can afford it or not. + +The girl does not live--we believe this is right--who does not love +pretty clothes. But the average girl does not have money to spend +lavishly for them. Her salary, as a rule, is not princely, and there are +often financial as well as moral obligations to the people at home. She +cannot have Sunday clothes and everyday clothes. She must combine the +two with the emphasis on the latter. + +A few years ago it was almost impossible to accomplish this, but +manufacturers have recognized her needs and are now making clothes +especially for her--plain dresses in bright colors and dark dresses with +a happy bit of trimming here and there, neat enough to pass the +censorship of the strictest employer, pretty enough to please the most +exacting young girl. + +A woman is no longer thought eccentric if she wears low heels. The +modern flapper is too sensible for such nonsense as French heels for +standing all day behind the counter. Manufacturers have discovered this +also, and are making shoes with low heels and broad toes quite as +pleasing as the French monstrosities and infinitely more comfortable. + +A business girl--or any girl, for that matter--should take pains with +her hands and her hair. Coiffures that might be appropriate in a ball +room are out of place in an office, and heavily jeweled hands, whether +the jewels are real or imitation, are grotesquely unsuited to office +work. (So are dirty ones.) + +Hair that is glossy and tidy, hands that are clean and capable, dress +that is trim and inconspicuous--add to these intelligence, willingness, +good health, and good manners and there is not much left to be desired. + +Certain positions expose girls to the temptation of dress more than +others. She, for instance, who all day handles lovely garments or she +who all day poses before long mirrors in exquisite gowns that other +women are to wear--can one expect these girls to go merrily home at +night to a hall bedroom with a one-burner gas jet and a mournful array +of old furniture? They have a problem that the girl in a glue factory or +a fish cannery does not have to meet--at least not in so concrete a +form. At the same time they have an opportunity that these other girls +do not have, and it rests with them whether the opportunity or the +temptation gets the upper hand. + +Positions in which girls are thrown into close contact with men expose +them to temptation of another sort. It is in its most acute form when +it brings a poor girl into more or less intimate association with a rich +man. Once, a very long time ago, a king married a beggar maid and they +lived happily ever after. People have not stopped writing and talking +about it yet, although it is many centuries since it happened. It is +true that once in a very great while a girl marries her father's +chauffeur or her brother's valet and finds later that she has acted +wisely; but these are rare exceptions to the general rule, for the +result usually is unhappiness. Such marriages are always the occasion +for big headlines in the paper, usually a double set of them, for, in +most instances, the divorce follows within a year or so. + +It is a dangerous thing for a girl to receive attentions +indiscriminately from men, especially those who drift across her horizon +from the great world outside. It is dangerous (is it necessary to add +that it is incorrect?) for a manicurist to accept presents from the +millionaire whose hands she looks after. It is unwise for any girl to +accept expensive gifts from a man who is not her fiance. + +There are exceptions to this rule, as indeed to every other. At +Christmas or at the time a ceremony or an anniversary employers +sometimes give their secretaries or another trusted employee a +beautiful gift, and it is within the bounds of propriety for the +employee to accept it. Often when he has been away from the office for +several weeks a man presents his secretary a gift to express his +gratitude for the capable way in which she has managed affairs in his +absence, and this gift the secretary is privileged to accept. Gifts are +seldom presented except where the association has been a long and highly +satisfactory one. + +But the girl who goes to the theatre with a man about whom she knows +nothing except that he has the price of the tickets is running a serious +risk. She is violating one of the most rigid principles of etiquette and +she is skating perilously out beyond the line marked off by common +sense. Nearly every man can, and does, if he is the right sort, present +credentials before asking a girl if he may call or if he may escort her +to a place of amusement. There are instances in romantic stories and in +real life where a man and a maid have met without the help of a third +party and have entered upon a charming friendship. They are rare, rarer +in fact than in fiction. It is banal to say that a girl can usually +tell. But she can, and if she has any doubt (and this is true of all her +relations with men) she should have no doubt. She should stop where she +is. + +Where men and girls work together in the same building or in buildings +near one another they often go to the same restaurant for lunch. It is +natural that they should sometimes sit together at the same tables. It +is correct for a man to sit at a table where there are already only +girls (if the girls are willing), but it is not correct for a girl to +sit at a table where there are already only men (however willing the men +may be). In these mixed groups each person pays for his or her own +lunch. It is not even necessary for the man, or the men, as the case may +be, to offer to do so, and it is a distinct breach of the rules of +etiquette for a girl to allow a man to pay for her lunch under such +circumstances. + +The only time when it is correct for a man and a girl who are associated +together in business to have lunch, with him the host and her the guest, +is when the engagement is made ahead of time as for any other social +affair. On such an occasion he should be as attentive as he would in any +other circumstances, taking care of her wraps and placing her chair if +the waiter is not at hand to do it, suggesting dishes he thinks perhaps +she will like, and making himself as generally useful and agreeable as +it is possible for him to be. A point about which considerable breath is +wasted is whether a man should enter a restaurant with the girl +following or whether he should allow her to lead the way. It makes no +material difference one way or the other, but usually he permits her to +go ahead and follows closely enough behind to open the doors for her and +to receive whatever instructions the head waiter has to offer. + +If a man should enter a restaurant and find a girl whom he knows already +seated he may join her if he thinks he will be not unwelcome, but this +does not make it incumbent upon him to pay for her lunch. He may offer +to do it, but it is a matter that rests with the girl. If she does not +care to develop his acquaintance she should not permit it, but if the +two are good friends or if she feels that he is a man she would like to +know, she may give him her check to settle along with his own. A girl is +herself the best judge of what to do under such conditions, and if +common sense does not show her the way out etiquette will not help. + +Women in business sometimes bring up perplexing questions and create +awkward situations. Suppose a man has asked a girl several times to a +business-social lunch and she has accepted every time. It seems that +she should, as a man would in the same position, make some return. If +she works for a house where there is a dining room in which checks do +not have to be settled at the end of every meal she may do so without +the slightest difficulty, but if she is compelled to take him to a place +where the check must be given to the waiter or paid at the desk before +they leave, she must look out for a different way of managing things. +Business luncheons are usually paid for by the firm in whose interests +they are brought about, and if the girl works for an organization where +there are several men employed she may ask one of them to take her +friend out to lunch. Then, even if she is not present, her social duty +is done. The easiest way out of such a predicament, it is superfluous to +say, is never to get into it. + +A girl who enters business presumably accepts the same conditions that +men have to meet. She has no right to expect special favors because she +is a woman. She does get a certain amount of consideration, as indeed +she should, but she is very foolish and childish if she feels resentful +when a busy man fails to hold open a door for her to pass through, when +he rushes into his office ahead of her, or when he cuts short an +interview when she has said only half of what she had on her mind. + +Much is said about the man who keeps his seat on a train while a woman +stands. His defense rests upon two arguments, first, that his need is +greater than hers (which is not true) and, second, that she does not +appreciate it even when he does give it to her (which is not true +either). Unfortunately, there are as many rude women in the world--and +this statement is not made carelessly--as there are rude men, and in +almost half the cases where a man rises to give a woman his place the +woman sits down without even a glance toward her benefactor, as if the +act, which is no small sacrifice on the part of a tired man, were not +worth noticing. Every act of civility or thoughtfulness should be +rewarded with at least a "Thank you" and a good hearty one at that. + +Old people, cripples, and invalids rarely fail to secure seats, however +crowded a car may be. A man seldom offers his place to another man +unless it is evident that the other, because of age, infirmity, or +extreme fatigue is greatly in need of it. Well-bred girls resign their +seats to old men, but if they refuse to accept, the girls do not insist. +At a reunion of Confederate veterans several years ago a girl rose from +her place on a street car to allow a feeble old man to sit down. He +gripped the strap fiercely. + +"I ain't dead yet," he responded sturdily. + +One of the chief petty complaints brought against women is that they do +not keep their places in line. Some of them appear to have neither +conscience nor compunction about dashing up to a ticket window ahead of +twenty or thirty people who are waiting for their turn. Men would do the +same thing (so men themselves say) but they know very well that the +other men in the line would make them regret it in short order. Two or +three minutes is all one can save by such methods and it is not worth +it. Even if it were more it would still not be worth it. + +When a woman breaks into a line it is quite permissible for the person +behind her (whoever he or she may be) to say, "I beg your pardon, I was +here first." This should be enough. Sometimes there is an almost +desperate reason why one should get to a window. Many times everybody in +the line has the same desperate reason for being in a hurry, but now and +then in individual cases it is allowable for a woman (or a man) to ask +for another person's place. _But only if there is a most urgent reason +for it._ Much of courtesy is made up of petty sacrifices, and most of +the great sacrifices are only a larger form of courtesy. It all comes +back to Sir Philip Sidney's principle of "Thy need is greater than +mine," but it is only extraordinary circumstances which warrant one's +saying, "My need is greater than thine." + +Since the beginning of time, and before (if there was any before) women +have done their share of the work of the world. Formerly their part of +it centered in the home but now that machinery has taken it out of the +home they have come out of the home too, to stand in the fields and +factories of industry by the side of their fathers and husbands and +brothers. Because they have recently been thrown into closer association +in their hours of work than ever before there has sprung up a certain +amount of strife between men and women, and a great deal is said about +how superior men are to women and how superior women are to men. It is +pure nonsense. If all the men in the world were put on one side of a +scale and all the women on the other, the scale would probably stand +perfectly still. + +The woman in business should never forget that she is a woman but she +must remember that above all things she is a citizen, and that she +herself has value and her work has value only as they contribute to her +community and her community as it contributes to her country. Courtesy +is one of her strongest allies, this quality which, alone, can do +nothing, but, united to the solid virtues that make character, can move +mountains. + +We have said a good deal as we came along about courtesy toward oneself +and other people, but perhaps the most valuable of all courtesies in +business is politeness toward one's job. It is desirable for every woman +to be pretty, well-dressed, and well-groomed, but it is much more +desirable for the woman in business to be able to do capable and +efficient work. She may be ornamental but she must be useful, and while +she is at the office her chief concern should be with her job and not +with herself. The end of business is accomplishment, and courtesy is +valuable because it is a means of making accomplishment easy and +pleasant. It is this that gives us the grace to accept whatever comes, +if not gladly, at least bravely. + +It is a poor workman who quarrels with his tools (or with his job), so +the proverb says, and there are two lines of Mr. Kipling's that might be +added. He was speaking of a king, but in a democracy we are all kings: + + The wisest thing, we suppose, that a king can do for his land + Is the work that lies under his nose, with the tools that lie under + his hand. + +And the lines are just as true when "girl" is substituted for "king" and +the pronouns are changed accordingly. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of Business Etiquette, by Nella Henney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ETIQUETTE *** + +***** This file should be named 23025.txt or 23025.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/0/2/23025/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images from the Home Economics +Archive: Research, Tradition and History, Albert R. 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