St. Landry democrat., 1889-12-07
How to Succeed.

A gentleman, who is now prosperous
merchant, in conversation with q repre-
sentative of the Economist, said that his
life was changed by a simple perform
snce Of duty.
Il was clerk behind the counter of
large retail store in Boston, at small SAL
ary | had been out of work some time,
and when | secured the position in Boston
l was thankful and made mental prom
Use that | would perform my duties thor
oughly. l had been working for two days
with poor success; trade had been quiet,
and it was difficult to get any customers.
| felt somewhat down hearted because my
counter had been idle for some time. A
customer making his appearance | tried
my utmost to effect sale, but, do what
might, | could not please the man. Ev-
erything was either too light or too dark,
and if the color was selected for his salts
faction, the quality was not what he de-
sired | have quick temper, and at times
during the transa ton | felt that L could
strangle the customer; but quickly curbed
my temper and Went at him tooth and
nail. l felt that my reputation as a sales
man was at stake, and it was question of
conquer or to be conquered. at last |
made the sale, and with it came a great
satisfaction but | was not done with the
man vet. | wanted to sell him more. He
said something about sending his wife
around . look at some dress goods. I
promised to send some samples of new pat
terms as they arrived. The customer
thanked me and said:
:" 1t has taken you long time to sell me
few goods. Are all of your customers IS
hard to please as I?
'''lt takes some customers but short
time to make their selections, while others
wish to go slower: we are bound to please
them all | answered.
'Does it pay your house to devote so
much time to so small a sale 2 he inquired
again.
Yes I replied. I have taken pains
to give you what you want. know you
will find the goods as | say. You will
have confidence and come again, and next
time It will not take so long
after getting his package he walked
out of the store. In three days ] mailed
samples of new dress goods to his wife,
and the circumstances passed entirely out
of my mind. In about a month was
| transferred to another counter and received
| a slight advance in wages. Much to my
establishment | was taken away from this
department after only month or six
f! weeks trial, and placed in another Eosi-
ton. | could not believe that was not
giving satisfaction, because with each
change an increase of cages was made.
One morning | was informed that Mr.. B.
| wished to see me-. [ went 20 the office
! with surprise and some fear. | was more
| surprised when | saw sitting beside my en-
| ployer my customer of few months back.
| He proved to be the money partner of the
concern, whose other business interests
kept him away from the dry goods store
almost entirely, and he was known to but
few of his employees, although he knew
| that | was a new man as soon as he saw
me, and thought to see what metal | was
made of. That he was satisfied is proven
by his making me buyer of the several
departments whore l sold goods. My
prosperity began with the tough customer,
and now thank goodness that got him,
and that did rot show my disposition to
strangle him. '-Ch7&stiGn Union.