Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-03-07
CLERKS AND THEIR WORK.
Their Community of Interest Limite
Some of Their Difficulties.

Their Community of Interest Limited.
Some of Their Difficulties.
ITO speak of clerks in a general way as
though there were much or anything In com.
mon among them In point of work, require
ments, interests and the like, would be utterly
wrong" said one of a number of employees,
representing different kinds of establishments,
when questioned about their calling "The
members of the various crafts have much
greater equality of work, much stronger
bond Of union, and less striking differences OF
social standing than we. The most casual
observer can readily understand that, when
the kinds of goods handled vary from jewelry
to hardware, from books to junk supplies,
from silks and laces to meat and groceries,
and that different types of character, dress
and manners are practically uecessitated by
different kinds Of buSness, there can be nc
unanimity OF interest among us save only the
dollars and cents we get out Of our work. We
have calling merely in the sense that we are
instruments of transfer between widely diff.
ferent classes Of proprietors and patrons.
Hence our cliques, in SO far as we have any,
are mostly Of personal friendships and limited
TO the employees Of single store
A peculiar feature Of clerk life Is that we
naturally grade of by steps, according to the
kind OF store we are in, from easy, semi-pro.
fesstonal positions to the positions of ordinary
laoorers. Apart from a few stores where
some special skill or aptitude is necessary,
thlnk that the annoyances incident upon
clerhlng lessen and the pay improves as the
work required becomes more laborious.
This, OF course, is easily explainable. The
annoyances spring largely from peoples un.
certainties and whims, and these crop out
more In matters of taste, dress and the lux.
uries OF life than in tue necessities 1t is also
observable that employees gravitate toward
easy places and thus lessen the demand in
that direction.
People rarely go into a grocery, a hard.
ware store or a wholesale house without
wanting to buy, and they usually know what
they want. The work done by the employees
OF such stores is usually hard, but it almost
invariably results In sale and is not attended
by the endless answering of questions and
taking down of goods so noticeable in some
other kinds OF stores. In other words the
work all counts, and when nothing is actually
wanted the clerk is not needlessiy kept busy.
In many stores, like dry goods millinery and
fancy goods establishments, probably nine
tenths of the people who enter don't know
just what they want, and the clerk has tc
help them decide, and probably half OF those
who poster the clerks don't want to buy at
all. Still they cause as much troubls and
work and consume as much time as custom.
ers who buy freely and thus help statesmen &c
make good record for efficiency have
known people to so into furniture store OF
a carpet house and kill time simply from the
desire to see pretty things they can't and
don't mean to purchase
Then, again. in some kinds of stores there
is less chance for trouble and ANNOYANCE tc
clerks from peoples bringing back goods
soiled or otherwise damaged and asserting
that they were so when delivered Few peo.
pie, perhaps, realize the amount OF confusion
and trouble to US resulting from these prac.
tices Of imposition on the part of the curious
or unscrupulous, and l should advise those
intending to take up clerking as a bushes.
to shun the stores of pretty things and nice
surroundings and choose the stores where
necessaries of life are sold and people who
come in mean business.
Glass of patronage, too, makes all the diff
ference in the world with u.s. The more
transient the custom the more trouble We ex.
perience. There are many stores which Ger
tain families always patronize. The clerk:
soon become acquainted with them, know
their whims or tastes, and how to please them
Then the worst part of our experience 1:
over. The same old course of feeling ones
way, OF catering to foibles, of making mis-.
takes, and the like, has TO be gone through
with almost every purchaser at store whose
trade Is largely transient. Chicago News.