Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-28
HOW "LA|D OFFS LIVE
Get a Better Job III Summer
if They Can.
SOMEPROMPTLY MARRY
OTHERS GET PLACES AT THE RE-
SORTS.
Always Plenty Room for Talent and
Brains and the
Hustlers.
MARRY

Written for The Evening Star.
What becomes of the saleswoman You
lay off in hot weather."
The question was addressed to the super
intendent of the employees in a large de
partment store. His reply came without
hesitation:
Judging from present indications large
number will marry. 1t seems to be mar
rying year. We have two booms In we'd
dings each year-when we reduce the force
in midsummer and after the holiday trade
begins to fall off. This is easily explained.
A girl naturally prefers to be married at
the end of her business season rather than
at the conclusion of her vacation, BECAUSE
in the first case, she has whatever money
she may have saved to spend on her trous-
seau
Not that the girls we prefer to let out
are always the ones who marry, but those
who do not marry leave vacancies for the
less competent girls, who otherwise would
be laid off.
"One of the most complicated tasks that
confronts a conscientious superintendent Is
the arrangement of the vacation schedule.
Some firms make this out exclusively from
their own point Of view. Others consult the
employees, giving them the preference as to
the weeks of rest suited to their personal
or family conditions. The most pft1ful
cases we have to deal with are the men or
women of family who cannot afford to take
any vacation and are too proud to confess
the fact.
Every firm of standing gives its en-
ployes two weeks vacation on pay. and X
the force is to be greatly reduced during
the hot weather the less desirable en-
ployes are requested to take two, three Or
even four weeks more.
This naturally entails actual distress for
the lOw-sala ried girls dependent upon their
own efforts. who can barely live even on
pens that a girl who is reasonably sure OF
Icing laid off seeks other employment dur
ing the summer season.
High Grade and the Other.
CLERKS seeking out-of-town employment
may be divided into two distinct classes
the high grade desirable saleswoman who
Is eagerly sought by shopkeepers in fash.
enable summer resorts. and who carries
with her from the city certain amount Oh
trade; and the girl who will accept nom
inal wage for the sake of summering at
some cheap. nearby resort.
The first class includes clerks who can
handle lingerie neckwear, trif1es for W0-
mems wear and smart adjuncts or tie
toilet for young society men. hairdresscrs
and mancurist Sin fact, the class that
caters to the whims and extravagances 81
what Is known as the smart set. You gen.
orally find that these are girls graceful,
well formed and pretty. and they have
certain air of well-bred distinction Tia:
stamps the shop.
Regular cottagers at such resorts az
Saratoga, Newport or Bar Harbor can tel!
tales of Cupid's partisanship OF these same
pretty clerks. Hardly season passes that
some scion Of wealthy family does NOT
paralyze his family by falling In love WIN
one of the pretty faces behind the counte:
Of a summer resort shop. Some of these
girls have social ambitions and are not
above angling for wealthy sutton. They
live quietly, board at some well-known coz
tage. dress in quiet but elegant taste. ana
land their fish before the summer passes.
Season Shops.
Every large city has it's cheaper resorts
corresponding to Coney Island, where tiny
shops and booths spring up like mush-
rooms. There are the lake resorts near
Chicago, Detroit and other inland cities.
st. Louis and Denver have their parks
with innumerable shops and booths and
wideawa clerk cannot only earn small
salary during the summer, but can Increase
her value to her winter employer by learn
ing to cater to a more varied class OF Gus
toners than she meets in the regulation
store trade.
Between these two classes there is
smaller division composed of young men
and women who regularly spend July ana
August at the seaside resorts. working for
So SO or $12 a week. They might get
plenty Of work in town, because they are
good salespeople, but they want to be at
resorts like Long Branch. Asbury Park
Atlantic City and Cape May during the hot
season. Their hours are longer than in
town. but they have every other night OIL
and can enjoy the bathing. the boardwalk,
the hops and other pleasures of a summer
by the sea. You will find scores of them
working as clerks at the small hotels. Some
of them go back year after year to the
same shops. the owners of which need ex-
ira clerks during what is known as the
season. July and August.
They Take Their Ease.
Another feature of shop life today which
helps the poorer clerks is the employment
of girls who really do not need to work,
but aspire to financial independence. For
two sisters whose father left his widow
comfortably well off. The mother is bit
near as New Englanders say. and the girls
board. They draw SIS and $1S per week,
respectively. and are excellent saleswomen.
because they have an air of distinction
which sells goods for US. They dress sim
ply but in good taste and save their salary.
that soon as our best trade falls OF
they can afford to take vacation. Last
year they went abroad. They always take
six weeks or two months. and girls who
command smaller salaries and might be
laid off during the summer are retained to
fill the places of these two sisters.
''Millners have the longest vacations.
They are usually laid off on the LIST or
June. But they need not be idle, because
soon after this date wholesale. houses open
their fall campaign. A good trimmer can