The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-01-15
THE AVERAGE sALEswoMAN.
Five Years Is Estimated as thu
Length of Time Most of
.t Them Serve.


Al Them Serve.
"What becomes Of the saleswomen
who grow old in the service?" asked a
Star reporter of the manager of one OF
Washington's best-known department
stores, recently
Girls stay with great many Of the
stores for a long time," was the re-
Spouse. They can stay as long as they
wish to, and the longer they stay the
better the store likes it. Every year
adds to salesgirls value-that is, ii
she is conscientious and really wishes to
be of service. There is no objection to
middle-aged saleswomen. 1t is all nom
sense to imagine for moment that
after girls first youth is past she is OF
no more value to a store Many girls
work hard and become heads of de-
partments; but even If they should not
be able to do SO, they are kept and are
welcome to their positions as long as
they wish to have them. The average
length of time that girl stays with a
firm is five years. OF course, some stay
four times and five times as long as that
but am talking Of the average girl At
least rs per cent of the girls get mar
ried. Are they ambitious? Yes, a
good many of them are, but we really
know very little about that, as they dc
not tell us about their studies. Those
who wish to go at something else gen.
orally go to business colleges at night
and then, when. they have completed
the course, leave the firm to go into
something else. No, we do not discour-
age them when they wish to go to some
thing better; in fact, we are very glad to
see them make the most OF them
selves"
"Girls, as general rule" declared an
other manager, "are content with thei1
positions and are not very anxious tc
go into anything else. The work in q
store where the firm treats its en-
pToyes well is not very hard, and the sal
airy is usually good. So they just stay
on until some man comes along and
they get lifetime position. The aver
age length of time girl stays? Well.
three or four years should say. Some
times it is ever and ever so much longer
..han that.
"a girl is sure of one thing if she is a
saleswoman-that as long as she is con-
scientious and does her best she will
keep her position and get better wages
each year. Every merchant prefers tc
have employees stay with him as long as
possible The girl that drifts from store
to store does SO with very little benefit to
herself But girls are really very con-
tented, and most of them are seen be-
hind the counters of the same store for
a long time. They have the same sort
of idea that school teachers have-the
salary is good and they like the work
Do merchants employ young and good
looking girls in preference to older
women? Most emphaticaHy they dc
not 1t may be so in some of the stores.
but most merchants Judge girl by hel
ability to sell goods, and not by her
good looks. OF course, she must dress
neatly and look pleasant, but the Older
women are sometimes preferred. A
woman of 80 or IS who applied for po-
sition would get 1t as quickly, all things
being equal, or more quickly than a
young woman. 1t Is simply the ability
to dispose of goods that counts. No,
saleswoman need not worry that she will
be turned down after she grows older.
as long as she tries to be benefit to the
store. She is always assured of good
position and grows each year more in
the confidence of her employer.
"The trouble with most girls" said
well-known merchant, sis that they look
upon marriage as certainty, and there
fore do not try to improve themselves.
have some very bright girls in my
store, who, if they would, might make
themselves of value to us, but they are
just common saleswomen so far as we
are concerned, because their interest is
not in the store. Their minds are cen
tered on parties, dances, beaux, and sc
forth, and their works. butts minor con-
sideration. These girls are dead sure
they will be married. Most probably
they will. But there is a chance they
will not, and 1t is pity they do not look
on their work as men dc theirs. as some
thing that will have to be-done through
life. Men look on their work as ca
reer, but rarely does woman feel that
way. If she does she gets her reward
and becomes head Of her department.
and there is no position she may not as
pire to-" n
Physical side of Literature.