The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-10-28
HOW GIRL IN AN OFFICE
MAY PROTECT HERSELF

lMartha Stein in Chicago Tribunel
The lines of conduct by which the
once girl is popularity supposed to not
only please but to protect herself rom
on the part of her
employer and fellow employees is
summed up and expressed by those
VINO nave made a study of the subject
IN the following rules:
DO not have candy uDon your desk
or offer it TO your employer.
DO not be a ''ribbony" girl.
Do not chew gum.
Do not 'efferVesce"
do rot ask your employer if he
SHOWS If there isr any good place
around TO get your lunch.
DO not protect yourself from posi-
PIE familiarity by wearing a sour face.
IN case OF. excessive praise of your
Work on the part of your employer i'm
ply lhat II IS undesirable and would
pest be discontinued. This is q danger
signal. Thank him for his kindness.
put express the fact that you prefer
hnm not TO mention it again in plain
terms.
Do not wear lace sleeves.
DO not encourage the men in the Of
flee TO wait upon you or to pick uD
things that you drop.
DO not jump right up and run home
to your mother if you feel that you
nave been covertly insulted.
Have dignity.
II your employer remarks that he
mates to see you becoming tired and
offers to send out and get you a glass
of lemonade. decline il, and tell him
mat your being tired is a matter for
yourself alone to deal with. CThis is
an entering wedge on his parD.
Keep an eye on the whereabouts Of
things on your employers desk, but
do not attract attention to these serv-
ices. 1t would seem like a bid for his
favor.
If you consider that anyone in the
office offers you undesirable attention.
decline it in such a way as not to refer
to the moral question involved.
If your employer helps you "uD'' in
any way in your profession do not as
sumo anything on account of his hav-
ing done so.
Do not wear flowers in the office
Do not go to lunch with your en-
ployer unless you are in position of
long standing and there are exceptional
circumstances, like business which for
some unusual reason has to be dis
cussed in an extremely limited time.
Then insist on paying for your own
lunch.
Avoid the man who in any way
knocks" the others. especially the
other women in the office
Hold your head we'll and carry your
self we'll
Affect the shampooer and the mani
cure and the wearing of tailor mades'
rather than finery.
There is a great deal of talk about
how girl should conduct herself in
an office. There is a prevalent belief
that If she receives any undue famil-
iarity it is her own fault. If she fol-
lows the rules that are set down above
she is pretty certain to be exempt.
AS will be seen, they imply not only
the possession of a fine dignity, but |
also good taste and a broad under |
standing of the subject of dress and |
the fitness of things, and call. for a !
fair understanding of tactics when it !
comes to particularly unmanagea bic |
material.
If a girl has all of these qualities It /
is pretty safe to say that she will be |
able to manage anything in the shape /
Of Office material which she may be !
called upon 20 do, barring brutes, that |
the managers of all reliable woman's |
business schools VIII tell you exist in i
quantities. She. will at /
least not be responsible for any mat |
tention to business on the part of en- |
even marry her employer.
Unfortunately, however, instead of |
being all this, the girl who goes into |
an office is not infrequentIy of the kind |
called worldly. For this class
of girl those who employ many women
emphasize and elucidate certain points. !
One thing which is particularly peril |
Gus TO the masculine balance and in |
clines it to totter either into over1nas- |
tering irritation, or into undue fanlil- |
iarity, is what is termed the "ribbony
girl" The ribbony girl includes the |
girl who uses perfumery with its sub
tie and suggestive odor of festivity. |
The lace sleeve, particularly evident |
during dictation. is especially empha- |
sized as being innocuous to business. |
A bangle is also offensive.
This" says male Instructor who !
impresses upon his pupils the absence |
Of finery, lis because the business man |
feels that femininity is out of place in |
the business world anyhow, even
though he has to submit to it. He re- |
SCENTS these things as obtrusively fem |
mime. To the man of another type ii |
that the girl who wears them
is easy that she has tastes which she |
crafty; that she is in the posi- !
ton which is summed UP as a cham |
payne taste and a beer pocketbook.
The average employer, too, will re- !
sent any disposition upon the part of !
the girl he employs to discuss him. He |
Will prefer that she wouldn't mention !
even his good qualities. It would not !
add TO his feeling of safety as to having !
her the confidante of his business af- |
fairs for instance, to hear her say to /
the other stenographers, as / did one |
the other day: Well, he can have me- |
Sometimes a man is deficient him
self in what are known as tactics. One |
Of this kind who had the sincerest of |
business purpose, had stenographer J.
who offered him candy during 5ictation. !
She had d pink complexion and yellow
hair, and was innocently friendly and |
laxative. He did not
have the moral courage TO call her
DOWN, but he managed to get up enough |
to discharge her" /
&c n
Said a business woman who has done
much 10 raise the position of the Chfca-
90 business girl to a higher plane: "A
pretty girl whom ! am sure was abso-
utely innocent of anything except the
desire for attention. was always COM
Of being asked by her employ
ers 10 go out to luncheon. 1t happened |
one day that I had sent her TO work
Tor SOMEBODY lnat knew, and she !
came in with the same story. l knew
that this man hadn't asked her to
lunch and had a chance to get at the /
whole story. 1t seems that she came in
with her hat on and accosted the man.
who was q fat and good natured person.
IF gruff propensities but devoted to his /
family.
Say, do you know where the girls |
around here get their lunch?' said Miss
Pretty Girl.
No. l don't know: /. suppose there