Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-08
Ike AS Good AS Number.

marley with me- She made il just as plain
as a pikestaff. whatever that is. that she
regarded me as mul!sh sort OF son OF
a sea cook who couldn't and wouidn
listen to reason. And she wrapped Up
boxful OF soap and gave IL to me ana
tucked il under my arm and went nome
with 1t.
soap. I found that II was a boXful OF the
kind of soap that she'd insisted upoA
my taking and not the kind ID spent
those five precious moments In asking her
to let me have.
perhaps for the sake of additional
realism I shall ne permitted TO say that,
at the moment of making this srisly aus
covery. was all ready to make use OF
cake of that bath soap.
! did not go to her. L went 10 inc SUI
perintendent of the entire institution. lie
is a man I know. First ! made him prom
Use that he'd be nice about II In tetllng
the young lady AT the toilet article
counter about the affair He promised
Then I told him about II. He raved
They're always doing that" he said.
.Why wouldn't they?' I asked him
calmly. 1T s'pose they get a premium. in
the way of credit or something, for work.
ing off your own firms junk on people
in place Of the standard articles that
people ask for"
That made him rave lot more
d Nothing of the sort. he beloved az
me- They're instructed to sell our
goods il they can: but they're specifically
instructed never to use that as good as
speech. Some people, of limited means
like the cheaper article instead of the
standard article that costs more. Our
salespeople are told that they NAV say
to such customers. We have an article or
our own manufacture, as well a. the
article YOU ask for But they are ABB
IN
own article is AS good as or better than
the thing the customer asks for. A lons
experience in merchandising has made
the fact perfectly familiar to me that that
as good as or better than observation
from the lips of saiespeople is calcu-
lated to literally enrage nine customers
out of ten: and we're not in business
for the sake OF engaging customers.
But" l asked him, why did the young
lady. when i was SO specific, not to say
emphatic, give me the bum box or
bath soap OF your own manufacture
after aM?"
Il don't think she did it deliberately"
said the superintendent. II think per-
haps she was confused after your coll
loauy with her. and did il by mistake.
But 1 wasn't convinced, all the same,
by the observation OF the supcrintcnd-
emf about the mistake" part of II.
That sort of thine happens far too
often to permit of its being viewed right
along as a mistake" 1t has been
pulled on me time and again, IN a great
MANY cities of this country.
The customer is not supposed to be IA
miliar with the "csyeat emptor maxim.
He produces the change and is entitled
to get what he asks for. He is not
supposed to be on guard against being
cheated all the time.
And this is not all. There are bar
bers who fight us to make us accept
the kind of haircuts they want to give
us, instead Of the kind of haircuts
bndIiaS with ALI fhr0nDh ha
mounting mounding years. and there are
tailors who try to Observation-Disclosures
US into taking the kind of clothes they
want to make for us instead Of the sort
of buds that we're digging up the bitter
kale through the nose for. But that 5
another narrative. perhaps to be touch-
ed upon Roycroftie a little later on.
CLARENCE L. CULLEN.