The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-15
EXPERIENCES SEARCHING FOR JOB

in time to get the job.
Strangely. the next job I tried wal
also that of driver. The advertisement
had asked for a "driver-handy man.
I walked downtown-by this time / wal
regarding street cars as luxuries onl,
| accessible to the rich. The advertiser
wanted a man who would drive a wagon
hostler the horse. clean UP his store
act as sort Of night waxchmen, ant
weigh his clothes down with a saiar,
of "a week. In addition, this adver.
tiser told me, with the air of one who
would never be rich because he did moi
have the commercial instinct, that
might sleep in a room above the stable
He expected me, i presume, 10 steal my
food from, his store. / hope that who
ever accepted the job fulfille6 expecta-
tons in that respect at least.
job ms Dfshwasher.
1t would be hard for me to tell, now
that il is all over, my view of hfe after
these experiments. had had one meal
during the day. i had walked several
miles more than usual 1 had not had
any sleep for thirty hours. I was, In
fact. beginning to get the attitude of a
man who has no work. no home: above
to try further to get work
A dishwasher was wanted by down.
town quick lunch room. / asked the
cashier for the job. She looked at my
hands, presumably to see II they were
too rough and clumsy. and finally said
that / could have the place. I was told
to report in two hours-at 8 o'clock that
evening.
In all this time, ! had not vet been
questioned closely regarding reference
1t may have been exceptionalmy own
personal view, after the experiences. Il
that I was decidedly fortunate in being
able to get by"
So far, / had applied for four jobs.
Three / had been able to get, and one
was taken. The fifth job for which
applied furnished me with more knowl-
edge OF job hunting than all the others.
None Of the places for which / had tried
had laid any particular stress on the
reference part Of the advertisement.
/ had not tried, therefore. to pretend
that l was formerly successful young
man. temporarily down and out"
had not been careless in talking; on the
contrary, l had taken particular care to
roughen my speech and avoid questions.
II had taken me something like four
teen hours to gather the material for the
first four experiences" ] was worn out.
and ! decided 1t would be foolish to stay
out of doors another night. l walked
home. ate an unusually large meal, and
went to bed. ] was awake at o'clock
and started out for one final bit of
color
The fifth job was a shipping clerk. It
had not been among the original pros
poets" for / had thrown them away.
selected ii so that ! might find whether
needed reference in order to obtain q
position"
store from which the advertisement had
young man who is given some RESPONSE
bility with his s10-a-week salary. This
young man was pleasant, but il was evil
dent that he was unused to conversing
with one so far beneath his level His
effort was well-meant, though, 1 was
sure.
without Any Reference.
He asked me whether I was qualified,
whether the salary OF 81 a week was suf-
ficient, and finally whether had a refer
ence. i told him 1 had not. He said that
a reference was necessary, and told me
to wait while he consulted an official of
the store.
The official went to the shipping plat
form to inspect me. He asked me where
had worked last told him that had
worked in New York, but that 1 had lost
my reference, and had been unable to
obtain another because I was not re-
membered. He did not believe me, and
said so. Furthermore. he said that
recently had been released from jail.
You don't look very crooked" he
said. but we can't afford to take
chances. Now, confess that you have
been in the pen
Naturally I wouldn't confess and told |
MIN that he was jumping at conclusions |
He told me again that he would not
mploy a man without a reference, and /
said that he wasn't sure, but he had
better turn me over to the police. did
lot wish to be the butt of a joke, and
foated rather than walked from the
platform.
This last adventure could be improved
Ipon. 1t was very simple, and 1 could,
With a little painting, improve il con-
;iderably. But it seemed to me to be
'ery significant. 1t was the first job l |,
lad applied for that required any real
Intelligence or particular education. 1t
vas the first job for which 1 had asked
hat required a knowledge Of the Eng
ish language. Furthermore. it was the
'nly place that was in any way apart
rom that classed as labor" |,
1t impressed me that there was a bar
Ter drawn around places OF that kind;
hat man could obtain work on his
cal merits, but that in applying for a
'osition he needed a reference that in
line cases out of a possible ten would
contain at least one truth and many
1 began to understand
Why men finally decide that it is easier
o loaf than TO obtain work that does
Tot require Drawn.
In conclusion, 1 found that a man
,ould find work; that he could at least
eed himself. and that unless he was
physically unfit, he could keep himself