The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-12-09
| Confessions ST a
Mail Order Man
By Mr.. M. o. x.
Revelations by One Whose Experience In
the Business Covers . Range From
Office Boy to General Manager
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE
MAIL ORDER BUSINESS.

"SlI SEhS6n
1t was as o boy, long-legged, lanky
and just into my teens that I made
my application for a "job" with one
Of tne merchandise concerns that was
making an effort to secure trade from
the people in the towns and country
adjacent to one Of our big western
cities. .
/ had arrived in the city, having quit
my job in a smaller metropolis many
miles away after serving an arduous
term as office boy and all-around kid"
in a small store. My self-confdence
was small and my difidence abnormal
I suppose I stood outside the store en-.
trance for fully an hour before I mus.
tered up courage enough to go in.
81 want to see the boss" was my
statement to q rather 1ashy appear
ing man who asked me what I wanted.
What for?"
81 want a job"
He sized me up ~quizzically and then
pointed to a door leading into a dingy
little office in the corner. There was
a long counter, behind which a sleepy
looking bookkeeper was engaged in
adding up figures and With. the office
I could see a tall, angular man read
ing letters. Timidly I knocked at the
door. 81.
Come in," said the angular man,
in a deep, bass voice.
Tremblingly I approached him. He
looked at me with a keen glance and
asked me what l wanted.
81 want a job" .
What can you do?"
Work around a store"
Then followed a series of questions,
which I answered freely as I be-
came more at ease.
IT need a good, hard-working boy
he said, zone that is honest and re
liable. Have you any r%eferences?"
mo, sir" 1 explained that I had
been refused a reference from my last
employer because he did not wish me
to quit and he had taken this petty
revenge. Then he asked me a LOT
more questions about my work, etc.
and finally he said:
"A reference doesn't amount to any
thing, anyhow. Men will give a ref
erence to get rid of a fellow, lots OF
times. I've done 1t myself. You show
me that you are all right, and well
have no bother about the reference
I'll give you a job. Where are your
things?"
What things?"
why, your trunk or your valise OF
your bundle"
It was with humiliation that I con
fessed that / did not have anything
except the clothes I had on. I did not
confess to the possession Of a pail
Of neatly darned socks, which I had
in one jacket pocket. AS for linen
why, I had the shirt l was wearing and
my celluloid collar had been, so far
all sufficient, as l could launder it in
a minute with a basin of water.
He laughed and said, "All right
sonny; start right in and see that you
don't take away from my store any
more than you fetched into it."
barely existed on the three dollars
a week he paid me, but managed tt
make shift by sleeping on a cot in the
rear Of the store. .
"You can go out In the store and
straighten up stock" he said, land
fix everything up in good style. Every
morning you will take the broom and
sweep out, and If you find anything or
the floor, bring 1t to me-. 1t belongs tc
me because this is my store, under
stand?"
I nodded assent. -. ..
During the day you can help around
the store, wrapping up bundles, filling
orders and doing anything that comes
handy, but keep busy"
In my after years I realized how
| pitiful, how utterly inadequate, how
worthless for all practical purposes
was the "junk"-yet, it was no bet
ter-that he had in stock. AS e buyer
l have since visited the biggest mar
kets in all of the principal cities, and
l have never seen anything like the
stuff he had piled on his shelves
There was a long table with clothing
made from material known as "shod
dy." When you wore it out in the
rain it became a pulp and lost any
semblance of shape. There were
shoes, made of the cheapest leather
with insoles of paper; there were bar
rels Of brown sugar, coffee A." etc.
and a big canister Of white" sugar
There was coffee, which I mixed with
roasted beans and corn and ground by
hand in the mill" screwed to the
dirty pine counter. There were prunes
raisins, c%urrants, apples, all dried.