Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-12-11
Confession ST a
Mail Order Man
By Mr.. M. O. x.
Revelations by One Whose Experience in
the Business Covers q Range From
Office Boy to General Manager
Ny FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE
MAIL ORDER BUSINESS.

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 / stood outside the store
trance for fully an hour before mus
tered up courage enough to go in.
"I want to see the boss" was my
statement to a rather fiashy appear
ing man who asked me what | wanted.
What for?"
Il 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 within the office
/ could see a tall, angular man read
ing letters. Timidly l knocked at the
door.
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 I wanted.
Il want a job"
What can you do?"
Work around a store"
Then followed a series of questions,
which l answered freely as / be-
came more at ease.
II need a good, Woodworking boy"
he said, zone that is honest and re-
liable. Have you any references"
mo, sir" / explained that l had
been refused a reference from my last
employer because he did moi 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 it myself. You show
me that you are all right, and we'll
have no bother about the reference.
I'll give you a job. Where are your
things?"
"What things?"
why, your trunk or your yalise or
your bundle"
1t was with humiliation that / con-
fessed that ! did not have anything
except the clothes / had on. / did not
confess to the possession of a pair
Of neatly darned socks. which / had
in n Jacket pocket. As for linen,
why, i had the shirt / was wearing and
my celluloid collar had been, so far,
all sufficient, as 4 could launder it in
q 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,"
l barely existed on the three dollars
a week he paid me, but managed to
make shift by sleeping on a cot in the
rear Of the store.
you can go out in the store and
s~traighten up stock" he said, and
fix everything up in good style. Every
morning you will take the broom and
sweep out, and If you find anything on
the floor, bring it to me. 1t belongs to
me because this is my store, under.
stand?"
/ 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 / 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 a buyer
I have since visited the biggest mar.
kets In all Of the principal cities, and
have see 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
rele of brown sugar. coffee A." etc.
and a big canister of white" sugar
There was coffee, which ! mixed with
roasted beans and corn and ground by
hand in the mill" screwed to the
dirty pine counter. There were prunes
raisins, currants, apples, all dried.
The dry goods would now be consid
cred absolutely worthless. Thin
scrawny and shapeless, the stuff would
unroll from the bolts, while the rib
bons were fiyspecked and dirty. Then
there was a stock of notions" a
stock of hardware, more groceries, not
forgetting a barrel each Of whisky
rum, molasses and vinegar. There
were other things, too numerous tc
mention, but all of the same question:
able value.
The store made p~retensions to being
quite an establishment, but / will
state honestly that as / remember thai
awful stock Of merchandise / would
not offer 800 for the whole outfit
were to appraise it today.
So l swept u the store mornings
tied up bundles and waited on Gus
toners during the day and at night
crawled under the counter, too tired
to dream, and slept amidst the odors
from the barreled and boxed groceries
He showed me how to manipulate
the old-fashioned scales so that | could
:heat al old woman out of a pound
Or two of sugar or flour. Our pint
quart and gallon measures had false
bottoms. Our peck and bushel meas
ures were fixed for false measure
and there was ample material for adul
t~eration of all commodities. He in
structed me In their use, and one day
he trounced me without mercy be
cause he observed that l did not snff
eieBtly adpltexase the purchase Of an
The Socia! Code.
Men are kept orderly, clean and de
cent through the strength of an obse
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