The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1915-12-16
The Value Of the Trained Clerk to the
Merchant

every town and city, is obliged to call on
young men and young women, not regularly
employed by them, to help in the annual bust
ness rush known as ''the Christmas season.
visit to any Of the big department stores
will show dozens Of young men and women,
cler1lng for the special season, to whom
the simplest sums in addition are efforts that,
meet, in most instances, with the most dis
astrous results. In one store Lal visited, it
was painful to watch clerk, and whose
effort to count up' a simple sale Of items
representing three-quarters of yard of diff
ferent materials, and two items Of half yard
each; the result was not what it should have
been, and none-too- patient floor walker, APP
pealed to by the little chit who presided over
the cash register, made the tears come for the
clerk who was ''called down. for the error in
simple arithmetic.
The woman clerk could write; she was in
teligent enough to sell goods well, but she
had not been sufficiently drilled In simple
arithmetic to make out what was really a
sum in common fractions. This experience
opened a new field FOR investigation, and it
was followed in every store that Lal visited;
and the results were simply case of multi
plying the first, by the number OF clerks who
werespart Of the experiment.
With the ever-increasing elaborateness of
our public school curriculum, the need is
shown more plainly, in the finished product,
for a getting back to the old "three Rs
readin', 'ritin' and 'rithmetic." Few of us,
of that day and time, but can distinctly recall
the many days we were "'kep' in,'' for not
knowing how to do cur "sums," and while
few Of us may have qualified as expert book
keepers, when we had finished the public
school course, we did know how to add, null
tiply divide and do fractions,' with ease,
and accuracy-if given time.
Tn many other ways one notes the lack of
training for these young people who would
be such valuable assets, if the ground work
in practical training at school, had been laid.
IF we are now teaching our children music,
Spanish and the rest of the fal-lals that have
been added to the public school course, evil
IDENTIFY with the idea that all are to be en-
tered in ''polite society," or diplomatic cir
Giles, when they have finished school (thus
carrying out the idea that this is a Republic
of splendid possibilities), why not 60 a step
farther, and work on the theory that many
of the young people would be most successful
business aids, and ultimately merchants on
their own account if they were trained for
that special job!
To give another illustration of the lack of
mental training that would result in quick
recognition Of business: 1t was suggested In
one shop at which many purchases IN different
departments were to be made, that all the
goods be paid for at the central desk (no
account being kept in this shop, by the buyer)
to save time, and the making of many sales
tickets, it was suggested that clerk go with
the shopper, make note Of the number and
price of articles needed, and make out charge
for the full purchase, at the end of the tour.
A little man, introduced as "the assistant
business manager" but whose head was full
of glue-and thick glue at that-pulled the
ends of his Kaiser Bill moustache for fully