The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-10-17

Say, there's a new efficiency man
and he's some locker" commented the
tail brunette in the beauty parlor' OF
Reeds dry goods store to the rather
shOrtish, rather bIondish young woman
who was laying out her manicuring
outfit at the table next to the tall
brunette's.
Charlotte Day, the rather blonde,
rather short, young woman, made no
comment
Honest, he's stunning" went on her
companion. 81 saw him when I went
up to the stock room for nail files just
low- He's the real thing, I'll tell you
| none of your namby-pamby, pale-faced
floor walkers, either. He never worked
in a store before. He was a college
professor or something and went in
for this efficiency stuff. He's going
to give some talks on selling and
success at noon hour. You don't want
to miss 'em. The one today is called
Know your customer You don't
want to miss it-he's certainly a
dandy-loOking young man."
Charlotte snorted slightly as a short
cut to express her lack of interest in
the new efficiency man in general and
his good looks in particular.
"Say, I'm through with this fiji
cheney DOPE" she said. ''Ever since
came to this place two years ago I've
been listening to that kind of thing.
The man they had before gave that
same idea of Know Your Customer
I was just young enough and foolish
enough to take it all in, and l read
uplift talks in the paper at night on
Forging Your Way to the Front They
all give the same advice. They say
if you tend to your little job the best
way you know how, why some day
you'll be head OF your department, or
maybe make q hit with somebody and
get married to someone who'll appre-
ciate how hard you've worked and
| everything. Talk about knowing your
customers-don't know every wart on
that fat Mrs. Peabody's old face? And
don't I know just how many double
chins that Armstrong woman has?
And talk about being diplOmatic-'Oh,
yes, indeed, Mrs. Armstrong, the facial
massage does make one dreadfully
pale. Not that you would usually need
any rouge, but after the massage I'd
better put on a little. Oh, I'm sure
you don't usually need it,
"And then this to Mrs. Peabody {:
Just a little of this tonic, Mrs. Pea
body. No, indeed. it isn't dye. But
this new electric treatment makes the
hair look a little dull and you really
need q little of this tonic to bring out
the natural color of the hair And Of
course she knows and know that it's
straight walnut dye. And that's what
I've been doing for two years, kidding
them and studying them and saying
what they want me to. Where has it
got me? Yes. they smile at me and
ask for me when they make appoint
mcnts-but catch them doing any
| thing more. Why, to hear these eff
cheney men talk you'd think that they
were going to ask you home in their
limousines and were going to introduce
/ you TO their families and get rich hus-
! bands for you, or that you were going
! to he buyer for the department or
something. No, indeed" concluded
/ Charlotte, rising and smoothing her
| Iiminutive apron. "Pm through. I'm
! going TO act just the way I feel like
! acting. I have n feeling that it will
get me further than the other way"
So Charlotte abandoned her eff
cheney methods and proceeded to try
| different tactics. When Mrs. Arm
strong came she bluntly announced the
/ presence of an additional chin, and she
referred to Mrs. Peabody's hair restor-
ltive as dye in Il way that made that
| lady blink with surprise. She told one
woman frankly that she was running
her hair having 1t waved so often, and
another that she would look far better
if she didn't get the expensive trans
/ formation" that she was thinking Of
| buying. ~
Then a weIl-dressed young man
came to have his finger nails mani
cured, and Charlotte performed her
| task with none of the customary play
of small talk that was calculated to
| make the customers return.
SLOW do they look?'' asked the man
after Charlotte had put on the final
high polish.
IF you really want to know" COM
mented Charlotte, thinking only Of her
resolve to be perfectly frank, 81 think
| they look like fury on a man. The
way they were when you came in is the
/
/ kept. Now they are shaped and point
| ed and polished till they look like
woman's. Somehow you're not the sort
or man that looks as If he would go in
/ for that sort of thing
Charlotte noticed the young mans
eyes studying her face.
"Still," he said, sit is rather bad
/ business. it seems to me, for you to
| give that sort Of advice. Perhaps you
are right, but your game is to get as
many customers as you can for your
store, isn't it?''
'FYou talk ike one Of those efficiency
men,, commented Charlotte, with a
sigh, replacing her implements in neat
array on top OF the table, and the man
hurried away.
Charlotte did not go to the noon-hour
talk, although it was the first advan-
tage of the sort that she had missed
since her arrival in the store two years
before. Instead. she took n walk in as
secluded a neighborhood as she could
reach within walking distance of the
store. She breathed freer and deeper
than usual She really felt, without