The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-16
Continued from page ~

reporting 10 others in New York.
At Bottom Of Bosses Ladder.
b. Stock, to whom l reported, is not
even included in the telephone direc-
tory of the Western Electric, which
contains the names Of several thou
sand bosses. Prevey could not be
found in this book, either. 1t was
into this layer Of bosses that / was
supposed to hurl my way, mounting
step by step, with "plenty of oppor-
sunfty plenty Of room at the top, and
Advancement depending on my own
y Il fifty" according to Stock.
hiring me, G, G. Knudsen, a
rather eccentric, nervous, bald-head-
ed7little fellow, head OF two inspection
departments, followed out when he
hired me the usual process of filing
the new employee with bunk such as
that emanating from the president of
the company, Charles Dubois.
Getting Dose of Ideals.
Dubois said: "You who are new to
the service will find that your oppor-
tunity to get ahead rests in your
selves and will be helped by your
realization of the company's character
and your increasing devotion to its
ideals. The underlying reason for
our successful growth, as l see it, has
been an honest effort to do a good
job every day and to deal fairly with
, everybody. This character must new
or be weakened or impaired by sin
gle action that is mean or tricky"
Tricky Knudsen.
Dubois, is he is sincere, evidently
has never run across his department
head, G. G. Knudsen. He is the trick
lest man to whom ever tried to sell
my labor. Knudsen, in fact, has a
reputation thruout the plant for being
not only eccentric, but also sharp and
tricky. The man in office No. 2, Mr.
Noble, in the employment division,
used that very word in telling me
!. about Knudsen.
Il am going to send you up to
Knudsen to try to land an inspection
lj0b," said Noble, the employment hot
lair merchant. You'll have to be on
your guard every minute. Knudsen
Is a tricky customer He asks lot
OF tricky questions. He'll try to trip
you up, but you answer him right
back. You may not land a job with
him, as he's tough customer, but
try YOUR luck any WAY
knudsen Hires Him.
Thus warned, / went upstairs to
see Knudsen, who sat at his desk in
The middle Of the inspection depart
ment, No. 6643, on the fourth floor.
Besides the quiEzing of Knudsen,
was subjected to the scrutiny of Cor
don and Stock, who stood there while
the interview was going on. Knudsen
grilled me about my answers to the
application blanks, and in spite of his
tfickiness, altho the only true state
ment in my application was my name,
AKnudsen in the end hired me.
N talked frankly to Knudsen about
Amy experience in the shipyards; how
fused the system there of working for
IA short time at a job, quitting, and
hiring out in another yard at the same
general sort of work at higher sal
airy.
Making Good-for the Boss.
"Well, we don't want you to do that
here" Knudsen snorted. 1--WE want
you to stick with us if you intend to
work for this company The only
work / have open is day work; there
is no piece work at present, and you'll
have to make your incentive the de-
sire for promotion. You've got to be
on the job in this company If you
want to make good-on your toes
every minute"
Knudsen told me the same thing
Stock said: you'll hear a lot around
here about how bad the company
sneats its employees. But don't listen
THAT anybody tells you. There are
kkxlN of loafers and fioaters drifting
around in the plant who will never get
anywhere. II they get low wages it's
because they don't earn any more.
There are old timers who have been
}, with the company for years who point
10 their long service with the COM
pany and say they have been treated
shabbily because their wages are
small and they have not been pro-
noted"
Don't Listen to Kickers.
s, Knudsen leaned over toward me,
drawing earnestly with his pencil as
he exclaimed: Don't believe these
fellows. Close you> ears to their
kicks. They are just like those float
ers who get into one department and
work a little while, then want to
change to another department. We
don't transfer these fellows, unless
they are not doing good job where
they are.
Jobs are just gaping, waiting for
bright young fellow to come along
and snap them up. There is oppor-
nifty for all Of us. | must be ambi-
o. 3pas well as you"
u tudsen tried to be enthusiastic
ale he was handing out the futile
: Siatitudes used by every large corpo-
ration in this country. They use
these platitudes TO try to hide the fact