Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-04

l. Don't talk to others about how UNDER
paid you are, because 1t will do no good.
Not even your best friends are interest
ed. and II only gives them chance to
be sorry for you.
Nothing is more common in industry
than an eternal complaining The Gov
eminent service hears it In full chorus.
1t Is universal because 1t is human ma
ture to be dissatisfied.
Where one and one get together in
once, the boss may be sure that one
or the other is complaining of his pay
and getting certain satisfaction out Of
so easing his mind.
same.
If talking about it did any good; but
almost invariably the one selected as
audience has nothing to do with the
correction of the matter.
The net result secured, in most cases,
is polite hearing by q slightly amused
comrade, who simply isn't interested
NOW II you Will listen to his tale Of
Talking to others about how under
paid you are only gives them O chance
to feel pity, not the genuine kind that
wants to help, but the social sort COM
pounded OF jealousy and greed.
The chances are that you already are
getting more than he Is. and so what
chance has your woe, In comparison
with his major suffering?
sympathy from his heart, he Is prob
ably saying to himself, This sap wants
me to feel sorry for him. does he, when
1e is getting more than arn now? Well
like that!"
The question of dissatisfaction among
salar1ed men offers an interesting pSy-
Geological study. 1t Is probably true
that no man on a salary is satisfied, no
opening injunction and kept his mouth
shut. Always he thinks he is worth
, more than he is getting The Joke of
the matter Is that more often than not
he Is!
The we'll oiled machine that never
needs attention seldom gets it. The
result Is that many Of the old war
horses OF business, who mind their own
AFFAIRS, function quietly, effortlessly and
sfneiently, go along year after year drag
ging down the same old salary, whereas
some wild buckaToo who knows how to
attract attention 10 himself purposelv
'alls down on his job, gets transferred To
another, and becomes q marked man"
In the process.
We recently heard Of an instructive
story from Government life. There
was man in this once who performed
| MS work so well that the rest Of the
ONCE forgot all about him. When the
time came, every now and then, to think
| OF promotions, he was disregarded be-
cause he fitted into his own particular
niche so well. Perhaps there are hun
dredS OF men like that In Government
and other service, who can say?
This man had come in at q low clerk
ship, and had worked his way up
through the grades to q fairly RESPONSE
BILE position. He knew his work, and
everybody else knew he knew It. His
| capacity for more and better work was
not doubted, but no one even remotely
thought Of him in connection with It..
One day key position"-as they do
not call them In the GoVernment-was
to be filed. Two Of the higher ups"
were comforting. The first Of these was
man of splendid ability who had prof
| TIED by politics in a perfectly proper
and legitimate way. The second was
his right-hand man, one who had liter
ally worked his way from bottom to top.
This man knew the value of the right
help at the right time.
He listened calmly while the chief
named over the possibilities. Each man
named would have made O good one for
The vacancy. Each one, no doubt would
have thought to himself that he could
have Allied 1t just little bit better than
any of the others. The Yight.hand man
listened peacefully to the list of names
He wondered why his friend George was
not mentioned. George was the old
war horse" the man who did so much
and said so little about IL.