"What day?" Socratic asked.
"Oh, Thursday or Friday," a little impatiently.
"Thursday is all right. What hour? Ten o"clock do?"
"Yes, yes, that will do," sighed the busy, busy business man, his nose deep in his work.
Socratic turned on his heel and walked out.
THE HEAD CLERK"S SALARY
Thursday morning he was again beside Brainerd"s desk. It was easy to see that this little buzz-fly was a mile up in the air. Hi$ coat was off, his cuffs turned back, his collar unb.u.t.toned, his hair mussed, and he had a streak of soot across his nose. He hardly looked up. Just kept chugging away like a motor-cycle going up-grade at fifty miles an hour.
Oh, but he was the busy man!
"Sorry to disappoint you again, Socratic," he jerked out, "but I haven"t got time to breathe. You"ll have to come in again."
"Making stacks of money with all this strenuous activity, I suppose?"
asked Socratic.
"Oh, no! It keeps me on the jump like a toad under a harrow to pay expenses."
"Call that a profitable way to spend time and nervous energy so prodigally?"
"It may not be--I suppose it isn"t, but I can"t help it."
"Your head clerk draws pretty good pay, doesn"t he?" asked Socratic.
"Why, yes," answered Brainerd, staring.
"Probably has a bigger income to handle, personally, than you have?"
"Oh, I guess so" You"ll have to excuse me, Socratic. I"m too busy to talk to-day."
"Queer, but your head clerk and cashier seem to have plenty of time for conversation. They have been sc.r.a.pping for fifteen minutes about chances of the Pirates and the Cubs. You feel happy to pay people big salaries for talking baseball?"
"No; of course not; but how can I help it? A man can"t hire reliable help for love or money in this town, and I haven"t got time to watch all of "em."
"How would it do to have the bookkeeper check up those sales-slips you are tearing your hair over, instead of manicuring her pretty paddies and tucking in her scolding locks?"
"Well, she was doing something else when I began. Excuse me a minute."
SOME FOOL EXCUSES
And Brainerd dashed away to the front of the store to wait on a nicely dressed lady who had just come in. When he returned he said: "I"ll tell you, Mr. Socratic, I"ve been thinking over the matter of our contract, and I don"t believe I"m prepared to go into that thing at present. Times are so hard and I am so rushed for time, and you would probably recommend a lot of things I couldn"t afford, and likely couldn"t work in with my present system. I guess I"ll have to let it go for the present. It would be a good thing, no doubt, but I guess I"ll have to do the best I can without it. Some time later, perhaps, I"ll take it up with you. Why, I don"t even get time to read the papers, and I certainly wouldn"t have time to go into that examination with you."
"I"ve completed my examination," remarked Socratic.
"Why, how"s that?" gasped Brainerd. "When did you do it?"
"The day you were in my office. What I have seen and heard on my two visits here only confirms the diagnosis of your case I made then. But the real purpose of the two calls was to endeavor to make you see your troubles as I see them."
"I don"t know what you mean, sir," said Brainerd, piqued by the unmistakable trend of Socratic"s remarks.
"I rather think you do, but I"ll take no chances. Your business is desperately ill, isn"t it?"
"Yes, I guess it is," reluctantly.
"Then it needs a heroic remedy, doesn"t it?"
"Possibly."
"And that remedy must be applied to the source of the trouble. Not so?"
"Yes."
And that source is none other than Mr. James H. Brainerd. No, don"t blow up with a loud report. Listen to me. You are really too good a business man to go to the wall for the want of a little teachableness. You have foresight, initiative, energy, and perseverance. These are success-qualities of a high order. But you have fallen into some very costly bad habits.
Let me give you the names of six old-fashioned virtues that you are going to start right in to cultivate. When you have developed them, your profits will take care of themselves.
THE REMEDY
The first is Order. You waste seventy-five per cent of your time and nervous energy because you let your work push you instead of planning your work and then pushing your plan.
The second is Punctuality. You lose time, money, friends, temper, and will-power because you are vague and careless about making appointments and slipshod about keeping them.
The third is Courtesy. This has its source in consideration for others and is closely allied to tact. When you ask me to come and help you, and then tell me you are sorry you can do nothing for me, or sorry to disappoint me, that"s patronizing. When you ignore a caller and go to reading papers on your desk, that"s rudeness. And you can"t afford them in your business.
The fourth is Economy. Your time is worth more to this business than that of all the help put together. And when you spend it doing what a ten-dollar-a-week girl could do just as well, it is sinful extravagance.
It wastes not only your time, but hers. Worst of all, it undermines your self-respect and her respect for you.
The fifth is Honesty. When you rush away to wait on some customer yourself because that customer has connived with you for some special cut rates, you may not intend it, but you are dishonest. Business must be done at a profit and all those who share in the privileges of buying from this store should share proportionately in paying you your profit. If anyone doesn"t pay his share, the others have to make up for it Give everybody a square, equal deal. That will build confidence and increase trade. And then you can leave your salespeople to wait on all customers, giving you more time for real management--generalship.
The sixth is Courage. It"s easy enough to see obstacles, to make excuses, to procrastinate. When a hard task has to be done, you will find it no help to begin to catalog the difficulties. Just fear not, and do it.
Now, you are going to cultivate these virtues, Brainerd, because you see that I am right and because, after all, you are a man of good judgment and reason.
"Never mind the contract. When you think my advice has proved its value, send me what you think it is worth."
And he walked out, leaving Brainerd purple in the face with a number of varied emotions, chief among which were outraged dignity and warm grat.i.tude.
While you and we know many Brainerds, there are men capable of handling large affairs who, through lack of training, lack of opportunity, or a choice of a wrong vocation, are sentenced to sit, year after year, working away in an inefficient, fumbling manner, with a ma.s.s of details which they hate and which they are not fitted to take care of properly. Such people are often conscientious; they have a great desire to do their work thoroughly and well, and the fact that they so frequently neglect little details, forget things that they ought to do, overlook necessary precautions, and otherwise fail to perform their duties, is a matter not only of supreme regret and humiliation to them, but of great distress to those who depend upon them.
CAREFULNESS AND RECKLESSNESS
Carefulness and prudence are natural apt.i.tudes. The careless man is not wilfully careless. He is careless because he has not the apt.i.tudes which make a man careful. The imprudent man is not wilfully imprudent, but because he does not have the inherent qualifications for prudence, the taking of precautions, the wise and careful scrutinizing of all the elements entering into success. For some work men are required who have the natural apt.i.tudes of carefulness and prudence. The great tragedy is that this kind of work is often entrusted to men who are so const.i.tuted that it is very easy for them to take chances. The person who is naturally optimistic and hopeful and always looks on the bright side cheerfully expects whatever he does to "come out all right," as he expresses it. He therefore neglects to take sufficient precautions; he does not exercise care as he should; he takes unnecessary and unwise risks. The result is that oftentimes his optimism turns out to be very poorly justified. When things do go wrong on account of their carelessness, such people may feel distressed about it for a time, but they soon recover. They hope for "better luck next time." They expect, by their ingenuity and resourcefulness, to more than make up for the troubles which have come as the result of their carelessness. On the other hand, those who are naturally careful and dependable do not have much hope of things coming out right without eternal vigilance and foresight. They are inherently somewhat apprehensive. They take precautions, are on their guard, and leave no stone unturned whose turning may insure success.
But there are certain cla.s.ses of work which require a willingness to take chances. Such enterprises are speculative. In order to be happy in them, one must have a certain amount of optimism and hopefulness. He must accept temporary failure without discouragement. The heart to look on the bright side of every cloud must be born in one. He must believe always that the future will bring more desirable results. The careless person delights in this kind of work. The element of chance in it appeals to his sporting blood. The danger gives him needed excitement and thrill. The anxious, apprehensive person has no place in such enterprises. Their uncertainties are a drain upon his nervous system. He worries. He makes himself ill with his anxieties and apprehensions. He is unhappy. When disaster does happen, he takes it seriously, feels discouraged, thinks his efforts have been of no avail, can see nothing in the future but black ruin, and otherwise destroys not only his joy in his work, but his efficiency and usefulness in it.