Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/747

 riVO WEEKS IN DEPARTMENT STORES

727

all mollified, and left in high dudgeon. I felt rather blue, but the comforting voice of a little cash girl said : " Don't yer mind him, he's only a cheap skate." Thus reassured I started out on another venture. This time it was a small boy who wanted to buy, and the bright-faced little fellow did me good. He had eighty cents, he said, and he wanted presents for the baby, and Tom, and Freda, and cousin Jack, and several others. I sug- gested one thing after another, till finally he had spent his money; so I made out my first check and looked at it with pride. It read thus :

X. Y.

Z. HOUSE.

SOLD BY

AM'T REC'd

424

.So

"Dewey" bank - Sets dishes Laundry set Mother Goose ladder Rubber ball Bb'ls clothespins

15

04

05 30 15 12 10 08

80

CASH NO.

AMOUNT

127

.80

.80

The boy was happy, and so was I. I looked admiringly at the eighty cents set down on my index sheet. It meant that I had earned four cents. After that the sales came frequently. They were all small, of course, and amounted to only g 14.98 for the day. But this was more than I sold any succeeding day. It has often been noticed that new clerks do better at first than they do later. With me, freshness and interest in the novelty helped to banish weariness and invite sales.