"Never tell a customer we are out of stock of anything. If something is asked for that is not in stock, offer the customer something else that will, in your judgment, satisfy her. If a customer, for example, should ask for an 8-in. aluminum saucepan and we are out of that size, bring her both a 7-in. and a 9-in. size and say: 'These are the nearest we have to the 8-in. size. Which of these would suit you best?' If the customer should hesitate, impress upon her the benefit of buying a saucepan rather larger than she anticipates needing. If the customer says that nothing but the 8-in. size will suit her, suggest that you can give her an enameled pan in that size, and if that won't do, ask her to leave her name and address and we will have one expressed to her promptly from the manufacturer. Apply methods similar to these in every case when we are asked for something of which we are out of stock. Make it a rule never to allow a customer to leave the store without making every attempt to sell her something that will be satisfactory to her."
"Never tell a customer we are out of stock of anything. If something is asked for that is not in stock, offer the customer something else that will, in your judgment, satisfy her. If a customer, for example, should ask for an 8-in. aluminum saucepan and we are out of that size, bring her both a 7-in. and a 9-in. size and say: 'These are the nearest we have to the 8-in. size. Which of these would suit you best?' If the customer should hesitate, impress upon her the benefit of buying a saucepan rather larger than she anticipates needing. If the customer says that nothing but the 8-in. size will suit her, suggest that you can give her an enameled pan in that size, and if that won't do, ask her to leave her name and address and we will have one expressed to her promptly from the manufacturer. Apply methods similar to these in every case when we are asked for something of which we are out of stock. Make it a rule never to allow a customer to leave the store without making every attempt to sell her something that will be satisfactory to her."
I was really pleased with myself when I heard an animated discussion on this new rule. Jones exclaimed:
"Jiminny Christmas, the Boss has got more sense than I thought he had!"
I told Betty that, when I got home, and she immediately fingered all my vest buttons.
"What's that for?" I asked.
"I think," she said gravely, but with a twinkle in her eye, "you had better take off your vest and let me fasten those buttons with wires, or else you'll be bursting them, through swelling with pride!"
I met Barlow one morning taking his "constitutional." While I was working for him we fellows always used to laugh at his plan of going for a walk every day for fifteen or twenty minutes. We used to think it was a freak notion of his for keeping in health.
Barlow shook hands with me and asked me how business was going. I told him that sales were picking up very slowly. Then he asked me:
"And how is friend Stigler affecting you now?"
I told him about the scheme I had been working on Stigler.
"But," I concluded, "I don't bother much with thinking about him now."
"That's excellent!" he exclaimed. "He isn't doing any too well, I know, and he has some time on his hands to talk. You forget him as much as possible and just go ahead and 'saw wood.'"
"That's what I'm trying to do. But I'm still keeping up that plan of marking down the goods in the window for an hour in the morning until he cuts his goods."
Barlow chuckled at that: "It is amusing," he said, "that Stigler hasn't yet realized that you are not cutting your own prices but merely making him cut his!"
"But, really," I said, "so much is always happeningthat I've forgotten almost everything but business."
"I'm very glad to hear it, Dawson," he replied, "and you'll find that, as long as you are going on the right track, that same spirit will continue. I find business so crowded with interesting things that I can hardly tear myself away from it at night."
"I notice, though," I said, with a sly smile, "that you still take your half hour's constitutional every morning."
"Surely you know what I do that for?"
"What is it, if it isn't to keep yourself in trim or something of that kind?"
"I'll tell you, Dawson: A man can't be in the same surroundings long without becoming blind to their physical aspects. If I were to stay in the store all the time, I would soon become blind to poor window displays, to disorderliness and neglect about the store—to those hundred and one defects which creep up in a store and which react unfavorably on customers. So I make a point every day of putting on my hat and walking around a few blocks, looking at the other stores, familiarizing myself with the window trims, keeping a line on new ideas, and the like. And by the way, Dawson, I have obtained some of my best ideas of window trimming from displays in other stores—not hardware stores, I mean. I had a splendid idea for a trim one time from a display at Middal's." Middal ran a stationery store. "Tony once had an arrangement of fruit in his window that gave me a good idea for a tool display.
"I tell you, Dawson, there are good ideas lying around everywhere, and it only requires a little imagination to adapt them to your own uses. It's a poorsort of merchant who cannot use the good ideas from other lines of business and adapt them to his own requirements."
"So that's why you take your morning constitutional?" I asked. "To see what good ideas you can pick up!"
"Yes, I see what good ideas I can pick up, but that's only one part of it. My main idea is to let my eyes see something other than what they are in the habit of seeing. I want them to get away from looking at the environment of the store, so that when I return from my 'constitutional,' as you call it, I can look at my store as if I were a casual visitor. Every time I approach it I say to myself, 'What would I, as a stranger, think of that store?' And I find that, by looking at it in this way, I keep my viewpoint fresh. I quickly notice any flaws in the store management."
"Then all that time I was working with you and thought, with all the other fellows, that it was a crank idea of yours, you were really following out a definite store policy, as it were?"
"Exactly."
"Then," I blurted out, "why didn't you ever tell us what it was for? We could perhaps have done the same thing!"
"I never told you," he answered, "because I felt it wouldn't help you fellows, and I didn't think it wise to tell my help what I was doing. You see my point?" he said, with a smile.
"I feel foolish to think of disagreeing with you, Mr. Barlow," I said, "but candidly, I think it would have paid to have told us. I believe a boss gets more out of his men when he tells them what he is working for.I think, too, that many bosses are afraid to let the men see the wheels go round. I may be wrong, but I am going on the plan of telling the fellows as much as possible about the business. I believe that the more they know about the business, the more interest they will take in it, and the better they will be able to work in its interests."
We were strolling toward my store and were just passing Stigler's at that minute. Stigler was standing at the door, and, as we passed, he said with a grin:
"Good morning, gentlemen. Hatching up a new conspiracy to corner the hardware trade in the town? If so, don't fail to let me in. I'm always looking for an easy thing, you know. K-ha!"
Barlow turned around with a laugh, and said:
"You always will have your bit of fun, won't you, Stigler?"
I was too mad to say anything.
"I'm surprised you can joke with him like that!" I said to Barlow. But then he turned around, and I saw a snap in his eye, which told me that he was really angry, just as much as I was, but had learned to control his feelings better.
Well, we shook hands, and I left him to go into the store. His closing remark was:
"Stick to it, Dawson! Call on me if I can help you at any time, and, while you don't want to be spying on Stigler, of course, keep your eye open."
But when we parted I suddenly decided, instead of going into the store, to try Barlow's plan and take a stroll around the block and then try to view the store as if I were a customer. I felt a little disappointed, then, at the general appearance of the outside of thestore. More paint would certainly improve it. In fact, it was a kind of joke to find on the big side door an old sign, the letters half worn off and the rest dirty and dusty, reading:
"Fresh paint improves your property. Use Star Brand."
I was still handling the Star Brand, but had never bothered about the sign! I had the sign taken down right away, and determined there and then to see the landlord, and get him to paint the outside of the store.
Barlow was certainly no fool!
Soon after my talk with Barlow, I planned a big sale to reduce my stock. I was most anxious to reduce it $2,000.00 worth, and at the same time I wanted to see if I could not hit back at Stigler. He was keeping up his price-cutting campaign, although he had evidently realized the fact that I took my cut prices off the goods as soon as he cut his, so that he had begun to put the same kind of goods in his window that I did, but cut them about 10 or 15 per cent. from the regular prices.
I had spoken to Jock McTavish about this, and had suggested that perhaps I ought to cut all goods down to cost for a little while, for apparently Stigler could sell at a 15 per cent. reduction and still make a profit.
"No," said Jock. "Dinna ye ken that he loses money when he cuts his goods that much?"
"Why, how can that be?" I asked. "Suppose he buys something for $1.00, and the regular price is $1.50. He cuts that 15 per cent.—he would be selling it at—at $1.27. He would make 27¢ profit!"
"Ye're wrong," replied Jock. "The cost o' the goods is no the bare invoice price, but the cost plus the cost o' selling. Noo, as ye ken, it will cost ye round aboot 30 per cent. on cost to sell your goods, so that those goods would cost $1.00 plus 30¢, the cost o' selling; and when he sells them for $1.27 he'll be losing 3¢ on every sale."
"But he could care for his overhead on his regular stock," I replied.
"Verra foolish reasoning," snapped Jock, "for a mon to mak' a part of his sales carry the freight for aw o' 'em!"
I had thought about this afterward, and finally had been able to see how, if he cut his goods 15 per cent., he couldn't make anything on the deal.
However, several people had been saying that Stigler had got me "on the run," so I decided it was up to me to have a whack at him. Therefore, I planned what I called an "Automatic Sale." I picked out a whole lot of stock, goods a little bit damaged, lines that I had no sale for at all—I found a lot of things which the two previous owners of the store bought and stored away and apparently never did anything with. I found about a gross of painted rubber balls; I found a lot of juvenile printing outfits; and padlocks—I dug up about three gross of padlocks, of the strangest patterns you could think of! I found eleven different makes of safety razors, and there were only two of them I had ever sold any quantity of. I planned to reduce the number of lines as much as I could and just push the real sellers—put my money into goods that would sell quickly and so increase my turn-over.
All the five-cent articles that I wanted to dispose of in this sale I tied in pairs—two for ten cents.
I intended to run four narrow tables down the center of the store. The first one was to contain ten-cent goods, the next twenty-five cent, the next fifty-cent, and the last one all the odds and ends at various prices.
My idea was to run the sale on the plan of automatic reduction of price. I had got the idea from a magazine which had said that, if you could offer anything to people which appealed to the sporting instinct that is in every one of us, you would attract attention. So I decided to try to appeal to this sporting instinct by automatically reducing the goods one cent in every ten cents every day, until the goods were reduced to nothing,—and then give away what was left.
I had talked this over with the boys at our Monday's weekly meeting—which, by the way, had been a most interesting one and continued for over an hour instead of the three-quarters of an hour we had planned—and they had been very enthusiastic over it. I had also talked it over with Betty and Jock and Fellows. While Jock shook his head and said, "Ye're takkin' a big risk, mon," Betty had said, "Go ahead and do it, boy!" Fellows just said, "Bully, you're going to be a real man before you're through!"
Larsen seemed to be getting younger every day. When I came out of the store the day after I had announced my plans, he was talking over the idea with the other boys in a very excited and enthusiastic manner.
The sale was planned to start in two weeks hence, and, during those two weeks, car signs were displayed in all our trolleys, worded like this:
"A penny in ten a day,Till the goods are given away."DAWSON BLACK'S AUTOMATIC SALEBegins Thursday, Aug. 26.Get Particulars.
"A penny in ten a day,Till the goods are given away."DAWSON BLACK'S AUTOMATIC SALEBegins Thursday, Aug. 26.Get Particulars.
In addition to this, Larsen and Wilkes tacked these signs on all the trees and blank spaces they could about the town.
Just one week before the sale started, I put the following "ad." in both our local papers for three days, without any change of copy:
AUTOMATIC—THAT'S THE WORDthat describes the big saleDAWSON BLACKis running from Thursday, Aug. 26 to ——?Youdecidewhen the sale ceases.Heavy stocks must be reducedI have decided to sell all surplus stockautomatically.Every article to be offered in this sale is plainly marked at regular price, and is now on display on the AUTOMATIC SALES COUNTERS.On the opening day, all prices will be reduced one cent in every ten cents, and a further reduction of one cent in ten will automatically take place every day until the prices of the goods are reduced to nothing.They will then be given awaySee the special circulars, or call atDAWSON BLACK'S HARDWARE STORE32 Hill Street.
AUTOMATIC—THAT'S THE WORDthat describes the big sale
DAWSON BLACK
is running from Thursday, Aug. 26 to ——?Youdecidewhen the sale ceases.
Heavy stocks must be reduced
I have decided to sell all surplus stockautomatically.
Every article to be offered in this sale is plainly marked at regular price, and is now on display on the AUTOMATIC SALES COUNTERS.
On the opening day, all prices will be reduced one cent in every ten cents, and a further reduction of one cent in ten will automatically take place every day until the prices of the goods are reduced to nothing.
They will then be given away
See the special circulars, or call at
DAWSON BLACK'S HARDWARE STORE32 Hill Street.
I ordered from the printer four circulars which were clipped together with wire. One sheet talked about the ten-cent goods, another about the twenty-five-cent, another about the fifty, and the fourth about the mixed table. The sheet explanatory of the twenty-five cent goods was as follows:—
DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALE32 Hill St.Two thousand dollars' worth of goods to be sold atyour own price. All you have to do is wait until the goods are reduced to your price, and then—buy them—if there are any left.A PENNY IN EVERY DIME TAKEN OFF EVERY DAYEvery article on each counter is plainly marked at regularprices and can be seen now.Sale begins Thursday, Aug. 26, and the first reduction will be made that day—and a further similar reduction will be made every day thereafter until the goods are sold or until the prices are reduced to nothing, when they will be given away.The following is an illustration of how the articles listed on the reverse side of this sheet will be reduced, as well as scores of other 25-cent articles not listed here:REGULAR PRICE25¢Regular priceThursday, Aug. 2622½¢2½¢ savedFriday, Aug. 2720¢Put a nickel in your pocketSaturday, Aug. 2817½¢Saves you 7½¢Monday, Aug. 3015¢And two trolley rides freeTuesday, Aug. 3112½¢Half price—if any leftWednesday, Sept. 110¢But why talk of saving if there are none leftThursday, Sept. 27½¢Saves 17½¢—but too lateFriday, Sept. 35¢Would save 20¢ if others had not cleaned them outSaturday, Sept. 42½¢But why talk about savingTuesday, Sept. 7FREEHelp yourself to what is left(See other side)
DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALE32 Hill St.
Two thousand dollars' worth of goods to be sold atyour own price. All you have to do is wait until the goods are reduced to your price, and then—buy them—if there are any left.
A PENNY IN EVERY DIME TAKEN OFF EVERY DAY
Every article on each counter is plainly marked at regularprices and can be seen now.
Sale begins Thursday, Aug. 26, and the first reduction will be made that day—and a further similar reduction will be made every day thereafter until the goods are sold or until the prices are reduced to nothing, when they will be given away.
The following is an illustration of how the articles listed on the reverse side of this sheet will be reduced, as well as scores of other 25-cent articles not listed here:
REGULAR PRICE25¢Regular priceThursday, Aug. 2622½¢2½¢ savedFriday, Aug. 2720¢Put a nickel in your pocketSaturday, Aug. 2817½¢Saves you 7½¢Monday, Aug. 3015¢And two trolley rides freeTuesday, Aug. 3112½¢Half price—if any leftWednesday, Sept. 110¢But why talk of saving if there are none leftThursday, Sept. 27½¢Saves 17½¢—but too lateFriday, Sept. 35¢Would save 20¢ if others had not cleaned them outSaturday, Sept. 42½¢But why talk about savingTuesday, Sept. 7FREEHelp yourself to what is left
(See other side)
On the reverse side was the following list:—
DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALESOME OFFERINGS ON THE 25¢ TABLELarge size whisk broomsHandy household sawsSteel garden hand forks and trowelsHeavy enameled saucepansBristle-tight paint brushesWarranted pocketknivesReliable padlocksDouble-well dust-proof ink standsBronze watch fobsA large assortment of window shadesJuvenile sets of knife, fork and spoonFine quality scissors—all sizesEnameled sink basketsSteel frying pans"Scour-clean" soap for cleaning greasy pansPocket manicure setsWire clothes linesBoys' printing outfits—rubber typeScrew-drivers—hatchets—hammers—plyers"Clix" patent shoe shining setsMany styles in window fastenersEnamel—varnish paintInsect powderBicycle pumps—bells—toolsCorkscrews—razor stropsAND HOSTS OF OTHER GOODS.
DAWSON BLACK'S BIG AUTOMATIC SALESOME OFFERINGS ON THE 25¢ TABLE
Large size whisk broomsHandy household sawsSteel garden hand forks and trowelsHeavy enameled saucepansBristle-tight paint brushesWarranted pocketknivesReliable padlocksDouble-well dust-proof ink standsBronze watch fobsA large assortment of window shadesJuvenile sets of knife, fork and spoonFine quality scissors—all sizesEnameled sink basketsSteel frying pans"Scour-clean" soap for cleaning greasy pansPocket manicure setsWire clothes linesBoys' printing outfits—rubber typeScrew-drivers—hatchets—hammers—plyers"Clix" patent shoe shining setsMany styles in window fastenersEnamel—varnish paintInsect powderBicycle pumps—bells—toolsCorkscrews—razor strops
AND HOSTS OF OTHER GOODS.
Over each table I had a big card, of which the following is a sample:—
EVERYTHING ON THIS COUNTER IS A REGULAR 50¢ ARTICLELook them over—Buy while you can!REGULAR PRICE50¢Regular priceThursday, Aug. 2645¢A nickel savedFriday, Aug. 2740¢A dime in your pocketSaturday, Aug. 2835¢Saves the price of three sodasMonday, Aug. 3030¢Saves four trolley faresTuesday, Aug. 3125¢Half price—any left?Wednesday, Sept. 120¢Makes your saving look like 30¢Thursday, Sept. 215¢And 35¢ to the good—IFFriday, Sept. 310¢Saves 40¢Saturday, Sept. 45¢Ten for the price of one—but you missed your chanceTuesday, Sept. 7FREEHelp yourself to what is left
EVERYTHING ON THIS COUNTER IS A REGULAR 50¢ ARTICLE
Look them over—Buy while you can!
REGULAR PRICE50¢Regular priceThursday, Aug. 2645¢A nickel savedFriday, Aug. 2740¢A dime in your pocketSaturday, Aug. 2835¢Saves the price of three sodasMonday, Aug. 3030¢Saves four trolley faresTuesday, Aug. 3125¢Half price—any left?Wednesday, Sept. 120¢Makes your saving look like 30¢Thursday, Sept. 215¢And 35¢ to the good—IFFriday, Sept. 310¢Saves 40¢Saturday, Sept. 45¢Ten for the price of one—but you missed your chanceTuesday, Sept. 7FREEHelp yourself to what is left
Jock had said: "Mon, they'll all wait till the last day and then come and steal the goods awa' frae ye!"
"No," Betty had replied, "many will buy, before the goods are reduced much, for fear somebody else will buy them first."
Larsen suggested having a big sign in the window headed:
"WATCH THIS LIST. ARTICLES SOLD OUT WILL BE POSTED ON IT."
"You see, Boss," he had said, "the folks'll see a number of things put on the list. They'll figure they'd better not wait else what they want will be sold."
Fellows chimed in with, "Tell you what to do, Black. Put in just two or three of some articles, so that by the end of the first day you'll be able to post up some goods that are sold out."
Jock had a further suggestion, "Ye've got an unusual plan there, laddie; why don't ye tell the newspapers aboot it. Maybe they'll give ye a stor-ry in reference to it."
"That's a good idea," I had replied, "I'll try it."
"Don't ye think," he continued, "that it would pay ye tae put a list in the papers each day o' the goods that are sold, and call it 'Too late to buy the following at Dawson Black's Automatic Sales—Some one else got ahead o' ye',' or-r something like that?"
I decided to adopt that plan and that I would call on the newspaper people to see if I could not get a write-up on the sale from them.
I really was getting anxious for the sale to start so that I could see how it would come off. I felt that I was taking a big risk, since, if it failed, I would lose a few hundred dollars. But, even then, I would turn some dead stock into cash, and I remembered that, at the trade convention, one fellow had said a dollar in the till was worth two dollars of unsalable goods on the shelves, "for," said he, "if you turn that two dollars' worth of goods into a dollar cash and you turn that dollar over three and a half times in a year, you are going to earn a profit on three and a half dollars' worth of live stuff instead of the questionable profit on two dollars' worth of dead stuff!"
I guess we are all gamblers at heart, for every one, even the Mater, had become interested and excited over my first attempt at a big sale.
I hadn't quite decided whether to send the circulars by mail, or to have them delivered to every home in town by messenger; but was inclined to adopt the latter plan.
Fellows suggested, "Why don't you get some pretty girls to go around and deliver them? They would make a hit!"
"Do you think so?" flashed back Betty. "That's just where you're mistaken, Mr. Smarty—if you think a woman is going to be tickled to have a pretty girl come up to the door: send a homely one and it might work!"
Aren't women queer?
I would like to be able to say that there were big sales on the first day of the automatic sale. All the goods on those four sales' counters had been reduced one cent in ten—ten-cent articles to nine cents, and so on—but, on the first day, we took in only $36.00 from those counters!
I found that the invoice cost of all the goods which I had put on in the sale was $1,364.00. If I could only get that amount in cash out of them, I would be more than satisfied, for I would have turned into money a lot of stock which was old, damaged or such slow sellers as not to be worth keeping. With the money I could buy goods that would sell quickly and thus increase my rate of turn-over.
But only $36.00 worth sold the first day! And the sale of other goods had been unusually slow, also. In fact, it was the worst day I had had since I bought the store.
Not very promising for the beginning of a sale, was it? But Betty, bless her heart, said, "Wait until Monday or Tuesday and you'll find things will go along all right. The prices are not yet reduced enough to make people eager to buy."
Although the goods on the bargain counters had been reduced 20 per cent., only $47.00 worth went the next day!
Larsen shook his head and said, "Itmaycome out all right." He was a regular Job's comforter!
That night, I said to Betty, "Perhaps it would be wise to call the sale off, and put some of the goods back into stock again."
She replied: "Whatever you do, don't call the sale off! If there are any lines that are really good, you might quietly put some of them back, but don't call the sale off! It would hurt you too much. By the way," she added, "I wonder what Stigler's window is covered up for to-day?"
I had noticed that as I came home. He had pulled the shades down in his window, and, although it was 8:30 when I passed the store, the lights were still burning inside. I had an uncomfortable feeling that he was going to do something to me.
I wondered if he was going after me on prices even worse than before! I did not sleep very well that night. It's easy to say "what's the use of losing sleep over a thing," but, when a man finds the bottom knocked out of his business because of competition, plans a big sale and it starts off as a hopeless fizzle, after an outlay of over a hundred dollars for advertising, he can't help but worry! The man isn't born that can find things slipping away as I had and not worry over it!
Betty was a real comfort. She said:—"Don't you see, boy dear, that's just what you need, a lot of trouble?"
"Huh," I replied, "I'm certainly getting what I need, good and plenty!"
She smiled, and replied, "That's right, keep your sense of humor. One of my teachers once said thata sense of humor is a safety valve which prevents us blowing up from the pressure of too much trouble. You're going to pull through this all right, and you'll be a better and a bigger man for the experience!"
What would I have done without her! I wonder, if the big business men of the country were to tell the truth, how much of their success they would owe to some quiet little woman who gave them the right kind of encouragement and admonition? Whatever success I may have had I'll be frank enough to admit that I would not have succeeded if it hadn't been for Betty.
On the third day of the Sale, we kept the store open till 11 o'clock, and it was midnight before I left.
When I had passed Stigler's that morning I had found his windows piled high with kitchen goods, on which were labels with the regular retail price. I had stood at the window and looked at the different prices to be sure that they were genuine, and, surely enough, the prices were regular. But then I noticed a big sign, hung from above, which read:
STIGLER'S SATURDAY SPECIALFor one day only, every article in this window will be offered at 25 per cent. off regular price. These goods are offered for sale, and will really be sold. We are not offering to give goods away that won't be there!
STIGLER'S SATURDAY SPECIAL
For one day only, every article in this window will be offered at 25 per cent. off regular price. These goods are offered for sale, and will really be sold. We are not offering to give goods away that won't be there!
I was doing some pretty quick thinking while I was standing there, for, while only about half the goods in my sale were kitchen utensils, I certainly had made a big push on those goods.
At that moment Stigler came along from behind me, walked right up to me, and said:
"Howdy?"
"How are you, Stigler?" I returned.
"Fine!" he said. "Enjoying the weather! How do you like my little window, eh? I'm glad to see yer take an interest in what we are doing! Of course, if you ain't satisfied with what you see there, come right along inside and I'll show yer me books!"
"I was just passing your store, Stigler, and, naturally, I looked in your window."
"Sure—sure," he said, nodding his head sarcastically, "you fellers have a habit of passing the store pretty often, don't yer? Quite a clever stunt you are putting up there, with that automatic give-away-nothin' idea. Kinder thought I'd start in the cutting line myself a bit. How d'ye like it?"
"I don't know what I have ever done to you that you should make such a dead set on me."
"N-no?" he returned with a drawl. "Well, I'll just tell yer, young feller. I've just kinder got a fancy to get some more business, and as some of the trade seems to be floatin' around kind o' easy like, I thought I'd just nail it down. And if by any chance some dear competitor"—and his lips curled in derision as he said this—"happens to get in the way, well!—I can kinder be sorry for him like, and perhaps give him a job sometime if he wants one."
Then I had lost my temper.
"You're a four-flushing cur, and just as sure as my name is Black, I'll give you a run for your money! If you think you can scare me, you're mistaken! And if you want a fight, by George, I'll give it to you!"
Stigler leaned against the corner of his window and said:
"My, somebody's been feedin' yer meat, ain't they?" and then he turned and walked into his store.
The first thing I did when I got to the store was to tell Larsen I wanted to put a dollar in the "swear box," and then I told him the incident. He shook his head thoughtfully, and said:
"Too bad, Boss, too bad."
I wished that I had kept control over my tongue! I felt that Stigler had had the best of the scrap that morning. I felt that he had put it all over me. I had felt like a scolded boy, and I had probably looked like one as I marched away from his store with my ears and face burning, a-tremble in my limbs.
Larsen had quickly written a sign which said, "30 per cent. reduction to-day on all goods offered in our automatic sale!" Then he asked me if I could manage to spare him for a couple of hours.
"What for?" I asked.
"I tell you, Boss," he said. "We got a lot of good carpenter tools in the sale. I want to go to every carpenter in town and tell 'em what we got. Stigler tries to get sales in carpenters' tools. He got a mad at you because you put in more stock. I'll tell 'em they can buy carpenters' tools for 30 per cent. less regular price. That'll hit Stigler where he lives!"
I caught a bit of Larsen's enthusiasm. Isn't it remarkable how a man over fifty like Larsen could have the energy and enthusiasm he showed? I really thought he was getting younger every day, while I was getting older!
When he came back to the store, about 11:30 he was smiling.
"How did you make out?" I asked.
"Fine! I got over $60.00 of orders. I promise to put the tools one side. The folks'll call later in day. Some that didn't order said they goin' to come in."
"That's great!" I exclaimed, and my spirits immediately rose.
"Any business this morning?" Larsen asked.
"Yes," I replied, "four lines sold out."
"Kitchen goods?"
"Yes, all of them. You know that cheap line of enameled frying pans?"
"Yep."
"Well, a woman came in and bought twelve of them!"
"Twelve?"
"Yep. And then another one came in and bought six! They've been selling in bunches," and I chuckled. "What are you looking so glum at?" I asked him suddenly.
"We got a hole in our plan," he returned. "We oughta say no person buy more than one of anything. I bet them frying pans in Stigler's now. They was good at the price. He couldn't buy 'em wholesale to-day for it. I bet he sell 'em off to-day, and we got none. He got one of our big cards and plays it himself."
"I've got the list of goods sold out ready to put in the window," I said, and passed him over a card on which I had listed the goods which were all gone.
"I think," he said, "we better put some more frying pans in the sale and not say we sold out."
"That's a good idea," I returned; and we put a half dozen more of our regular stock on the 50-cent counter. Then we agreed to be cautious about selling any more articles in "bunches."
To my surprise, our sales for that third day on the "automatic" goods were $421.00, so the first three days of our sale netted $504.00. That sounded encouraging.
If I could get another $860.00 for the balance of the sale, I would not have done so badly. I decided that I had planned right in having the third day sale come on Saturday, for that was always a big day with us. The reduction had been a substantial one, and yet everything that was sold had been sold for more than the invoice price.
Our tool sale had been unusually large; Larsen's trip to the carpenters had helped that out a lot.
After the store was closed we made a list of the articles which were sold out and posted them in the window so that they would be seen the next day. Over sixty different lines were sold out, and the list was quite a formidable one.
Then we drew another big sign, which we placed in the window, saying:
At eight o'clock Monday this store will be opened, and the few remaining goods in our automatic sale may be bought at 4¢ in ten discount, or 40 per cent. reduction from regular price. As the sale has been a phenomenal success, we anticipate clearing out the balance of the goods on Monday. Early comers will secure the best bargains.
At eight o'clock Monday this store will be opened, and the few remaining goods in our automatic sale may be bought at 4¢ in ten discount, or 40 per cent. reduction from regular price. As the sale has been a phenomenal success, we anticipate clearing out the balance of the goods on Monday. Early comers will secure the best bargains.
Stigler springing that 25 per cent. reduction sale onkitchen goods had unfortunately spoilt a lot of business which I felt sure we would have had otherwise. We had overcome some of the loss, however, by the extra push we had made on carpenters' tools.
When I told Betty about it after getting home, she said:
"Well, Stigler didn't waste any time getting after you, did he?"
"No," I said with a grin.
"And do you know that he says now that your sale has proved a fizzle and that practically all your goods have been put back in stock again? . . .Quiet," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder, for I was about to explode with temper. "I suppose no man can be successful without having a lot of people throw mud at him."
That evening I was so tired that I fell asleep in my chair. Betty woke me up by putting her arm around my neck, and saying:
"You had better go along to bed now, boy dear. Here, drink this—it will make you rest better"—and I drank a glass of hot milk she had prepared for me, and went to bed.
On Monday we had a wonderful clearance. Most of the goods were sold, and our total for the four days' sale was $1,090.00!
The boys were all dead tired. I had sent Wilkes about 7 o'clock to get some hot coffee and sandwiches for us, for we had a continuous crowd of customers in the store and not one of the store crowd would think of leaving. We took drinks of coffee and bites of sandwiches in between serving customers, and the coffee was all cold before we got through with it!
You will remember my telling that I had discharged Myricks and that he had gone to work for Stigler. Well, Stigler had fired him after a couple of weeks, saying that he had found out all he knew and had no further use for him. Myricks had been looking for a job ever since, and, as I knew I would have to have some extra help for the sale, I put him on again. In fact, I had told him that, if he behaved himself I might be able to use him for the winter, for it had been tremendously hard work for our little force to take care of the business, and I had felt that if we had another clerk it would relieve me to do some more planning, and might also allow Jones or Larsen to do some soliciting for business; for I hadn't forgotten what that pencil sharpener man had told me, and had decided that, after the sale I would go.
Well, Myricks had started on Thursday morning, and had seemed to be working well. I had noticed, however, on the following Monday, that he didn't ring up one of his sales. He had sold over $6.00 worth of goods and I had seen him put the money in his pocket and go after another customer.
I called him to one side, later in the day, and said:
"Myricks, why didn't you ring up that sale?"
He went red, and then white, and said:
"Er—er—you see—I'll tell you—that other customer was impatient and I wanted to get to him quickly and I thought it would save time and I could ring it up later."
"Don't do it!" I replied sharply. "Ring up every sale as you make it!"
We were too busy to dispense with him then, but I wondered—I wondered—
When we closed the store Tuesday no more goods were left! The sales that day had been $427.00.
Of course when I say there were no more goods left, I mean there were perhaps thirty or forty odd items left, but I was certain that they would be all sold out the next day.
The total for the sale had been $1,517.00. My advertising had cost me $127.00, so that my net cash from the sale was $1,390.00. That showed me a cash profit of $24.00. But, gee whiz!—didn't that bank account look good!
I planned to take up that note of $1,000.00 at the bank, right away. It would seem good to get rid of that. And I was going to Barrington and pay $250.00 on that $1,250.00 loan for which he had taken a mortgage on my farm.
Gosh, it did seem good to have some money, although after I had taken $1,250.00 from $1,390.00, there wouldn't be much real cash left. Still, I hadn't been buying much, and my bills were unusually small that month.
When I got home I rushed into the house, took hold of Betty and swung her around several times, and sang my little song—"Half-price day is over and no more goods are left!" We behaved like a couple of kids.
She thought I would be making a mistake to pay off that thousand dollars at the bank. She thought I ought to leave $500.00 of it, for she said I wouldn't have enough money to pay my month's bills and would have to borrow again.
"Well, they'll let me do it, if necessary," I said; "and besides, I'm not paying interest on what I am not borrowing."
"Perhaps you're right," she said with a laugh, "and now come and get your dinner."
Dinner, at 10:30 at night! However, what's meal time when you're busy? How I pitied those poor fellows who don't get heart and soul into their work. Time surely does fly when you do! What a shirker I had been when I had worked for Barlow! The days had seemed long then.
I gave all my fellows a special bonus that week for the work they had done. I gave Larsen $10.00, Jones $6.00 and Wilkes $3.00—that is, an extra half week's pay.
Myricks had gone. In spite of being busy I had gotten rid of him that Tuesday. I had caught him again putting money in his pocket, and Mr. Pinkham, who bought a saw, also told me that he had noticed Myricks didn't ring up the money.
I had kept my eye on Myricks, and then, when there was a little lull in trade, I had called him into my little office and ordered him to turn out his pockets.
"What's that for?" he asked impudently.
"I want to see how much money you have got there," I said.
"I don't see that it's anybody's business what money I have got in my pockets," he replied.
"Well, it has something to do with me," I returned sternly, "for you told me yesterday you were carrying my money in your pockets. Now, I insist on knowing what you have got in your pockets."
"All I've got is money of my own, and I don't see that it's any of your business!"
"You are going to turn out your pockets before you leave this office," I said angrily. My voice was raisedand the others in the store were gazing in our direction. "If not, I'll call a policeman."
"Call him in and be damned," he said, and he struck at me.
I lost my temper, and for once I was glad of it, for I landed on him and hit him fair and square under the jaw. He fell against the desk, upsetting a vase full of flowers that Betty had put there. He got up, holding his head, and blood was trickling from a cut in his cheek where he had caught the edge of the desk.
I was so raging mad that I was prepared for almost anything.
"Now, damn you!" I said with a snarl, "turn out your pocketsquick!"
He did so, and I found $37.00 there.
"It's my money," he said surlily. "It's my money! You touch that money and I'll have the law on you!"
I picked up the money, put it in my pocket, and said:
"Now, I'll give you just five minutes to get clear out of my sight! Before you go, let me tell you that customers have seen you putting money in your pocket, and I have seen you also. Just let me have one peep from you, now or any other time, and I'll have you in jail! Now, beat it!"
I opened the door and he slunk out.
"I'll get you yet," he growled as he left.
I had lost my temper, I knew I had; but I was mighty glad I had; for I felt if I hadn't I wouldn't have given him the lesson he deserved. And incidentally, I had learned another lesson, and that is, never rehire a discharged employee. Then and there I determined that, so long as I was in business, if an employee ever left me for any reason whatever, I would never reinstate him. He would be through forever.