Part 30 (1/2)

Those two calls gave me an insight as to how real business was conducted. Neither of them certainly delayed much when they heard about it, and they must have had some means of finding out things promptly.

But I shuddered to think of my narrow escape. If the place had burned down I'd have been absolutely ruined.

I wondered if Stigler would--oh, but no, it wasn't possible the man would do such a thing. I saw him as he was coming home. ”Had quite a fire, didn't yer?” was his remark. ”Sorry for yer”--but his tone belied his words.

I wondered!

CHAPTER XXVII

PROFIT-SHARING PLANS

Our weekly meetings had certainly cultivated a better spirit among my small staff. Even in the case of Wilkes it had had quite an effect. He was only a boy, but we allowed him to sit in the meetings because I wanted to make him feel that he was part of the organization. Ever since we started them he had been much better in his delivery of parcels. He was more courteous and attentive; he felt he was one of the firm. He was not the slipshod, careless, happy-go-lucky boy he was once, but a careful boy, studying the interests of the business certainly more than we clerks had done when I was at Barlow's. I think that retailers could do a lot to build up self-reliance and self-respect among the boys they have.

At our next Monday meeting the fire was discussed. Jones suggested that we have a big fire sale. At this Wilkes broke in eagerly:

”But what would we have to sell? I thought at a fire sale you had to sell stuff that got damaged by the fire.”

There was more wisdom in that remark than he knew.

Jones replied: ”Everybody in town knows we've had a fire; but they don't know how bad it was, and we can put in the sale a lot of old stuff we want to get rid of, and get away with it, all right.”

”Hum,” remarked La.r.s.en. ”That would be a fake, wouldn't it?”

Here I broke in. ”It's a good suggestion, Jones but I don't think we want to have a fire sale. We had no stuff damaged, to speak of, and it would, as La.r.s.en says, be a fake sale, if we had one; and I believe we'll win out in the end by saying and doing nothing that is going to be other than the truth.”

Jones was inclined to be sulky at this, and my first impulse was to speak to him sharply; but I remembered, fortunately in time, my previous lesson never to talk to an employee angrily, and furthermore, that this was a directors' meeting, where each was privileged to say what he wished without regard for position. I realized that Jones had made the suggestion in all sincerity, thinking it was to my interest, so I said:

”You know, Jones, that I have made several suggestions that we decided not to adopt, for no one of us knows all the best of it. In some ways that's a good suggestion of yours, and, if we'd had a little more stuff damaged to justify it, I think I'd have been very much tempted to have a fire sale. But, as it is, don't you think we had better exert ourselves in making a big push on perfect Christmas goods, rather than emphasizing damaged goods? You see, if we had a fire sale, some people might hesitate about buying from us for a little while, even after the sale, thinking that we would be trying to sell them fire-damaged goods.”

”Well, won't they think that now?” he asked, somewhat mollified.

”By Jove, perhaps they will,” I returned. ”How would you suggest overcoming that?”

La.r.s.en was about to speak, but I checked him. I wanted to have Jones feeling good-natured again.

”Of course we could advertise it,” he said.

”That seems a good, sensible suggestion. All right, we'll advertise that no goods were damaged by the fire.”

That removed the last shred of resentment on the part of Jones.

I told Betty about this when I came home, and she exclaimed: ”Why, you're a regular Solomon, you are!”

”Explain yourself,” I commanded.

”Why, your tact in handling Jones. You'll be a real manager of men, yet, if you go on like that!”

”Huh, that's where I'll differ from Solomon, then. He was a real manager of women only, wasn't he?”