"Who Will Start At The Bottom?"

Another short essay written by a man my father admired greatly. Citation to follow.

A YOUNG MAN came to me looking for a possible position with our company.


Not wishing to say an absolute "no," I said there might be a job for him in one of our stores, and suggested he talk with someone in the Personnel Department.


"What would I do in a store?" he asked, looking doubtful.


So I told him-- and the story was exactly the same as it has been throughout the history of retailing, and, indeed, of any business where a beginner makes his beginning.


"Since you are a green hand," I said, "the store manager would start you in hustling stock, sweeping ans scrubbing floors, washing windows, and, in your spare time, he would train you to be a merchant. This is, of course, if you get a job."


He shook his head. "I want to be in the advertising department,

writing advertising copy," he said, and when I pointed out the he would need merchandise experience to do that, he assured me that he could "pick up the merchandising lingo in no time at all, and nobody would know the difference."

Two things, I'm sure, stand in the way of this young man. It was obvious that he had no intention of working with his hands, from the look of distaste when he learned what would be required of him in a store, and it was apparent he hand no intention of starting at the bottom.

Over the years I have talked with a great many young people. They used to be pretty willing, generally speaking, to start at the bottom; and they did not mind if the work was dirty, or hard, or the hours long. What they wanted was opportunity. At least, that is my best recollection of my impressions of talks with them.

This is too often not true today. Too many young people seem to want to be executives from the minute they start, and preferably with telephones on their desks, buzzers within handy reach and secretaries at their elbows-- with pension plans neatly wrapped up awaiting their retirement from business.