A Man of Samples. Something about the men he met "On the Road"Maher, William H.
General
A Man of Samples. Something about the men he met "On the Road"
Maher, William H.
Traveling sales personnel -- Fiction
“That's your business and theirs. You do not sell them on a jobber's
profit. We deal with you as a business man, and in a business way. I
think I know just how you feel,” said Shaw, pleasantly; “when I began
business I felt the same way. I squeezed every cent that I could from
the men I bought from; but I discovered that it was poor policy. I
saved a few cents and lost the good will of the house, which was worth
dollars. I speak of all this in a kindly way, and to avoid future
misunderstandings. Don't you think of any thing else? No? Well, good-by,
I am glad you called and hope to do more with you in the future.” And
before Solomon knew it he was bowed out.
But he was boiling with rage. He was particularly angry with himself. He
had stood there and taken the lecture as if he was a boy. It was in
his mind to cancel the order just given to Shaw, but that gentleman had
dismissed him so politely and smoothly that he hadn't had time to do it.
It had never seemed possible to him that he would have listened to
such a lecture as that without giving back as good as he got, and then
sending the man and his goods to---, a place where there is no insurance
against fire.
In no very happy frame of mind his next call was on his dry-goods house.
Mr. Luce met him, when he introduced himself, decidedly coldly. Solomon
began to think that he would go to some other house with his order
rather than leave it here. But before he made a move to go out Mr. Luce
asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I don't know as there is.”
“Our Mr. Goodnow did not stop at your place the other day because of
your habit of returning goods. While we would be glad to do business
with you, we cannot allow anyone the privilege of ordering goods and
then returning them at our expense, if he happens to change his mind. I
do not try to make Eastern houses shoulder my mistakes, if I make any in
ordering goods, and I don't see why I should bear your burdens.”
“Why don't you send what I order? I didn't order the blue print I
returned the other day.”
“Mr. Goodnow is very positive that you did order it. It is always
possible that the small sample he carries with him appears differently
to a man than the goods do when seen in the whole piece. And a man might
occasionally be expected to make a mistake, as you did the other day
when you wrote us to send you three gross of corsets, when you intended,
you said afterward, to order but three dozen. But in the last three
bills bought of Goodnow you have sent back goods, and it is not possible
that he made such mistakes. Then you deduct from bills, though made out
at prices agreed upon.”
“The last cambrics were billed half a cent too high,” said Solomon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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