I told him the saw had become second-hand goods and that I didn't deal in second-hand goods. We had a lot of talk back and forth, but I was doing some tall thinking and finally decided that it was better to give him a new saw than to let him feel dissatisfied, so, somewhat against my will, I finally gave him a new saw. But it didn't seem to please him, for he left the store still grumbling about the way I tried to "put it over him." Larsen had been watching the whole incident, so, after Jerry left the store I turned to Larsen and said, "There's no satisfying some people, Larsen." "You no try to satisfy him much, eh, boss?" he replied. "What do you mean?" said I. "Say I come to the store. You kicked up a fuss. Then you change the saw. I don't feel pleased. Yet you give me a new saw," he answered. And then I saw the light! Great guns, what a fool I was! I didn't seem to know the first thing about business. Ever since I got the store my life seemed to have been a series of doing things wrong. And it took Larsen to show me a mistake! I turned to him and said, "Thank you, Larsen; you are right; I appreciate your frankness." Then I held out my hand to him, which he shook awkwardly, and said, "That's all right, boss; I am still learning; you are still learning--thank you." I was beginning to like Larsen! One thing I then and there resolved to do was this: If any one came in with a complaint of any kind, I was going to let him have his say and get it off his chest. Then, instead of arguing with him as to what I should do, I would turn around and say: "I am very sorry you are not quite satisfied with that article, for I can't afford to have any one leave this store feeling dissatisfied. Now, if you will tell me just what you want me to do to satisfy you, I'll do it." Then, whatever he said, even if it meant a direct loss to me, I'd do what he wanted with a smile. I'd not appear suspicious of him, but treat him in such a way that he'd feel pleased. CHAPTER XII AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR My sales for the next two weeks fell to an average of $328.00--but, thank goodness, less than $50.00 of the whole were charge accounts! The plan of making people state how much credit they wanted seemed to be working out well. The deadbeats flew up in the air and said they wouldn't do business with any one that wanted their pedigree before allowing them to buy goods, but the worthwhile ones saw the reasonableness of the request and fell in line with it. I believed that, while my sales were down 25 per cent., I would be better off in the end, for what I had left I believed was real business. That is, I would be better off if I could only stick it out.