Chicago (Ill.) -- Fiction; College graduates -- Fiction; Gangsters -- Fiction
And so Jimmy, having had plenty of opportunity to commune with himself
during the journey from New York, was confident that there were many
opportunities awaiting him in Chicago. He remembered distinctly of
having read somewhere that the growing need of big business concerns was
competent executive material--that there were fewer big men than there
were big jobs--and that if such was the case all that remained to be
done was to connect himself with the particular big job that suited him.
In the lobby of the hotel he bought several of the daily papers, and
after reaching his room he started perusing the "Help Wanted" columns.
Immediately he was impressed and elated by the discovery that there were
plenty of jobs, and that a satisfactory percentage of them appeared to
be big jobs. There were so many, however, that appealed to him as
excellent possibilities that he saw it would be impossible to apply for
each and every one; and then it occurred to him that he might occupy a
more strategic position in the negotiations preceding his acceptance of
a position if his future employer came to him first, rather than should
he be the one to apply for the position.
And so he decided the wisest plan would be to insert an ad in the
"Situations Wanted" column, and then from the replies select those
which most appealed to him; in other words, he would choose from the
cream of those who desired the services of such a man as himself rather
than risk the chance of obtaining a less profitable position through
undue haste in seizing upon the first opening advertised.
Having reached this decision, and following his habitual custom, he
permitted no grass to grow beneath his feet. Writing out an ad, he
reviewed it carefully, compared it with others that he saw upon the
printed page, made a few changes, rewrote it, and then descended to the
lobby, where he called a cab and was driven to the office of one of the
area's metropolitan morning newspapers.
Jimmy felt very important as he passed through the massive doorway into
the great general offices of the newspaper. Of course, he didn't exactly
expect that he would be ushered into the presence of the president or
business manager, or that even the advertising manager would necessarily
have to pass upon his copy, but there was within him a certain sensation
that at that instant something was transpiring that in later years would
be a matter of great moment, and he was really very sorry for the
publishers of the newspaper that they did not know who it was who was
inserting an ad in their Situations Wanted column.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account