ninety dollars, then the firm will lose money on your services. When your salary is only three per cent. of your sales—that is, when you are paid six dollars a week and your sales amount to two hundred dollars on the week—you may feel that you are a fair saleswoman. When you can reduce that percentage to two per cent., by dint of studying the needs of your customers and your stock, you can approach the superintendent with an easy conscience and ask for a raise. You will get it.
The first engagement in a large store carries the understanding that you will be laid off after the holidays or Easter rush or during hot weather.
It is distinctly up to you to make so good a record as a saleswoman that when the dull season arrives again you will be retained.
In order to accomplish this, study three things—your stock, your trade and your buyer or the head of the department.
Early in the morning, when trade is light, go through your stock, learn what is in every box and drawer, and if it consists of goods with which you are not familiar, such as laces or ribbons, learn the names of the various varieties. Not long ago a shopper asked a very pretty but pert miss at a department store to show her Oriental lace two inches wide.
The girl asked:
"Oriental lace? What's it like?"
