Commerce High School - Commerce Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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the way they came. We were in with hands and feet; ensnared if you please. Luckily the lady he had called was still busy, and this looked like a loop-hole for us, consequently we tried to make an excuse and get off this floor; but the manager immediately called a saleslady who was not busy. He said to her, “Show’ these gentlemen a suit,” acting very nicely about it, and we wondered whether he was doing this to try our mettle or to give us information. Then the fear came that maybe he thought we were “sharps” and not believing our account, had seut for an officer to arrest us. We were taken to the front of the floor, where we were asked to sit down; next a big chair was set before us, on which the suits we were shown were laid. Of course we had to act seriously about our pretended purchase. We had now' more than “Double double, toil and trouble.” We had treble. We were still afraid of being considered suspicious characters; we feared making ourselves ridiculous in the eyes of the saleslady who was really pretty, hence attractive; but most of all we feared that our “practical lesson” might turn out a failure. So we went headlong at our task of testing the art of salesmanship. My classmate and I posed as brothers although at one glance people would say, we do not in the least look alike. Acting seriously all along, we told the saleslady we wanted to buy a suit for mother. First of all we were shown a linen suit wrhich was valued at $45.00. We were told that a great many linen suits were worn by people who travel. After we had looked at the goods awhile, the saleslady happened to ask what size our mother wore. My supposed elder brother said, thirty-eight as soon as the question came. Wise boy! How could he happen to strike just the right size, for the saleslady seemed satisfied that that was a good number. I admired his resourcefulness, until I happened to glance at a ladies’ coat that he was studying closely, and saw in the label “Price $40.00, Size 38.” Then came suits galore. We told the saleslady we wanted to buy a black suit for mother. And although she had been tempting us with a navy blue suit, she immediately said that “ladies always looked well in black.” Finally the saleslady picked out a black suit, and told us this one would be suitable for our mother and cost $25.00. If I had told her what I judged it was worth, she would probably have told me something of the value of serges, but I let the opportunity pass. She saw that we seemed still undecided and told us that they had run out of suits to some extent, but she could show us some fine cloaks. By the looks of the big pile of suits she bad brought out, I thought she ought to learn how to count; but we told her we were interested in a suit not a cloak. This buying business was now going so far that we were on the verge of buying the suit. At least she seemed to think so, and I know if I had had twenty-five dollars, she would have had a real instead of a near customer. However for various reasons we refrained from buying and told her we thought we had better bring our mother to the store. She agreed with us saying that it would be better to have the coat tried on and fitted. We promised to bring mother down the following day in a wagon, since as an excuse for our looking, we had intimated that our mother was practically an invalid. 135

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ffiatuiratarg 9al?0man0i?tp MR. HOOVER, having just completed a most satisfactory term’s work in salesmanship, closed the book and said to the pupils, “Do you know what salesmanship is like now?” The pupils unanimously agreed that they knew all there was to salesmanship. “And now',” said Mr. Hoover, after giving the class a few final suggestions about the subject, “to apply your knowledge, you may make an actual test of progressive salesmanship. The class will meet me tomorrow at Blank’s store and there study actual sales and report thereon for the concluding lesson on this important subject.” On the next morning, therefore, which happened to be a pleasant morning in February, the class of which I was a member, visited one of the largest stores in the city. As we arrived at the place, a classmate and I w-ere told to visit three salesmen. Of course we were given instructions first, by Mr. Hoover, who never fails in directions of how to do things. One of the instructions was. “Go and see how they sell things, but do not buy anything.” As this looked cheap, (if I may use the word), we decided to go to a lady we knew’, (for convenience I will call her Miss Myth) and have her refer us to some saleslady, who could tell us how she approached a customer; this would save us the embarrassment of getting information free of charge; but to our great disappointment, Miss Myth was not, at that time, on this floor. Consequently we went down to another floor where she was supposed to be, and waited for her. As we left the elevator the floor manager asked us w'hat we wanted. Before I go any farther. I must tell you, this floor was devoted entirely to women’s gowns, suits and cloaks. Can you imagine how we two boys felt, waiting on THIS FLOOR! The floor manager did all he could toward finding our saleslady for us, but he could not locate her. Time flew by. No skyrocket ever went faster. We thought the manager took us for some suspicious characters, for he passed us so continuously, and every time eyed us closely. When by chance we happened to see three lamps, above the clock, suddenly light, we thought this was surely the signal for a detective. Now the detective of this store is a woman, and we were beginning to feel more than a little nervous, for what can a woman not detect! To save ourselves from further surveillance we told the manager just why we wanted to see this special lady. Yes we made a clean breast of it and told him that we were from the High School of Commerce and that we were to study salesmanship first hand from three salesmen, who strange to say in this case were salesladies. The floor manager won our hearts by his sympathizing manner. He immediately called a saleslady and told her in a way that meant business, to wait on us, and show us that they had goods worth buying. This was a great surprise to both of us, as we are not at the present time greatly interested in ladies’ suits. But we could not get out of the dilemma, so we decided to take things in 134

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We left the floor with all the salesladies looking at us and laughing. After leaving this floor we visited the fob and glove departments, but were not treated as well as in the ladies’ suit department. We found that salesmanship was not an easy job and fo be a good saleslady one had to attend strictly to business, as did the lady in the ladies' suit department. OTTO J. BARTUNEK, 1912. Eljr (Uijarartmatirfi af “(Emnmrrrr” [TOR he’s a jolly good fellow,” sang the chorus as they hung around their A- wounded hero of nineteen eleven, Commerce High. lie sat. soberly viewing, with troubled eyes, the numerous kicks and bruises with which he was covered, and occasionally nursing a battered shin, while his comrades tenderly bandaged, with great solicitude, his wounded members. However, he was not one to bemoan his fate because he had not been the winner, but painfully he arose amidst the cheers of his comrades and, assisted by the eager hands and welcome shoulders of the boys, he was carried back to the field of battle, “with blood in his eye” and the determination to win in his heart, and win he did—in strength and agility; yet not a single victory came to him in the whole year. But his pluck never failed him and, in the next battles waged, in the year nineteen hundred and twelve, many a time he tasted victory. He always played a square game, and then, having won, he insisted upon sharing his hard-earned laurels and fame with his boon companion. School Spirit, whose little sister, Rooters’ Club, had helped him along immensely by coming to witness the fight. Bravely standing on her rather weak little limbs, almost wholly supported by School Spirit, she cheered him valiantly, never once wavering in her applause whether he was the victor or the good loser. Somehow Commerce was very popular wherever he went; the girls all loved him because, though he was at this stage, only a rather tall, angular youth, still he wras so gallant and always “on the job” and on time! Seeing this, the girls never kept him waiting while they curled their hair, or powdered their noses. The fellows liked him because he always held his own, and if he won, he never outgrew his hat and never neglected to treat. If he lost, he never said anything except in praise of his opponents and he set up the ice cream soda all the same. But there was one thing in which young Commerce excelled—Debate. Here he won in every contest and thus earned the “New’s Trophy.” Oh. how he loved to stand up before the audience, friends and foes alike, and state, with great distinctness, his side of the argument! Truly ’twas said, that he presented his case like a veteran lawyer. When Commerce stood on the platform and faced crowded houses, he literally took them by storm because of his manliness and the strength of his arguments. His friends trembled with delight and satisfaction, as Commerce w’ith his sincere, ringing voice gave his views of the question and made his oppon- 130