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• Thompson-We Are Forty

CHAPTER XII

Fresh Fields for Forty or The Cure Works for Others

Our job hunt became news. Friends heard of it, and they told others. Suddenly, in the eyes of peo­ple who were looking for work, we had become job authorities. Moreover, the frankness of our atti­tude seemed to have broken down a certain wall of reserve, and persons who had long been brooding in silence over their job problems felt freer to dis­cuss them. There was no question about it, our job treatment had brought the subject out into the open, but in a different, more personal way. We had hoped and tried to remove the out-of-job situ­ation from its onus of embarrassment and shame. The relieved reaction of friends, and even casual acquaintances, convinced us that we had at least made a step in the right direction.

One of the early proofs came through the tele­phone. Both men and women began to call us up…

for suggestions. At first, especially from the men, there would be a little joshing. They would try to introduce the real purpose of their call with a light touch. "Say, how about finding me a job?" they would ask. Then almost instantly the tone would change and we would get down to serious business. In some cases these people were not as yet com­pletely at the end of their resources. But so far as finding jobs were concerned, they were stymied. However, in several instances, the straits were pretty desperate, and something had to be done right away.

But regardless of the circumstances, there was one confusion we tried to clear up right at the start: The feeling of panic and impending personal disaster had to be scrapped. It was clouding every chance the individual had at clear thinking and a practical solving of his problem. Frantic thought would tear around in circles and say over and over:

"Where shall I go? What shall I do next? To whom can I turn? What's going to become of my family? What's going to become of me?"

But a calm facing of the facts would be: "Here is my situation. I have $25 left in the bank. I have $40 rent to pay the first of the month. I have this bill to meet, and this bill, and this bill and this bill.

I cannot wait two weeks to hear about the job from that man in Wilmington. I've got to get work to­morrow, and I don't care what it is."

Once the problem had been analyzed and stated that clearly, it was ready for handling, and a solu­tion could be approached. It was frequently an as­tounding revelation to intelligent men and women to learn that making the same moves again and again, with failure always the result, could not be set down as constructive effort.

One of the first persons to come to the house for advice was Bob Barry. In a way, his call was quite a surprise. For Bob had been out of work for some months, and already in the back of our minds we had put him in the group of the fixed unemployed. He was one of the casualties of the new depression. Bob is a research chemist, a good one, and he had been in that line for years. But his firm, a large corporation, had been obliged to reduce its force, and he with a number of others in the higher salary brackets found himself out.

Casual friends, with the inherent, unthinking cruelty of humans, would ask his wife: "What's Bob doing now?" And she, valiant soul, would an­swer: "Oh, he's working on a very interesting real estate proposition." Or Bob, himself, when tackled…

would go red and mutter something about lining up a government position.

But this time Bob Barry seemed different. His voice had changed. It had a more hopeful note. "Say, you gals," he said, "since you're so good at it why don't you find me a job? I think all I need is a partner."

All I need is a partner! Time and time again we were to hear that fervent exclamation. A partner? Why, of course! That was one point in our job-hunting crusade that eight out of ten talked about, and with which we ourselves were in hearty accord. We will confess that it was an accidental discovery on our part. But once discovered, the use to which we put it was no accident. Circumstances and the misery that loves company had teamed up Thomp­son and Wise, and had sent them out together on the hunt for jobs. Neither one of us at the moment had had any idea that we were striking something fundamental in licking personal unemployment. Yet it seems that is just what we had done.

Having a partner for job hunting was a dis­tinctly original way of coping with the problem, and it stepped up the chances tremendously. It meant being able to bring questions to the light to talk them over. It meant that two heads are better…

than one at making and checking plans. It meant bucking each other up, and getting a laugh to­gether once in a while. And how advantageous that proved for us! Getting rid of our dead wood, our trite ideas, and smug statements in our own pres­ence rather than in the presence of some prospec­tive employer. With such a method we really could be at our verbal and mental best in facing the test of an interview.

But let us return to Bob. We told him that we should be glad to act as his partner, that we were ready to give him any kind of help that we could. And we meant it, too, both on Bob's account and our own. For the real test of our job formula was not how well it had served us but how it could succeed for others.

Well, Bob told us his exact situation, and also went over the various steps he had taken in trying to get a job. What struck us instantly was the fact that all these efforts had been directed toward large corporations of the very type that had laid him off. When we queried him further, we found that these concerns were all in the same category as his former firm, and that they had been cutting their forces just the way Bob's company had.

Bob began to see the point. What was the use of…

continuing to contact them? It was true that Bob's experience had been with the big leaguers. Also, it seemed a pity to think of sacrificing such position and prestige. But at the moment it was a question of expediency. If this background and training were not putting bread on his table, shoes on his feet and paying the rent, for the time being they were not so valuable. Then there was this other slant, too. In a small job there were frequently contacts that might lead to a more desirable open­ing. And, also, stepping into a better position was an easier transition from a lesser job than from no job at all.

So we made a suggestion to Bob. Why not try for a berth in a small firm in a less important position? Bob said that would suit him. But he seemed to have no idea where he could look, or for what. It was then that we went with him into a careful sift­ing of all possibilities. Was there any plant he knew which could not afford a research laboratory, but in which his knowledge of chemistry might be val­uable? Were there any customers of his old firm that might have use for such a man? And we stopped right there.

For when we began to talk about customers, Bob remembered a certain medium-sized paint factory…

in the western part of the state. He told us that on one occasion he had helped the owner in a tech­nical situation when he had come to his firm for advice. At the time it had been just a routine prob­lem to Bob, and was handled as such. But it had created a very pleasant feeling between the two men.

He had never even thought of him before as a job possibility. But now the idea dawned on Bob that there might be a chance there. "Say, maybe that is something," he said. "After all, it wouldn't hurt to take a run up there and see that man. Come to think of it, I bet I could save him a lot of money." The more we talked it over, the better the outlook seemed. "Why, I was the one who han­dled all the paint chemistry," Bob was saying a few moments later. "I know a lot about paint."

Well, the job has now become a fact. Bob is act­ing in the capacity of a super-foreman, and he al­ready has before him plans to develop a little re­search laboratory of his own right in the plant.

But it took Bob a good month to land that job, and there was a curious reason for the delay. The owner of the plant had found it almost impossible to believe that a man of Bob's ability and former position would step down into the kind of job that…

he had to offer. It took several strong letters and personal meetings to convince him that Bob was in dead earnest. He could not visualize Bob in a foreman's position—and three months before, nei­ther could Bob.

A rather different angle of the same problem was that of Irene Illing. She, too, phoned and then came to see us. She told us that she admired our spunk and that she wished she could do something like that for herself.

"Well, why don't you?" we asked. "Surely, you could get a job."

When we tell you her response, it will be all the more surprising in view of the later developments. For she said: "Goodness knows, I need a job bad enough. But I am sure the minute I start out, ev­erybody is going to turn me down."

"Well then, don't start," was our immediate ad­vice.

Mrs. Illing looked at us in astonishment. "Why, what do you mean?" she stammered.

"Just exactly what we say. If you take that at­titude with you when you are looking for work, there is not an employer in the world that will hire you." We continued:-"When you are trying to get a job you have got to feel that you are bringing the…

prospective employer something that he needs and wants, something that he would pay good money for. If you are in any doubt about your value to him, or if you feel that you are asking him a favor in hiring you—then your chances are very slim."

This idea gave her a new slant on herself. For she did have much to offer. As a matter of fact she had an excellent record of past success. In this case we knew her employable characteristics without asking for them. She had taught in the grammar grades for six years, and then had held a clerical position in a fountain pen firm. But it was in the years of her marriage that she really unfolded and shone. She developed great skill in the arts of the home. She could turn a scrap of inexpensive rem­nant into a smart looking dress. She could put up the kind of preserves that are to be found only at the luxury groceries. And a most prized trait, she knew how to spread a party so that it appeared much more expensive and lavish than it really was.

During the eight years of her married life it had been unnecessary for her to earn money. But now, with her husband's death, she suddenly had to be­come self-supporting again, and she felt completely inadequate to go out and make the start.

As her acting team mates, we went deep into…

her employable characteristics and began to cast about for suggestions where these might have a potential market. With her pleasant personality and sewing ability, we felt that she had a good chance to qualify as teacher of one of the home needle-art classes being sponsored by a large sew­ing machine manufacturing company. In applying there, we told her to be sure and take in samples of her own work, particularly the home-made but very chic blouse that she was wearing at that mo­ment. Our second suggestion was to go to a certain employment agency, with whose successful place­ment we were very familiar, and to ask for a job as tearoom or hotel hostess.

Two days later she telephoned again. She was so excited that she could hardly speak coherently. She did not have a chance at one job—no! she had a chance at two.

"I had the most wonderful interview at the sew­ing machine company," she said. "They are con­sidering me for a job all right. But wait until you hear the rest of it! I am a hotel hostess! Can you believe it? Yes, I'm calling from the drugstore. I've just finished the interview, and I have to go back to start work this afternoon."

To give her story logically: After her interview…

with the sewing machine company, she had gone to the employment agency that we had suggested. Evidently, she had made a very good impression, for after a short conference there she was sent right out to be interviewed for a position as assistant hostess in a medium-sized hotel. It was in the busi­ness section of a neighboring city. She was to be in direct charge of the waitresses, and to see to the special comfort of the patrons. As to the compensa­tion end of it, she had an attractive room with bath, was allowed all her meals and received $75 a month.

A third friend who walked into our employment picture was Senora Rosita Lopez. As one might suspect, the Senora was Spanish. She had at one time been a successful teacher of that language, both in public and convent schools. She was closer to fifty than to forty, and had been away from her teaching for some time. Upon her marriage fifteen years before she had given up her career, but in the last two years the picture had changed for her. The good paying position of her husband was gone, for he had become a confirmed invalid. Now, prac­tically all their money had been consumed by his illness.

Senora Lopez came to us with a specific request.

She was going to try to get back into teaching again. What she wanted from us was some help in preparing the announcement which she was plan­ning to mail to prospects. We were to determine the wording of the card, which was to include her hours, her prices and a brief paragraph on the ad­vantages of studying Spanish.

Her idea was sound. But the need was immedi­ate. She was in no position to wait on the slow proc­ess of building a class. So we said to her: "The way for you to get back into Spanish in a hurry is to let someone else, as well as yourself, make money out of your teaching. Then they will help push you."

The Senora looked puzzled. "I don't under­stand," she said. "Do you mean that I am to go to some employment agency and tell them I'll pay a double commission?"

We told her we had not that in mind at all. Our idea was for her to go to some prominent club­woman, such as Mrs. Poster, president of the Wom­an's Club. Whether she knew her or not did not make any difference. She was to say something like this: "Mrs. Poster, have you noticed how many of the club members are going on cruises to Cuba and South America lately? Don't you think it would make their trip more interesting if they knew a…

little something about Spanish?"

"And that would be true," the Sefiora inter­rupted. "Of course, there are many who speak Eng­lish in Havana and Mexico and Rio, but the real way to learn a country is to go into those little out-of-the-way places where only the country's lan­guage is spoken."

"That's exactly right!" we assured her. "You can tell it just that way to Mrs. Poster. Then suggest that you form classes among the club members and teach them Spanish for a dollar and a quarter an hour instead of two dollars. After that, you say to Mrs. Poster that you will only take half of the fee for yourself, and you want Mrs. Poster to keep the other half for the club to use any way she thinks is wise."

"Mrs. Poster will like that," said Sefiora Lopez.

"Of course she will! And when you get those classes started and going—and you do that right away, Sefiora—then try the same plan on the Busi­ness Women's Club. Or on any of the other clubs you may know about."

Senora Lopez went right to work. And today she is a very busy woman, her time fully occupied with her club classes.

Then there was the case of Mike. He entered the…

picture through his brother, the butcher. It started in this way. One morning when, for the moment, one of us was the only customer at his counter, the butcher said: "I heard about how you're getting jobs. I certainly wish you could do something for my brother Mike. He's been out of work for two months, and he is absolutely up against it."

So we had Mike come to see us. Mike was a well-built man, neat, clean, strong and forty-five. He had been a clerk and general assistant in the big grocery store of a small town. The grocery had failed, and he had come up to the city to find a job. Now, the little bit of money he had saved was gone and he had had to bring his wife and three children to live with his brother, the butcher.

We asked Mike what he had been doing to get a job. He said that, first, he had gone around to all of the groceries and the chain stores. There was nothing for him there. Then he made the rounds of the employment agencies and left his applica­tion everywhere. All he could do now, he told us, was to go back to these agencies every few days to see if anything had turned up.

"Well, what else besides grocery work can you do, Mike?" we asked him.

"Nothing," he answered. "That's all I've been

doing for the last seventeen years. It's the only thing I know. All I can do is wait on customers, fill orders and drive the delivery truck now and then when the boy gets sick."

"Mike, you drove a delivery truck? What kind of a driver are you?"

"Sure! I can handle a car," he said. "I'm pretty good." And he smiled. "I'll tell you something else, too. For the last five years they hardly spent a cent on the truck. I did most of the repairs. Why I've been tinkering on my own car for years."

Well, Mike and cars seemed a good combina­tion. It certainly was not in the cards for him to wait any longer for a grocery job. That might come later, when business improved. But just now any out was a good one. With his nice appearance, po­lite manner and knowledge of cars, we asked him if he had thought of trying for a job with someone as a chauffeur.

"Why sure, I could be a chauffeur, easy," was Mike's answer. "But where would I find that job? I don't know any rich people."

We quickly went over with Mike what we thought were the qualifications for chauffeur. He believed that he had them: ability to handle a car well, nice personality and good character refer-…

ences. Then we told him how he might go about finding the job. There were only two mediums that he could use, and we advised him to try both at once. First, he might go to employment agencies that specialize in handling home help, register there as a chauffeur and find out if he had to get any special licenses for such a job. Second, he could watch the newspapers, and answer all ads for chauf­feurs. We promised him that if he liked we would write his letters of application. He took us up on that.

On the third letter, Mike won an interview. And the interview produced a job.

To those who have been out of work for some time, and who feel that they have exhausted every job possibility, this quick solution of the unem­ployment situation of several friends may sound phenomenal. Of course, there were some who did not place so readily, and others whose problems were of an entirely different nature. But what we are trying to underscore here is the immediate value of the new point of view.

What was this new point of view? What was this new attitude that now enabled men and women to get jobs when before they had thought it was al­most impossible? It was a mental change in the ap-…