Glamour of Hollywood (Apr 1939 - May 1941 (assorted issues))

98 MAY, 1941 BEGINNER'S LUCK (Continued from page 62) can I Imy it in mv city? r I GLAMOUR MAGAZINE | 420 Lexington Avenue, N. Y. C. MERCHANDISE EDITOR: j Please send me the name of the I store in my city that carries the fol, lowing merchandise shown in this issue of GLAMOUR MAGAZINE on page .... page .... page .... I Describe article if more than one is shown to a page NAME _ ST R E ET _ CITY _ STATE _ If you live in a small town, give the name of nearest city saving wear and tear on your blush, tuck an eraser, eraser-shields and several good pencils into your bag of tricks. These are your tools, as teacher used to say. and don’t go to work without them. And now, are you ready? It’s your first day at the new work, and you make your entrance dressed in your most busi¬ ness-like attire. Smile at the man who’s to be your boss, and then he sensible about other introductions. As soon as you are piloted to your very own desk and left alone for a moment, open your indexed notebook to ‘'0" for ‘‘Office Force." Then set yourself to drawing a rough diagram of the desks in the office, naming those you remember, with spaces for those who will become known to you as time goes on. AND since you’ve studied the lingo so /~ \ well, the boss doesn't alarm you at all with his first dictation. You pretend that it’s old stuff as you nonchalantly poise your pencil. This is your time to concen¬ trate with every ounce of attention you can summon. Try to understand the sense of what lie’s saying, so that even if you miss a word here and there, you will be able to piece together the fragments. Every time he pauses for breath or to answer his phone, read your letter back, so that you will have it practically memo¬ rized by the time you transcribe it. The more you concentrate on the letter as he gives it to you, the simpler it will be to put it onto paper. Don't ask him any more questions than necessary, and avoid ques¬ tions that are very likely to have their ex¬ planations in the file in his hand. Always see that he gives you the file on each letter; although he might forget it, he will never object to giving it to you if you ask for it. He finishes! He leaves you floun¬ dering with all those notes, and nothing to do but try to act as if you were in the groove like the other girls. You flutter papers, and try to decide just where to start, hoping you don’t look as confused as you feel. And your main slogan here is “Don't ask until you've tried every other possible way to find out.” There are several advantages to this technique. In the first place, you can re¬ member better what you learn for yourself. Look up addresses in the telephone book, then in the file. Don’t ask. Refer to the file case if it is at all accessible to you. If it is guarded by a watch-dog file clerk, ask her for some of Mr. Dictator’s letters so that you may follow his style of closings, and find out his initials, etc. Don’t ask him! For the first few days write down every name and address that you have to look up, just in case you might need it again. Naturally, whenever a branch office is mentioned or the name of an officer or branch manager, put it in your book, cross-indexed under the person’s name as well as the city or office. At your first chance, investigate the files for the various branch offices and head men, so that you will have a complete list of them. In other words, keep every new fact at your fingei tips so that at least you won't ever have to ask the same thing twice. Always he cautious in your com¬ ments on anyone in the office, and especial¬ ly so during the first few weeks. The man you consider an old crab may turn out to have a heart of gold, besides having the most drag of anyone there. The young Adonis could he the office bore. After the first day or two, you will he able to smuggle in more equipment. If there isn't a dictionary in your own desk, it will pay you a thousand times over to buy one. And bring your shorthand dic¬ tionary to he used religiously for new words; cleansing tissue is a “must” for wiping smudges from your fingers and for every other use under the sun. Men never will buy this, hut they will use yours and consider you indispensable for supplying it. SURVEY the contents of your desk, then scout the ten-cent store for such missing articles as scissors; rubber cement for neat pasting jobs; a very soft pencil eraser; a miniature hole-puncher that comes in handy, being about the size of a dime; an envelope moistener. the kind that looks like a fancy test-tube with rubber snout, to help you stick labels. Until you find out bow many copies are required of all letters, be sure to make several of each, just in case. Keep all the extra ones clipped together in a bunch for several weeks until you have had the op¬ portunity to judge when you’ll be called upon for extras. And be continually on the watch for new ways to make life easier for the boss. Spoil him! He’ll eat it up. If he has a pet file, make an extra copy of it to keep in your desk for him. Remember names for him. Be sweet to his wife on the tele¬ phone, and ward off all paper-clip sales¬ men. After all. lie’s king to you, since you rely upon him for your salary. Treat him as such. Keep him in matches and pipe cleaners, aspirin and gum. In no time at all. he’ll be raving, “Why. I just couldn't get along without her!” — Esther-Lou Hatch