Personal interest;

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HASKINS & SELLS
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BULLETIN EXECUTIVE OFFICES
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SHANGHAI
VOL. V NEW YORK, AUGUST 15, 1922 No. 8
Personal Interest
THERE is a city not more than a
hundred miles from New York which
is unique because it is old-fashioned. Its
inhabitants are noted for their deliberate-ness.
They bear the indelible imprint of
their forefathers, who were heavy-set,
thorough-going, and methodical; plain,
but honest; simple, but friendly.
The spirit of their ancestors seems to
have come down through the years and
continued with these people, even though
their city has grown tremendously and has
had to absorb its full quota of the foreign
element—a problem which every city,
large or small, has to meet. There is ap­parent
everywhere, as one goes about the
city, a feeling that one is receiving personal
service. It is manifest in the lowly boot­black,
who shines one's shoes until they
look like a mirror, instead of giving them
the careless rub or two of the padrone's
slave. It stands out in the work of the
soda dispenser, who serves one's refresh­ment
as if it were an unusual opportunity
for service instead of a task imposed by
the economic scheme of existence, mean­while
clamoring for the check and per­forming
gyrations which spill half the con­tents
of the glass over the counter or the
customer or anything else which happens
to get in the way. The ticket seller in the
theatre refuses to sell one a seat in back
of a post, because he knows one would not
enjoy the play sitting in back of a post.
The clerk in the store modestly shows his
goods, leaving the customer to select, in­stead
of resorting to the intensive methods
of modern scientific salesmanship which
may send the customer away "sold" but
vowing never to return.
Every act of service seems to be based
on consideration of the one who is served.
It gives a comfortable feeling, and stirs
emotions which are rarely stirred by the
slam-bang tactics of much modern enter­prise.
The average human being enjoys
attention. He is made to feel good by
observance of his wishes and the gratifi­cation
of his desires.
There is a lesson for the accountant who
serves the public, in the spirit manifested
in this city of old-fashioned folks. Every
client is, in the last analysis, a human
being. He may have his peculiarities, or
even whims and fancies; but the secret
of success is to discover the wishes of those
whom one is serving, and to see that such
wishes are properly met. A personal in­terest
on the part of those who serve is es­sential
to such discovery and fulfilment.