"In what way do you mean?" I asked him.
"Well, we talk about service and how we want people to feel they are at home, and all that, and— Oh, I don't know how to express it," he floundered.
I certainly didn't know what he was driving at. I looked at Larsen, and his face was a blank; then I looked at Charlie, and, as I did so, he said:
"I'd like to ask Jones a question," and he turned to Jones, saying, "What you mean is that, while we talk of giving service, we have not any definite plan of going about it. Isn't that it?"
"Yep," said Jones, "we have no rules or regulations or anything of that kind."
"I see what you mean," I said. "You mean we talk about service, but don't give the atmosphere of service."
"That's exactly it," went on Jones, "we ought to be able to give people the feeling that they are being treated differently when they come into the store."
"Store atmosphere, that is," said Charlie, "and the way to get it is by having definite rules of conduct—rules which every one should live up to."
"Do you think it is worth while having a set of written rules of conduct in a little store like this?" I asked.
"Being a Yankee," laughed Martin, "I'll answer you by asking you another question. Do you think it is as important for a small store to have proper accounting methods as a big store?"