The boys were all dead tired. I had sent Wilkes about 7 o'clock to get some hot coffee and sandwiches for us, for we had a continuous crowd of customers in the store and not one of the store crowd would think of leaving. We took drinks of coffee and bites of sandwiches in between serving customers, and the coffee was all cold before we got through with it!
You will remember my telling that I had discharged Myricks and that he had gone to work for Stigler. Well, Stigler had fired him after a couple of weeks, saying that he had found out all he knew and had no further use for him. Myricks had been looking for a job ever since, and, as I knew I would have to have some extra help for the sale, I put him on again. In fact, I had told him that, if he behaved himself I might be able to use him for the winter, for it had been tremendously hard work for our little force to take care of the business, and I had felt that if we had another clerk it would relieve me to do some more planning, and might also allow Jones or Larsen to do some soliciting for business; for I hadn't forgotten what that pencil sharpener man had told me, and had decided that, after the sale I would go.
Well, Myricks had started on Thursday morning, and had seemed to be working well. I had noticed, however, on the following Monday, that he didn't ring up one of his sales. He had sold over $6.00 worth of goods and I had seen him put the money in his pocket and go after another customer.
I called him to one side, later in the day, and said:
"Myricks, why didn't you ring up that sale?"
He went red, and then white, and said:
"Er—er—you see—I'll tell you—that other customer was impatient and I wanted to get to him quickly and I thought it would save time and I could ring it up later."
"Don't do it!" I replied sharply. "Ring up every sale as you make it!"
We were too busy to dispense with him then, but I wondered—I wondered—
When we closed the store Tuesday no more goods were left! The sales that day had been $427.00.