SITUATION AGENCIES.
Those employment agencies whose advertisements may be daily seen in our
city papers, are well exposed in the following experience of a young
man in want of a situation.
I have no trade or profession. My parents were well off in the world,
and; without thinking that their riches might take to themselves wings
and fly away, they considered it of no importance that I should become
master of anything but the graces of society. But misfortune did come
and left them without a dollar in the world, although neither of them
lived long to contend with poverty. I found myself illy adapted to
anything, and was, as you may well suppose, at a loss which way to
turn.
I applied to one or two acquaintances; but they could make no use of a
man who knew nothing at all of the ways of trade, or of the arts and
sciences; and so I was treated to not a few very gloomy forebodings.
While glancing over the columns of a daily newspaper, my eye rested on
the following advertisement.
'WANTED, clerks, copyists, collectors, timekeepers, watchmen, potters,
bartenders, coachmen, grooms, two valets to travel. Immediate
employment.'
It was such a spontaneous affair; so general and so pliable that I
resolved to avail myself of some of its many chances. So I entered the
'office' with great expectations.
I am a good penman and at once resolved to take up the situation as
copyist, and using that as a foundation for future superstructure, to
do my best, early and late. I entered the room. There didn't seem to be
such a rush of applicants there as I had anticipated; in fact, the room
was entirely unoccupied, save by a flashy youth who seemed to be doing
his best to smoke himself out with a very bad segar. I mentioned my
errand to him and he instantly became very polite.
The proprietor was not in just then but would probably be in sometime
during the day. The first thing, however, for me to do, was to register
my name and pay a fee of two dollars, which would entitle me to the
situation I coveted. What was two dollars with a prospect of business
before me? I paid it and was told that I had better call in the
afternoon and see the proprietor.
I called again as he requested. The proprietor had been in, but a man
whose name was down ahead of mine had taken the place of copyist that
had kept my heart up so eagerly, and I should be obliged to wait until
a similar situation presented itself, when, of course, I should stand
first of all, or take up with something else. I asked about clerkships,
but a hasty glance at his book convinced him that everything had been
taken up, and that I had better call to-morrow.
Unwilling to lose my money without some attempt at securing a place, I
called again the next day. The flashy fellow of the day before was not
there, but in his place a black-whiskered man, with keen black eyes, so
small and retiring that you would scarcely be aware of his possessing
such assistants until he turned them fully upon you. This proved to be
the proprietor. To him I made known my wants. He nodded, placed the
book before me, and handed me a pen.
I explained my transactions of the day before, but he said that the fee
for each day encompassed only the chances for that day; that if I
desired to take my chances for this day I must again favor him with my
name and two dollars. This I refused to do, unless he would guarantee
me a situation similar to the ones he had advertised openings for, at
the same time expressing my disgust in warm, if not eloquent language.
But his assurances were so strong that, with his promise to give me a
note to a man who was then desirous of a copyist, I again enriched him
from my scanty stock of money. Taking the letter, I followed the
directions upon it until I was led into the fourth story of a building
on Nassau street. I found a man seated at a desk, whose voice and
general manner was strongly like the flashy individual whom I had met
at the 'agency' the day before. But his whole exterior was changed, and
as he seemed to be very busy over some writing, I did not have a good
chance to verify my suspicions.
He did not wish a copyist, but his friend Brown did, and was willing to
pay handsomely for such services. Unfortunately, however, Brown had
been called out of town on some important business, and would not be in
until the next day; but if I would have the kindness to leave my
address, there was no doubt but he would send for me there at once. I
wrote my address, but told him that I would call myself.
While I was allowing him to bow me out, I made some inquiries relative
to the responsibility of the 'agency,' and he gave it an unqualified
recommendation, speaking in such high terms of Mr. Bucker, the
proprietor, that I almost repented the few hard feelings I had indulged
in toward him. If Mr. Bucker enjoyed the confidence of the leading
merchants, he certainly was a man for me to trust.
I called the next day, and Mr. Brown was poising his feet upon his
desk, smoking, and soothing his heart in the columns of a newspaper. I
mentioned my name and business. He looked up, and in reply to my
question as to whether or not he was Mr. Brown who desired a copyist,
he said that he had the honor of being a Mr. Brown, but I must be
laboring under some misapprehension, if I supposed that he was in want
of a copyist. The Brown to whom I alluded, in all probability, had gone
to New Jersey, and owing to sundry unsettled accounts he would not be
likely to return so suddenly as he had departed. I explained my
position, but he disclaimed all knowledge of the affair, and would give
me no satisfaction whatever. I went back to the 'agency,' but on
inquiry I found that Mr. Bucker had sold out, and another swindler had
taken up the business of robbing the unwary poor.
I made my case known to the police, but a shrug of the shoulders was
all the consolation I received. Such swindlers do exist, they say, but
owing to the artful manner in which they conduct their business, it is
next to impossible to convict them.
"My object in sending you this for publication is to warn others. I
have since learned that the majority of these 'agencies' are
established on the same principle, and that not one in a hundred who
apply and pay their money ever receive a situation; that the merchants
and those whom they profess to represent have no faith and no
connection with them whatever."