WORKING

OF AND
RELATING TO
LABOR


Sales Machine
A Cosmetics Saleswoman Becomes Disillusioned with Makeovers and the Selling Game

by Doug Collins
The Free Press
illustration by John Ruhland


The following is a Japanese job story told by a Japanese woman who is now studying at a college in Western Washington. She told the story to Working columnist Doug Collins, who transcribed it.

There were some job opportunities that they announced in my high school for cosmetics sales in a department store. My teacher was telling me about it, how after working there I could learn to be a cosmetics artist. Also I was interested in the sales business and sales commissions, and I was especially interested in hairstyle and cosmetics in those days. After finishing high school, I got the job.

My boss knew how to compliment women. He told everybody that he remembered all the customers' names, but he really didn't. He said "Hi, how are you," to the customers and had small talk. That was really amazing. He could talk with a customer for 10 or 15 minutes without knowing her. That's the sales business. Talk, make them feel better. He was a professional. But he used his workers like slaves. He yelled at workers in front of customers, but it was sort of a performance. If he said something bad to me in front of customers, the customers would feel that he cared for them. I was ashamed by a lot of things he said to me in front of customers.

A sales technique that he taught me was to keep our customers saying "yes." We used lots of pictures of women who've done makeup with our products. I'd ask questions like, "This girl's eyebrows look good, don't they?" And the customer would say "yes." I'd ask more questions to which the customer would have to say "yes." Finally, when you ask them to buy something, they say "yes." It's a psychological thing. It really works.

One of the hardest things about the job was that every customer had a different taste. Even if I thought the color of an eyeshadow would fit the customer, the customer would like a totally different color. It's difficult to get an impression from them with just a little small talk.

I didn't need his permission to quit,
but I wanted him to understand why.
He finally understood, and I wrote him
a notice that I would quit.
And the small talk was sometimes also very difficult. I tried to compliment a customer by saying, "You have nice little freckles," but the customer didn't like this.

One customer had very thick eyebrows. In those days, thin eyebrows were in style. I started to cut. It was my first time to do it, and I think my hand was shaking. Finally when I finished, there was only a little bit of eyebrow left. I tried to draw her eyebrows back on with a pencil, but she got angry and said, "No, no." I mentioned to her that fashion models do this all the time, but that didn't make her happy. I felt bad but it was also so hard not to laugh.

Usually, though, it went smooth. Some people came back, some people never came again.

Sometimes fashion models came in. We would help them make up. I was excited to see them the first couple times, and I thought it would be so nice to be a model, that it was a gifted talent. I had respect for that. But if you talk to them you find their brain is empty. They are snobs. They are only beautiful.

At first when I worked there I had a picture of beauty and my sense of beauty. I was happy to serve as a helper, to teach customers how to look beautiful. But as I worked there I just became a sales machine. I felt bad about it. I shouldn't say it, but I'm glad I quit. After I worked there, I thought maybe cosmetics is just a tool to make money. It was not anything different from selling telephones or food.

I started telling my boss that I wasn't good for the selling business. My boss said, "You're doing OK." He would point out on the monthly graph of sales figures that my sales were pretty good, like he was looking at a score. I finally told him that I wasn't happy with the business. I didn't need his permission to quit, but I wanted him to understand why. He finally understood, and I wrote him a notice that I would quit. I gave him two months' notice. I had worked there for one year, when I finished.

I think that cosmetics are like a spice. They can add flavor to people, in a sense. But I found that when they take off the makeup, people look better. People wear jewelry, makeup, nice clothes, but it's not so important. If you have your way of life, if you follow your style, that will be your beauty. If you really have status or goals, it shows in your face.







Working Around

LAISSEZ FAIRE UNIONS? Ever heard of laissez faire capitalism, the belief that the government should not regulate business, that the "magic hand" of the market always works best for society? Lots of people, especially laborites, disagree with that belief. But is it possible that US labor unions are also guilty of lassez faire? That's exactly what a June editorial says in the Snohomish County Labor Council's newsletter Working News. In many countries more highly-unionized than the US, labor unions must organize workers only in similar occupations. In other words, the Auto Workers union would not be allowed to organize service workers in a restaurant, for example. In the US, and apparently also Canada, the Auto Workers can compete with other unions to organize the same restaurant. "Our decentralized labor movement has allowed each national union to organize virtually without borders or guidelines....we let our large unions organize anyone regardless of work style, work culture, or any other semblance of real organization," according to the article.


UNITED STATES. The Federal Trade Commission is proposing to weaken requirements for "Made in USA" labels. Currently, the labels are reserved for products which are mostly manufactured on US soil. The new proposals would open the label to products which are "last substantially transformed" in the US. As more US manufacturers move their operations overseas, there is increasing pressure from business lobbyists to weaken the labeling standards. (Northwest Labor Press)


OREGON. A business agent for Local 701 of the Operating Engineers was denied access to employees of his union at a construction site for a Wal-Mart distribution center in Hermiston. Drake Construction company managers refused him entry, citing their construction contract with Wal-Mart which includes a "harmony clause." The clause forbids any labor disputes or worker participation in work stoppages or slowdowns. It requires contractors to "employ persons...who will work at all times in harmony with other persons on the project." The clause further stipulates that if any labor conflict occurs, contractors can be removed on 72-hours notice, and Wal-Mart may take possession of all the materials intended for use on the worksite. Operating Engineers spokesperson Rob Cook contends that Drake is violating its union contract by not allowing union reps inside. The union started handbilling the project in May. (Northwest Labor Press)


VIETNAM. More than 200 workers, mostly women under age 20, became ill due to acetone poisoning on February 21 at the Keyhinge Toys factory in Da Nang, according to the Hong Kong-based Coalition for the Safe Production of Toys. The company makes plastic Disney character toys that are used as giveaway bonuses in McDonalds restaurants. The workers work nine to ten hours a day, seven days a week, and earn as little as six cents an hour. The day after the incident, the toy company fired approximately 200 workers. The Vietnamese Department of Labor then ordered the company to reinstate the workers. (Multinational Monitor)


FIGHT EXCESSIVE PAY. John Welch, CEO of General Electric, was compensated $40 million last year, which would take the average worker 1,612 years to earn. CEO pay increased by 54% last year, according to Business Week. Ready to do something about this? The AFL-CIO has begun posting a website called Executive Paywatch (www.paywatch.org) which both documents the excesses and gives workers ideas for taking action against it (just click the Fight Back icon). The website points out that directors who approve excessive CEO pay "often have close business or personal ties with the top executive."


NAFTA FACTS. According to a survey study commissioned by the trinational NAFTA Secretariat, bosses are now three times more likely to close plants after union organizing drives compared to in the late 1980s, before NAFTA. The research was conducted by Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of the Labor Education Research Center at Cornell University. In more than 10% of the cases where bosses threatened shutdown, they explicitly said they'd move to Mexico if workers organized.




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Contents this page were published in the July/August, 1997 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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