| OCR Text |
Show A Few Helpful Moments I With the "Get There" Club BY NED PADGETT. isflsll The Ground-Hog and His 1 Shadow ! CHE day ls at hand, Horace, When 1 tho ground-hog ls to come out of ! his hole, look around and, If he sees his shadow, crawl back J In again for six more weeks of sleep. And he does this stunt, once a year, wo are told. But In the world of human beings ; partlcualrly in the business world there aro any number of Ground-hoge ' who crawl out of their holes, so to 1 speak, any number of times a year, j look around and, if they fall to seo i their shadows, crawl back again. Every office has its Ground-hog. And he's always looking to Bee his shadow. Indeed, he's more concerned over the size and kind of a shadow he is casting cast-ing than he Is over anything else. Generally, Gen-erally, too, he's afraid of It, for he fears others may get on to the fact that It's only a shadow. One point of difference between the animal and the human ground-hog Is: that the former, it Is supposed, would ' prefer not to see hie shadow, while the latter is sorely troubled If he does not see his. Just let him get the idea that he isn't casting any shadow at l all and he straightway wants to crawl I back in his hole and pull the hole in j after him. The office Ground-hog may be recognized recog-nized by any one of numerous ear-(harks. ear-(harks. For instance, ho ls always "busy" working away like mad when the Boss comes around. Ho wants to make a shadow that the Boss can see, figuring that thereby ho will make an Impression. He Is often tho most punctual of all the employes and talks long and I loud about never hawng mlaaed but , one day on account of illness since he's been with the firm. The little matter of how much and what he accomplishes ac-complishes in a day or the minutes of his employer's time In which he seems to be doing a lot but really Isn't does not concern him very much. It s tho shadow he's Interested Inter-ested In. Tho office Ground-hog never gives anyone any help. Let a new employe j begin work and tho Groundhog , straightway tries to make It hard for him for ho fears that the new chap may cast a shadow moro impreesivo than his Qjvn. If, on tho contrary, he can uso the newcomer so as to make him add to tho impresslveness of his own shadow, then the Groundhog Ground-hog Is right on the Job. The office Ground-hog overlooks no opportunity to accept responsibility, when there's credit to be gained, and to deny It when a mistake has been made. In the first Instance, he simply pushes in on on pretext or another BRp tnd lays bold claim to at Uast a por- eB8h Ion or the credit due for th success- lESwS 'u happening even though It may WgaK oe so trivial a fact as that ha remained 'EMMS half hour after office hour and BgjKB stuck the stamp on the letter that EgSBKi brought In the business IrhH In the second Instant, he will pro- Bmffln test most vigorously any portion of SPSS responsibility whatever In the unfor- ''jtaEF tunate matter. He's right there with not one but a doseh alibis; arid he's gpj absolutely eloquent in telling how, all H along, he had advised this or that or Hs the other which would havo prevented Hwilifl the failure of said project. It's really H man. clous how he "gets away" with It, but he does, over and over again. 1kSK3 And always, remember, he has his eye on the shadow he's casting. Krar. Sometimes It looks bigger to him than it does to others; but always ha strives to mako others think it bigger Kgjw than It really ls. Rjf And never, never will h admit that any other employe Is casting any shadow at all! Yet, in hi own heart, Hsra he Is ever fearful of the shadows the Btv others are casting. And the thought Sfc$i of their overshadowing him rise Up Riaji and troubles him in his sleep. A believer In shadowB, he id a shady Iti person at best and, like his under- sVS ground prototype, he ls net averse to jLf burrowing In the dark and undermln- B;. feeing fee-ing tho surface. Wherefore, he will ft k bear watching, as a matter of self-defense. self-defense. K V He isn't a, pleasant person, Horace. M -and you will do well to be on your guard against him. w. r. j, - r. I Figuring that thereby he will make an Wfc '- Impression. ik, jv |
