Man in the Gray Flannel Suit Read Online Free PDF Page A

United Broadcasting Corporation, the most significant fact about me is that I am applying for a position in its public-relations department, and after an initial period of learning, I probably would do a good job. I will be glad to answer any questions which seem relevant, but after considerable thought, I have decided that I do not wish to attempt an autobiography as part of an application for a job.”
    He typed this paragraph neatly in the precise center of a clean piece of paper, added his name and address, and carried it into Walker’s office. It was only quarter to one, and Walker was obviously surprised to see him. “You’ve still got fifteen minutes!” he said.
    “I’ve written all I think is necessary,” Tom replied, and handed him the almost empty page.
    Walker read it slowly, his big pale face expressionless. When he had finished it, he dropped it into a drawer. “We’ll let you know our decision in a week or so,” he said.

4
    “H OW DID THE INTERVIEW GO ?” Betsy asked him that night as soon as he got off the train. “Tell me all about it!”
    “I don’t know,” Tom said. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up. I’m one of about forty people being considered.”
    “You’ll get it,” she said. “I’m sure you will.”
    “Don’t get your hopes up.”
    “I talked to a real-estate agent today,” she replied. “He said we could probably get fifteen thousand dollars for our house, maybe more. And he’s got some wonderful places selling for about thirty thousand!”
    “For Pete’s sake!” Tom said. “Aren’t you rushing things a little?”
    “It doesn’t do any harm to plan , does it?” she asked with an injured air.
    “You better just pretend nothing’s happened at all,” he said. “Then you won’t be disappointed if nothing does happen.”
    Tom tried not to think about the interview with Walker. Probably it would be a week or two before he heard from United Broadcasting, he figured, but as things turned out, a letter from Walker arrived at Westport only three days later. Betsy took it from the mailman, ripped it open, and immediately called Tom at the Schanenhauser Foundation. “It’s here!” she said. “The mailman just brought it! Walker wants to see you at eleven o’clock next Tuesday for another interview.”
    “Fine,” Tom said noncommittally.
    “That means things must be getting pretty serious, doesn’t it? I mean, they wouldn’t want to see you again if you didn’t make a pretty good impresson last time.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Don’t be stuffy,” Betsy said. “I feel like celebrating. Tonight we’re going to have steak and sparkling Burgundy, and to hell with the cost.”
    She hung up before he could object. She’s probably right about one thing, he thought–I don’t think Walker would want to see me if he didn’t have anything for me. It was time to talk to Dick Haver, his boss at the foundation, Tom concluded.
    Dick Haver was a tall, tweedy man who had been a college professor. “Why do you want to leave?” he asked Tom that afternoon when Tom had explained the situation.
    “Money,” Tom said. “I have three children and I need more money than I think I can make here in the immediate future.”
    Haver smiled wanly. “How much do you think you need?” he asked.
    “I’d like ten thousand,” Tom said. “And later, I’d like to think I could make more.”
    “You could here–in time,” Haver said.
    “How much time?”
    “Five or six years maybe. Up to now, you’ve been doing fairly well.”
    “I’d like a place where there would be more opportunity for rapid advancement,” Tom said.
    “Don’t make your decision too quickly,” Haver replied. “I’ll talk the matter over with some of the others here, and we’ll see if we can do a little more for you. I’m not at all sure you’d like it over at United Broadcasting.”
    “Why not?”
    “It’s just a feeling I have,” Haver said. “Think it over and make your own decision, of