If I possessed a shop or store
I’d drive the grouches off my floor.

I’d never let some gloomy guy
Offend the folks who come to buy.
I’d never keep a boy or clerk
With mental toothache at his work.
Nor let a man who draws my pay
drive customers of mine away.

I’d treat the man who takes my time
And spends a nickel or dime
With courtesy, and make him feel
That I was pleased to close the deal.
Because tomorrow, who can tell,
He may want stuff I have to sell;
And in that case then glad he’ll be
To spend his dollars all with me.

The reason people pass one door
To patronize another store,
Is not because the busier place
Has better skills or gloves or lace
Or cheaper prices, but it lies
In pleasant words and smiling eyes;
The only difference, I believe is
In the treatment folks receive.

It is good business to be fair,
To keep a bright and cheerful air
About the place, and not to show
Your customers how much you know.

Whatever any patron did
I’d try to keep my temper bid, and
Never let him spread along
The word that I had done him wrong.