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Fifty years ago: The shopworker

Fifty years ago: The shopworker A. SINGH ET AL.: PAH EXPOSURE-ASSOCIATED LUNG CANCER 261 16. Armstrong B, Hutchinson E, Unwin J, Fletcher T. Lung 19. Miller BG, Doust E, Cherrie JW, Hurley JF. Lung cancer mor- cancer risk after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocar- tality and exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in bons: a review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect British coke oven workers. BMC Public Health 2013;13:962. 2004;112:970–978. 20. IARC. Polynuclear aromatic compounds. Part 3, industrial 17. Boffetta P, Jourenkova N, Gustavsson P. Cancer risk exposures in aluminium production, coal gasification, coke from occupational and environmental exposure to poly- production and iron and steel founding. IARC Monographs cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Cancer Causes Control on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to 1997;8:444–472. Humans, Lyon, France, 1984. 18. Berger J, Manz A. Cancer of the stomach and the colon- 21. Gibson ES, Martin RH, Lockington JN,  Eng JNP. rectum among workers in a coke gas plant. Am J Ind Med Lung cancer mortality in a steel foundry. J Occup Med 1992;22:825–834. 1977;12:807–812. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx195 Elizabeth Mitchell consumed them all even if they had had the opportu- Medical Officer, Harrods Ltd. nity to do so. Products, simple or complex, cheap or expensive, are worth nothing unless brought into con- The fascination of working in a shop lies in the fact tact with someone who desires them. As time passed, that it is so closely connected with people. Their infi- towns were joined by railways and products could be nite needs can only be satisfied by many millions of transported easily. The producer ceased to distribute individual meetings between customers and salesmen. and the distributor ceased to produce. This division of In this career, every kind of person is involved. The labour allowed the shop to make its contribution to salesman’s success will depend upon his courtesy, and our economic life. It is interesting to consider the work his ability to satisfy a ‘want’. A  customer must want involved in running a shop. First there is the buying something which he has bought—if an article is forced of the goods. These must be stored and an accurate upon him by high-pressure salesmanship, he will subse- record of stock kept. Advertising and display are neces- quently regret the purchase, blame the shop and curse sary to promote the sale of the articles. These activities the salesman. The public have buying habits which will necessitate payment of suppliers, giving of credit, vary, but in the main these are constant and can be cash control and despatching. Premises have to be kept predicted. But buying is also affected by local, national clean and, last but not least, personnel cared for. These and international affairs. Fashions change, taxes are factors form the basic work pattern of retailing, and imposed overnight, and the retail trade must act as whether the shop is an enormous department store or a shock-absorber until adjustments are made. Many a stall in the market, the same principles apply to both. criticize retail distribution as an unnecessary step in In a big store, large numbers of people carry out these the progress of goods from the producer to the cus- various functions. In Harrods, there is a working pop- tomer. The shopkeeper produces nothing—the goods ulation of 5500, and only 1450 actually sell. A  small leave the shop as they were received. He adds nothing shopkeeper must do everything himself. It showed sin- but the price! Until the Industrial Revolution the shop- gular lack of insight on the part of Napoleon when he keeper was both producer and distributor—the farmer sneeringly referred to us as a ‘Nation of Shopkeepers’. brought his produce to the market, the baker worked We all know what the shopkeepers did to Napoleon. at the back of his house and sold his goods at the front. People lived on the products of their community. By From: The shopworker. Trans Soc Occup Med (1968) 18, 1850, thousands worked in factories producing goods 56–60. Available at: Occup Med (Lond) 1968;18:56–60. in such abundance that they themselves could not have doi:10.1093/occmed/18.1.56 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-abstract/68/4/261/5001591 by Ed 'DeepDyve' Gillespie user on 21 June 2018 http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Occupational Medicine Oxford University Press

Fifty years ago: The shopworker

Mitchell, Elizabeth
Occupational Medicine , Volume Advance Article (4) – May 23, 2018
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Oxford University Press
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
ISSN
0962-7480
eISSN
1471-8405
DOI
10.1093/occmed/kqx195
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Abstract

A. SINGH ET AL.: PAH EXPOSURE-ASSOCIATED LUNG CANCER 261 16. Armstrong B, Hutchinson E, Unwin J, Fletcher T. Lung 19. Miller BG, Doust E, Cherrie JW, Hurley JF. Lung cancer mor- cancer risk after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocar- tality and exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in bons: a review and meta-analysis. Environ Health Perspect British coke oven workers. BMC Public Health 2013;13:962. 2004;112:970–978. 20. IARC. Polynuclear aromatic compounds. Part 3, industrial 17. Boffetta P, Jourenkova N, Gustavsson P. Cancer risk exposures in aluminium production, coal gasification, coke from occupational and environmental exposure to poly- production and iron and steel founding. IARC Monographs cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Cancer Causes Control on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to 1997;8:444–472. Humans, Lyon, France, 1984. 18. Berger J, Manz A. Cancer of the stomach and the colon- 21. Gibson ES, Martin RH, Lockington JN,  Eng JNP. rectum among workers in a coke gas plant. Am J Ind Med Lung cancer mortality in a steel foundry. J Occup Med 1992;22:825–834. 1977;12:807–812. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx195 Elizabeth Mitchell consumed them all even if they had had the opportu- Medical Officer, Harrods Ltd. nity to do so. Products, simple or complex, cheap or expensive, are worth nothing unless brought into con- The fascination of working in a shop lies in the fact tact with someone who desires them. As time passed, that it is so closely connected with people. Their infi- towns were joined by railways and products could be nite needs can only be satisfied by many millions of transported easily. The producer ceased to distribute individual meetings between customers and salesmen. and the distributor ceased to produce. This division of In this career, every kind of person is involved. The labour allowed the shop to make its contribution to salesman’s success will depend upon his courtesy, and our economic life. It is interesting to consider the work his ability to satisfy a ‘want’. A  customer must want involved in running a shop. First there is the buying something which he has bought—if an article is forced of the goods. These must be stored and an accurate upon him by high-pressure salesmanship, he will subse- record of stock kept. Advertising and display are neces- quently regret the purchase, blame the shop and curse sary to promote the sale of the articles. These activities the salesman. The public have buying habits which will necessitate payment of suppliers, giving of credit, vary, but in the main these are constant and can be cash control and despatching. Premises have to be kept predicted. But buying is also affected by local, national clean and, last but not least, personnel cared for. These and international affairs. Fashions change, taxes are factors form the basic work pattern of retailing, and imposed overnight, and the retail trade must act as whether the shop is an enormous department store or a shock-absorber until adjustments are made. Many a stall in the market, the same principles apply to both. criticize retail distribution as an unnecessary step in In a big store, large numbers of people carry out these the progress of goods from the producer to the cus- various functions. In Harrods, there is a working pop- tomer. The shopkeeper produces nothing—the goods ulation of 5500, and only 1450 actually sell. A  small leave the shop as they were received. He adds nothing shopkeeper must do everything himself. It showed sin- but the price! Until the Industrial Revolution the shop- gular lack of insight on the part of Napoleon when he keeper was both producer and distributor—the farmer sneeringly referred to us as a ‘Nation of Shopkeepers’. brought his produce to the market, the baker worked We all know what the shopkeepers did to Napoleon. at the back of his house and sold his goods at the front. People lived on the products of their community. By From: The shopworker. Trans Soc Occup Med (1968) 18, 1850, thousands worked in factories producing goods 56–60. Available at: Occup Med (Lond) 1968;18:56–60. in such abundance that they themselves could not have doi:10.1093/occmed/18.1.56 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article-abstract/68/4/261/5001591 by Ed 'DeepDyve' Gillespie user on 21 June 2018

Journal

Occupational Medicine – Oxford University Press

Published: May 23, 2018

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