Pick Your Tomorrow (1954)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] TR you sure can pick him but how long are we going to have to wait for George he just said to wait until he came well I'm starved who isn't he said lunch not a midnight snack anyway why should it take so long to accept a job you just walk in say yes sir I'll take it what job is George going to take then I don't know you mean he didn't tell you uh-uh I don't get to Big mystery maybe he's got something Sensational wants to surprise us could be you know that character could have his of almost any job in town I introduced him to Mr Harrison at the bank Mr Harrison liked him I can understand you can understand what hi she can understand you kept us knowing at the bit for half an hour I'm sorry well I got to talking and well well let's order first huh order look you called us together like the last page of a paper Pond murder mystery so not K George please okay okay I'm I'm going to work for Mr Sloan in a gas station no it's not a gas station it's a service station well I I guess if this is what you want there must be something to it well there is Beth there's plenty to it at least for me I don't get it you made such a big thing looking around for a job you took such a long time making up your mind I wanted to be sure how do you know until you try look dick you choose a bank okay maybe you'll try it and you'll find out it's right for you well I didn't know and I didn't want to spend 10 years finding out I might be wrong I wanted to find out now and oh look here's what I did well you see I'm like most guys I'm wondering all the time where I'm going you know well I got to thinking and I suddenly figured that the first thing I should do is find out about myself so I I made up a kind of checklist I knew what I liked I like people people cars variety outside well if I if I could help it I knew I didn't want a routine type job I don't know and I began to think about it more I felt I wanted a job where I could stand on my own two feet I never knew what I wanted before and had never even thought about what I had to bring to a job what I had to offer you know school training experience brains and person ality physical ability things like that well well I started wondering what kind of a job I'd be a success at and well what kind of things I would need from a job to be satisfied well look I I made up a kind of list Independence initiative briy Independence it sounds like the 4th of July oh stop George must have had some reason for writing it didn't you George oh sure first I wanted the job to give me some chance to think for myself and I didn't want it to follow too many routines I wanted the challenge that came when you had to work things out on the spot okay Professor next chapter type of work outside with people well I like people I like meeting them besides I wanted to work outside too I realized I like to get some physical kick out of the work I do I feel better that way I'm more my own guy I wrote down income next because well I think it's important for a guy to have some idea of where the job will start and just how far it's going last well I wanted a job to Be steady job I could grow with job that would let me learn so that maybe someday I could have my own business H you like it outside I'm uh I'm more the indoors type well I think it's important for guy to have some idea if well if he can get a raise within a reasonable length of time well just how far he can go in the business springboard to my own business what about that well don't you want your own business yeah no I don't know yet I guess everybody's different thank goodness yeah that's what I figured well for me I had to find something that would satisfy all these things on my checklist so so I I looked around at what was available but first I decided I'd have to have some way of measuring each job I looked at in terms of me so I I made up a score card I made up a system with a top of 10 points for each section based strictly on what it meant to me and I was going to score each section you know 3 5 8 9 10 score each job I saw depending on how many things that satisfied on my checklist then I went out to look over the town well I like it here George Banks a pretty secure place to work you know yes sir well could you tell me how long you've been here Mr harison well let's see including time out for the Navy I guess it was about 7 years started behind a window worked my way up takes time George like everything else well I suppose there's a oh I don't know a kind of a routine working in a bank sure there is but you get used to it me I like routine and you've got to have a carefully planned routine in order to take care of other people's money they trust you with it is a responsibility George in working for a bank when you're out looking for your future you got to do a lot of listening and a lot of adding up well well I figured a bank was too much of a routine thing so to me this was worth about four points Bank was inside I wanted outside well starting salary was as good as any place in town to get raises not too fast but they were there security well sure but it wouldn't give me much of a springboard to my own business you could Advance you could get training and there was a future way out in front of you but it missed in only one spot for me so I rated it another eight then I went over to the factory talk to the Personnel manager filled out forms took a good hard look at what my future might be there judgment sure I guess so with the new machines you've got to work with people well you got to work with them get along but well that's not the kick I wanted with people well the factory was certainly no springboard to my own business I couldn't see my future there too well so I rid the factory 2 4 7 and three I talked to a lot of people and a lot of stores too it's a chance to think for yourself when you sell it's a lot of variety it's a challenge so I I gave it a 10 but the work was inside again there was no physical satisfaction you can meet people sure and help them solve their problems a five I gave it a four here because the salary is not too bad to start and you could get raises or commissions now the work in a store is steady it could act as a springboard to my own business and there's not a bad future there I've scored an eight with so don't tell me obviously the service station scored highest for you but I don't get it a service station's a service station it's just a job George no no for me it's a best job oh come on well all right how do you think of a service station it's dirty you get full of grease and oil It Gets in Your Hair okay sure it's dirty and it's tough and you work long hours but it's important I've been looking at this place all my life well I'd never really seen it before cuz I'd never looked at it before in terms of myself of my future you know it's a pretty solid part of everybody's life that's why it's important to me this means there's Security in it it's a business sure but it's necessary to the people in town and the community morning George but like I said outside you take this application form home and uh here it is and you look it over and then if you want to you fill it out and bring it back sure Mr Sloan what's the matter you surprised that I run my station like a business huh if I got it nowadays I would fall flat in my face I guess so sit down George sit down tell me what do you know about a service station oh sells gasoline oil tires service cars M what do you see when you drive into a station what do you think the guys do they clean the windshield and check the oil pump gas M look at the battery check the water that about does it yeah yeah uh service and selling with a smile huh sure yeah well I guess that's what people see all right but George did you ever notice a little thing the service station guy does the way he digs around getting his hands dirty so we can keep this car running the way he keeps his fingertips all tuned up and his eyes and his ears so he can spot trouble rough spots so he can make the most expensive item that people own home run better work better give more enjoyment do you ever think about that I guess those are the things you don't much think about yeah those and a few dozen other things that make the service station business tick like uh bookkeeping and housekeeping selling you ever do much selling George well I I worked a couple of summers at Hansen's I like people I I like talking to them you know sure gives you a good feeling happens every day right outside right there tell me George did you work long hours at Hansen's this grocery store regular hours I guess days you know 9 to 5 you mind long hours George not if I like what I'm doing mhm mind getting your hands dirty I never thought about it before yeah well George I think there's a few things you ought to know about the service station business come on you follow me and I'll take you out [Applause] he showed me all right he gave me the $10 tour with no soft soaping the job's not easy and you get dirty but while as Sloan pointed out it's will you make a car on better you fix something that maybe save somebody's life well you get your hands into something here and you feel good at night when you go home cuz you're working all the time with a valuable piece of another person's property and you got to know all about it the way a doctor knows about the insides of a person's body doctor gets his hands dirty too there's a kind of a creative part of the service station business I never thought about before because well you have to learn to feel and smell and hear trouble before it starts your knowledge is always changing your mind's always jumping and growing cu the models change and improve every year and didn't kid me about the routine things they're there too just like they were in every place I looked every single job well this wasn't a job for anybody who was afraid of a little tough Dirty Work he had a lot of pride in what he sold too he felt that gasoline is one of today's biggest Bargains he said that the companies are always improving it so it's 50% better now than it was 30 years or so ago and the price is almost the same too except for what taxes have added but it wasn't until I watched him work with people with his customers that I began to get a feeling of what the service station business added up to for him here was a guy who was happy inside you could see it in the way he greeted people smil and talk or people thought something of him boy I saw that people were important in this job you're knowing them liking them meeting them on a good professional basis I don't know you you use your knowledge your brains to be alert to find trouble to prevent it it's important and you're outside you're figuring things out for yourself you're standing on your own two feet just watching this guy in his job I began to get a little excited this man working in his service station with all his knowledge his attitude well this man was just as professional is a doctor or a lawyer or a ball player or anybody else I'd certainly be thinking for myself on this job be a lot of variety too it's outside working with your hands and people well I'd seen it with Sloan but along with what I liked that was a dirt and the tough work so income well he told me the star in wage and it was up there with the top ones in town getting raises depended on how I improved but Sloan told me he liked to give them well I did what I did with the other jobs security H I didn't know to the average person a service station doesn't seem to have any future well I filled out my application anyway up to this point I was interested but I wasn't [Music] sure mhm I need somebody George but uh I want to look this over a little more carefully then I suppose you want to think about it some more too well yes I would I looking for a good men at service station George men who are going to be steady solid I don't want you to think it's going to be easy well I know Mr SLO okay now if you don't mind I'd like to ask you one or two questions oh sure George go ahead shoot it well well I've got to think about my future not tomorrow or next week or even next year but sure George I know I was your age there were certain things I wanted out of a job certain things I felt good to so I went to work for somebody else like you're going to do I went to work in a service station well I met a lot of people watched him come and go learned studied worked hard while doing it didn't think anybody was watching me well sir one day old a couple of years later a man named Mr jurgenson Man from the oil company who supplied our products came to see me and he said Bob we're going to open up a new station how would you like to take it over well sir I thought he was kidding you know I mean where would I get enough money to buy my own station I suppose you could borrow it from a bank couldn't you well I needed a little more than I had then or what I could have borrowed but the oil company backed me up and here I've been ever since got a nice house home family of course there were a lot of things I didn't know when I was working as an attendant a lot of things that I had to learn to know how to run my own business I had learn about taxes and credit there were a whole new things to me I had learned how to get people to come into my station how to merchandise and then as a businessman I found that I had certain responsibilities to the community I had to be a good business citizen so I had learned learn about public relations and then I had to set up my books organize my business in a professional way hey where do you learn all that a lot depends on yourself of course the oil company backs you up there too they give courses they teach you business management how to be a good supervisor you kind of learn while you work you grow with the job and with the people in the business community and the clubs you join well that makes sense to me but doesn't oh sure George what I'm talking about applies to any business but the important thing is that here right here I'm doing all these things myself for myself and I got to know them all myself too not just a part of it you ask about a future well I don't know about you but I got one a lot of other people get it with the service station too you grow with it you grow into it you you grow as big as you want to get and as fast as you want to go well there it was when I added up all the scores the service station came out on top for me it was the greatest it satisfied practically everything I wanted from a job sure for you fine great for me uh-uh but don't worry in 20 years I'll have my chauffeur bring all my cars to you let you take care of all of them for some reason I feel real proud and I haven't done anything hey since your boyfriend's going to be so successful what say he buys lunch for all oh sure oh no I'll TR oh wait a minute B no I'll buy lunch I want to George has got to start saving for his own service station don't [Music] [Applause] you