A Woman of Independent Means

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your letter of 15th August, 1882, in which you declined my application for the position of saleswoman. I confess to feeling most disappointed at your response, as I have long held your establishment in the highest regard, and indeed have made several purchases with which I have been very pleased. I am aware that many of your girls arrive at your doors with little experience but with recommendations from gentlemen known to them, and that I carry no such recommendation with me, and it is this that has prompted me to write again in the hope that you might allow me to recommend myself.

Regarding my experience, though I have not worked in the sale of luxury goods previously, I take pride in my facility for assisting customers to make transactions with which they will be most content. I am skilled in recognising the needs of clients, and in a short conversation can divine sufficient information to be able to offer a satisfying experience for any customer, which, as I am sure you are able to see, increases the prospect of returning custom. If you would be amenable, I would be delighted to demonstrate for you my manner with patrons of all sorts, where you may observe me to preserve all fitting etiquette whilst being at once agreeable and pleasing to the customer’s own demeanour. I am adept in meeting the needs of individuals, couples, and larger groups. In addition I am a woman of utmost discretion, and can be trusted with the more intimate needs presented by some customers, and I am not easily shocked.

I have also much to offer with regard creating an enticing front, knowing as I do the vital importance of that initial interaction between what might, in other circumstances, have been a passer-by, and the business which seeks to make him a customer.

Though it is with some shame that I must admit it, I am adept in the use of all technologies and can, by unfortunate necessity, demonstrate a capacity for innovation which I would prefer to remain veiled in privacy, but can be attested to by several gentlemen with whom you may be familiar. I am proficient in all aspects of numeracy, and have experience of keeping accounts, as demonstrated by the success of my own endeavours over the past six years. I am able to hold in my head large amounts of information, and can assure you that I have a keen eye for misdemeanours such as attempted theft or interference with property.

Furthermore I am punctual and reliable. I am in good health, and without a husband or any plans to acquire one. I therefore entreat you to allow me an interview or trial in which I can demonstrate that my recommendations of myself are well founded.

With regard to my current circumstance, which I fear may have caused you to initially pass by my application, I wish to set your mind at rest. I am indeed in need of work. As I have mentioned I have no husband and live as an independent woman, free from the bonds of family and domestic life. In recent years I have made a good living assisting honest people in pain and grief with a final moment of comfort in communing with those who have departed, and meeting those who are curious with the joy of exploration. Do you not think that it is our hope for more, for a life beyond our current woes, which drives us to remove ourselves, for a moment, from the idea of necessity and imagine instead something more for ourselves? I believe it is this which also underpins the purchasing of luxury goods, is it not? Sadly, accusations of charlatanism have hampered my work of late, and though I believe such accusations have been levelled at me due to my association with certain women’s organisations rather than any failings in the gift I share so generously with customers, I have been unable to maintain a sufficient income to continue to pay for my lodgings.

I must therefore ask once more to be considered should any suitable role become available, and assure you that I am equal to any position which you may need to fill. I am available for interview at any time and ready to begin immediately,

Yours in the sincerest hope,

Charlotte Brassthwaite