---Dottie Walters

　If you could come to my office in California to visit with me today, you would see that one side of the room is occupied by a beautiful old-fashioned soda fountain with nine leather-covered seats. Unusual? Yes. But if that soda fountain could speak, it would tell you a story about the day I almost lost hope and gave up.

  It was a recession period after World War II and jobs were scarce. My husband had purchased a small dry cleaning business with borrowed money. We had two darling babies, a tract house, a car and all the usual monthly payments. Then the bottom fell out. There was no money for the house payments or anything else.

  I felt that I had no special talent, no training, no college education. I didn't think much of myself. But I remembered someone in my past who had thought I had a little ability --- my high school English teacher. She had inspired me to take a course in journalism and named me advertising manager and feature editor of the school paper. I thought, "Now if I could write a 'shoppers Column' for the small weekly newspaper in our rural town, maybe I could earn that house payment."

  I had no car and no one to look after my two children. So I took them with me to the newspaper office, pushing them before me in an old broken-down baby stroller with a big pillow tied in the back. The wheel kept coming off, but I hit it back on with the heel of my shoe and kept going. I was determined that my children would not lose their home as I often had as a child.

  But at the newspaper office, there were no jobs available. Recession. So I got an idea. I asked if I might buy advertising space at wholesale and sell it at retail as a "shoppers Column." They agreed.

  The newspaper column idea worked. I made enough money for the house payment and to buy an old used car. Then I hired a high school girl to look after my children from three to five each afternoon. When the clock struck three, I grabbed my advertising samples and flew out of the door to drive to my appointments.

  But on one dark rainy afternoon every advertising prospect I had worked on turned me down when I went to pick up their ads.

  "Why?" I asked. They said they had noticed that Ruben Ahlman, the president of the Chamber of Commerce and the owner of a big drugstore, didn't advertise with me. His store was the most popular in town. They respected his judgment. "There must be something wrong with your advertising," they explained.

  My heart sank. Those four ads would have been enough for the monthly house payment. Then I thought, I'll try to speak with Mr. Ahlman one more time. Everyone loves and respects him. Surely he'll listen. Every time I'd tried to approach him in the past, he had refused to see me. But I knew that if he advertised with me, the other merchants in town would follow his lead.

  As I walked into Mr. Ahlman's drugstore, he was there at the prescription counter. I smiled my best smile and said, "Everyone respects your opinion, Mr. Ahlman. Would you just look at my work for a moment so that I can tell the other merchants what you think?"

   Without saying a word he firmly shook his head, "No."

  Suddenly all of my enthusiasm left me. I made it as far as the beautiful old soda fountain at the front of the drugstore, feeling that I didn't have the strength to drive home. I didn't want to sit at the soda fountain without buying something, so I ordered a Coke. I wondered desperately what to do. Would my babies lose their home as I had so many times when I was growing up? Was my English teacher wrong? My eyes filled with tears.

  A soft voice beside me said, "What's the matter, dear?" I looked up into the sympathetic face of a lovely gray-haired lady. I poured out my story to her, ending it with, "But Mr. Ahlman, who everyone respects so much, refuses to look at my work."

  "Let me see that Shoppers Column," she said. She took my marked issue of the newspaper in her hands and carefully read my column all the way through. Then she stood up, looked back at the prescription counter and in a commanding voice, said, "Ruben Ahlman, come here!" The lady was Mrs. Ahlman!

  She told Ruben to buy some advertising from me. His mouth turned up in a big grin. Then she asked me for the names of the four merchants who had turned me down. She went to the phone and called each one. She gave me a hug and told me they were waiting for me.

  Ruben and Vivian Ahlman became our dear friends, as well as steady advertising customers. I learned that Ruben was a darling man who bought from everyone. He had promised Vivian not to buy any more advertising, and in turning me down he was just trying to keep his word to her. If I had only asked others in town, I might have learned that I should have been talking to Mrs. Ahlman from the beginning. That conversation at the soda fountain was the turning point. My advertising business thrived and grew into four offices, with 285 employees serving 4,000 businesses.

   Later when Mr. Ahlman modernized the old drug store and removed the soda fountain, my husband bought it and installed it in my office. If you were here, we'd sit at the soda fountain together. I'd pour you a Coke and remind you to never give up, to remember that help is always closer than we know.

   Then I would tell you that if you can't communicate with a key person, search for more information. Try another path. Look for someone who can communicate for you. And, finally, I would offer you the sparkling, refreshing words of Bill Marriott of the Marriott Hotels: "Failure? I've never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks."

失败? 不! 只是暂时的挫折而已

多蒂·沃尔特斯

  如果今天你能到加利福尼亚我的办公室来作客，你就会看到房间的一边摆着一台漂亮的老式冷饮柜和九张皮革座椅。很特别是吗?是很特别。但是如果那冷饮柜能开口说话，它一定会告诉你我曾经几近绝望甚至差点放弃的那段往事。

  那时正是二战后的一段衰退期，工作很难找。我丈夫借钱买下了一家小型干洗店。我们有两个可爱的小宝贝，一幢房产商成片开发的住宅，一辆汽车，还能打点每月的各种日常开支。可后来境况恶化了。我们没有钱来支付房子的分期付款或其他费用了。

  我觉得自己没有什么特殊才能，没受过培训，也没有受过大学教育。我觉得自己没以什么大本事。但我记得过去曾有人认为我有点能力---我的高中英语老师。她曾鼓励我学新闻，并指定我当校报的广告部经理和特写编辑。我想：“现在如果我能为我们乡镇的每周小报主持“购物者专栏’，我也许能赚到房子的分期付款。”

  我没有汽车，也没有人帮我照看我的两个孩子。所以我去报社只好将他们带上，放在一辆破旧的婴儿小推车里推着，后面还绑了个大枕头。车轮子老是掉下来，但我用鞋跟把它敲回去，然后再继续走。我下定决心绝不让我的孩子像我小时候那样常常失去自己的家。

  但是报社里没有现成的工作。经济萧条啊! 于是，我想到了一个主意。我问我是否可以将广告版面先以批发价买下来，然后再作为“购物者专栏”以零售价把它卖出去。他们同意了。
   报纸专栏的主意成功了。我挣到了足够的钱来支付房款，并买下了一辆旧汽车。然后，我雇了一名女中学生，每天下午3点到5点帮我照看孩子。当时钟敲三点时，我就抓起广告样品，飞奔出门，驱车去见事先约好的客户。

  然而，有一天下午，天色昏暗，还下着雨。当我去取他们的广告时，那些我一直在全力说服的广告委托人个个都拒绝了我。
  “为什么?”我问。他们说，他们注意到商会会长、一家大药店的老板鲁本·阿尔曼没有在我这里登广告。他的店在镇上是最受欢迎的。他们尊重他的判断。“你的广告肯定哪儿有问题。”他们这样解释道。
   我的心一沉。那四份广告的收入本来足够支付房子的分月付款的。接着我想，我要试着再去找阿尔曼先生谈一次。人人都爱戴他尊重他。他肯定会听我谈的。以前，每次我试图去见他，他都拒绝见我。不过我知道，如果他让我做他的广告，镇上其他的商人也会跟着这样做的。

  当我走进阿尔曼先生的药店时，他正好在处方柜台那儿。我露出了我最迷人的笑容对他说：“阿尔曼先生，人人都尊重您的意见。请您花点时间稍稍看一下我的作品，如让我把您的看法告诉别的商人，行吗?”
   他一言不发，只是坚定地摇了摇头表示“不行!”
   突然，我所有的热情一下子全离我而去了。我只走到药店前端那台漂亮的冷饮柜旁边，就觉得连驾车回家的力气也没有了。我不想坐在冷饮柜边上却什么也不买，于是就掏钱要了杯可乐。我绝望地在想下一步该怎么办。难道我的孩子们就这样失去他们的家，就像我从小到大那样常常无家可归吗? 难道我的英语老师错了吗? 我的眼中噙满了泪水。

  我身边传来一个柔和的声音：“怎么啦，亲爱的?”我抬起头来，看到一位可爱的灰发女士充满同情的脸庞。我向她倾诉了我的遭遇，最后我说：“可是，人人都很敬重的阿尔曼先生，却不肯看一眼我的作品。”
  “让我看看那个购物者专栏。”她说。她把我那份作过标记的报纸拿在手里，把我的专栏从头至尾仔细地看了一遍。接着她站了起来，回头看着处方柜台，用一种命令的口吻发话了：“鲁本·阿尔曼，你过来!”原来那位女士竟是阿尔曼太太!
  她叫鲁本出钱在我这儿登广告。他的嘴朝上咧开来笑了。接着她又问了那四个拒绝了我的商人的名字。她走到电话机旁给每个人打了电话。她拥抱了我一下，告诉我说他们正等着我。 

  鲁本和薇薇安·阿尔曼不但成了我固定的广告客户，而且还成了我们亲密的朋友。我了解到鲁本是一个可爱的人，不管谁上门拉广告他都会来者不拒。他曾向薇薇安保证不再买广告了，所以他原先拒绝我只是在信守对她的诺言。如果我当时只要问问镇上其他的人，我就会知道我一开始就该先找阿尔曼太太谈的。冷饮柜旁的那番谈话是转折点。我的广告业务日见兴隆，最后发展为四个办事处，共有285名雇员，为4000家企业服务。

  后来，当阿尔曼先生更新旧药店撤掉那台冷饮柜时，我丈夫把它买了下来，安装在我的办公室里。如果你到这儿来，我们可以一起坐在冷饮柜边上。我会给你倒上一杯可乐，并提醒你永远不要放弃，要记住援助之手总是比我们想象的要近。

  接下来，我还会告诉你，如果你不能与某个关键人物沟通，就要去寻找更多的信息。试试别的途径。寻找能帮你沟通的人。最后，我想把马里亚特大饭店创始人比尔·马里亚特那充满智慧、令人耳目一新的几句话送给你：“失败?我从未碰到过它。我所碰到过的都只是暂时的挫折。”