Personality Tricks By GEORGE PRAWITT We have people to contend with, and we need the right kind of personality to do this with. I have found that personality is involved in every phase of life. We meet people, we greet people, we deal with people, we teach people, and we learn from people. If it were not for people, we could throw our personalities out the window and get along fine. But we have people to contend with, and we need the right type of personality to do this with. In the following paragraphs I would like to list the ways I can make people like me. If I can make people like me, then I will like people; thus, perhaps improving two personalities mine and my friend's. First, I would like people to be interested in me and in my daily doings. How can I accomplish this? Perhaps I should invite people to stick their noses into my business? No, I should take an interest in them and perhaps stick my nose into their business a little. Other people like people to be interested in them, and so I, myself, should start the interest ball rolling. After I have asked a few questions about their interests, other people, in turn, will ask me about my interests; and that is my cue to open a new friendship and improve my personality. Sharing interests extends the learning of both persons, and in the end more good is done than reading from a book. For example, if you are interested in horses and know enough about them to intelligently enlighten me on the subject, I could soon ask you a few questions and begin a conversation. I could be very interested in horses, and you might like to show me and teach me about them. Then, during the conversation you could find out what my interests are, and in turn ask me about them and also possibly learn something new. Interests come from learning something new. In my church I can become interested in certain departments and perhaps become a leader of a group. Being a leader, I will come in contact with many people, and by doing something for them I might gain new friends. Friends are the biggest assets to our personality development. If we can choose the right friends, we can become leaders in civic positions and church positions. Wrong friends can ruin a personality rather than build it up. Too many of one type of friends might "one-track" us. We need a variety. The church to which I belong gives us the variety we need. We learn spiritual things, leadership, sportsmanship in the activities it affords us, and a general association. I believe the church is very helpful in personality building. Since we think of ourselves ninety per cent of the time, we want other people to do what we want. Should we make every little wish a command? No, we should make other people WANT to do what we want them to do. Instead of giving direct orders, ask a question as an indirect way of giving the order. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. Make the other person happy about doing the things you suggest. Use encouragement often and praise and show honest appreciation to others. Give the other person a good reputation instead of running him down." Personality in the business world depends on how we get along with other people. Our customers, employees, or employers come into contact with us every day. It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring. Dale Carnegie says that if we fail to associate properly with our fellow men, we injure our own personality as well as the other person's. Is your personality plus or minus? I feel that mine needs a little work done on it. Six Japanese Barber By BOB CHAMBERS As I came to the doorway of the little barber shop in Kyoto, I took off my shoes and placed them alongside the others just inside the sliding doorway. Mrs. Barber was leisurely sweeping the place with a native broom, and children were romping on the floor. The startled family paused to gaze at me. At this moment Mr. Barber came rushing in. He had gone westernized in his dress, wearing among other things an ordinary soft white shirt with the tails and all outside his trousers, as though he were proud of every inch of it. From off the wall he took a diploma and handed it to me to read. It informed: "To whom it may concern: This is to certify that Tokaido Yoshi since 1940 has been a full-fledged Barber Artist." Beneath it was a list of things that he was certified for. I indicated that I would like the whole works. The barber continued to smile and I stretched out in the chair. I gathered from his remarks that I was the first American customer and that he was going to make the occasion a memorable one for us both. At this point he lit some incense in the corner of the room, giving it all the air of a holy ceremony. A curious heater in the center of the shop was filled with coal and the plant steamed up to furnish hot water. There followed the first of a series of facial steam baths, in which I was left many minutes each time to boil under the folds of a turkish towel. Japanese barbers wear masks when in action. This mask is made of a black piece of celluloid lining that fits securely over the mouth. It is part of their sanitary program that is strictly enforced by the government in every barber shop. The razors were all laid out in rows in a tray of carbolic wash. The curious native combs and brushes were laid out in individual metal receptacles of the wash after each customer's use, and after passing through this process of delousing, they were boiled in a strong solution of creosote. Everything was all set to begin now and the shave was to be first. The lather was put on in about four different series, each time becoming thicker and thicker. The entire front and sides of my head were finally covered about one inch thick with lather. Then my entire face was delicately shaved, including my eyelids, my ears and my nose. Then came my forehead, which for some reason was done separately from the rest. (Turn to Page 28) Seven