A Lady Named Lill

 

Lillian was a young French Canadian girl who grew up in the farming community of River Canard, Ontario. At the age of 16, her father thought "Lill has had enough schooling,"and she was forced to drop out of school to contribute to the family income. In 1922, with English as her second language and limited education and skills, the future didn't look bright for Lill.

Her father, Eugene Bezaire, was a stern man who rarely took no for an answer and never accepted excuses. He demanded that Lill find a job. But her limitations left her with little confidence and low self-esteem, and she didn't know what work she could do.

With small hope of gaining employment, she would still ride the bus daily into the "big cities"of Windsor or Detroit. But she couldn't muster the courage to respond to a Help Wanted ad; she couldn't even bring herself to knock on a door. Each day she would just ride to the city, walk aimlessly about and at dusk return home. Her father would ask, "Any luck today, Lill?" "No no luck today, Dad,"she would respond meekly.

As the days passed, Lill continued to ride and her father continued to ask about her job-hunting. The questions became more demanding, and Lill knew she would soon have to knock on a door.

On one of her trips, Lill saw a sign at the Carhartt Overall Company in downtown Detroit. "Help Wanted,"the sign said, "Secretarial. Apply Within."She walked up the long flight of stairs to the Carhartt Company offices. Cautiously, Lill knocked on her very first door. She was met by the office manager, Margaret Costello. In her broken English, Lill told her she was interested in the secretarial position, falsely stating that she was 19. Margaret knew something wasn't right, but decided to give the girl a chance. She guided Lill through the old business office of the Carhartt Company. With rows and rows of people seated at rows and rows of typewriters and adding machines, Lill felt as if a hundred pairs of eyes were staring at her. With her chin on her chest and her eyes staring down, the reluctant farm girl followed Margaret to the back of the somber room.

Margaret sat her down at a typewriter and said, "Lill, let's see how good you really are."She directed Lill to type a single letter, and then left. Lill looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:40 a.m. Everyone would be leaving for lunch at noon. She figured that she could slip away in the crowd then. But she knew she should at least attempt the letter.

On her first try, she got through one line.It had five words, and she made four mistakes. She pulled the paper out and threw it away. The clock now read 11:45. "At noon,"she said to herself, "I'll move out with the crowd, and they will never see me again."

On her second attempt, Lill got through a full paragraph, but still made many mistakes. Again she pulled out the paper, threw it out and started over. This time she completed the letter, but her work was still strewn with errors. She looked at the clock: 11:55 — five minutes to freedom.

Just then, the door at one end of the office opened and Margaret walked in. She came directly over to Lill, putting one hand on the desk and the other on the girl's shoulder. She read the letter and paused. Then she said, "Lill, you're doing good work!"

Lill was stunned. She looked at the letter, then up at Margaret. With those simple words of encouragement, her desire to escape vanished and her confidence began to grow. She thought, "Well, if she thinks it's good, then it must be good. I think I'll stay!"

Lill did stay at Carhartt Overall Companyfor 51 years, through two world wars and a Depression, through  presidents and six prime ministers — all because someone had the insight to give a shy and uncertain young girl the gift of self-esteem when she knocked on the door.

 

莉莲是个年轻的法裔加拿大女孩，在安大略省加纳德河畔的农业社区中长大。16岁那年，父亲认为“莉儿学得已经够用了”，硬要她辍学挣钱，贴补家用。那是1922年，对于一个英语并非母语，而所受的教育和培训又有限的女孩来说，莉儿的未来并不怎么看好。
她的父亲尤金·贝扎尔是个非常严厉的人，几乎不允许孩子说半个“不”字，也从不接受任何辩解。他要莉儿找份工作。然而，因为条件有限，莉儿没有一点自信，她很自卑，不知道自己能干点什么。

虽然就业机会渺茫，可莉儿仍然每天搭公车到温泽或底特律那样的“大城市”去。但是她鼓不起勇气去应聘那些广告上的职位，甚至连敲门的信心都没有。每天她就这样乘车来到市里，在大街上漫无目的地闲逛，逛到傍晚再乘车回家。父亲总是问：“今天运气怎么样，莉儿？”“今天运气不……不好，爸。”她嗫嚅着回答。

日子一天天过去，莉儿继续着她的公车旅行，父亲则继续关心着她的工作。父亲的问题变得越来越苛严，莉儿知道她必须马上敲开一家公司的门。

这天，在底特律市中心的卡哈特服装公司，莉儿看到这样一则招聘告示：“招聘文秘，应聘者请进。”莉儿踏上了通往卡哈特公司办公室的长长楼梯，生平第一次，她小心翼翼地扣响了一扇陌生的门。接待她的是办公室经理玛格丽特·科斯特洛。莉儿用结结巴巴的英语说对那个秘书职位很感兴趣，并谎称自己已经19岁了。玛格丽特知道她说的不全是真话，但还是决定给这个姑娘一次机会。她带莉儿穿过卡哈特公司那间陈旧的办公室，里面有一排排的人，坐在一排排的打字机、计算器前面，莉儿觉得仿佛有一百双眼睛正盯着自己。这个乡下女孩羞得下巴抵到了胸前，两眼盯着地面，不情愿地跟着玛格丽特来到那间昏暗的办公室后排。

玛格丽特安排她坐到一台打字机前，对她说：“莉儿，让我们见识一下你的真本事吧。”她给了莉儿一封信让她打出来，随后就走了。莉儿看了看钟，现在是上午11：40，马上就该吃午饭了。她寻思到时就可以混在人群中溜掉，不过她觉得自己起码应该试试那封信。

第一次，她打了一行，五个单词，她打错了四个。她把那张纸抽出来扔掉。时钟指向11：45。“到了中午，”她自言自语道，“我就和这些人一起出去，然后他们再也不会见到我了。”

第二次，她打了一段，但还是错了很多。她又把那张纸抽出来扔掉，然后重新开始。这次她把信打完了，可还是满篇错误。她看看钟：11：55，再过五分钟就解放了。

这时办公室另一端的门开了，玛格丽特走了进来。她径直走到莉儿跟前，一只手放在桌上，另一只手放在莉儿的肩上，读着那封信，然后停下来对莉儿说：“莉儿，你做得很棒！”

莉儿几乎不相信自己的耳朵。她看看信，又抬头看看玛格丽特。正是这么简短的一句鼓励话打消了莉儿逃跑退缩的念头，让她鼓起了信心。她想：“她觉得我做得很棒，那么我一定是真的做得很棒。我想我会被留下的。”
 
莉儿确实留了下来，而且一待就是51年，其间经历了两次世界大战和一次经济大萧条，历经了数届总统和首相。而她之所以能做到这一切，完全是因为曾有一个人在当初那个羞怯的小女孩敲门的一刻给了她自尊自信。