The rainbow never sets

The mail was sorted again as before and handed to the appropriate people. Ruhe got his buns. At long last we were able to rest our tired legs.

The phone rang, and for the first time I answered: "Wunder & Siemering".

"Could I speak to Herrn Ruhe, please?" "What do I do now?" I put my right hand over the mouth piece. "He wants to speak to Herrn Ruhe."

"Press the button next to Herrn Ruhe's name. Wait till he answers it, and then put down the receiver. It's as simple as that."

I had to agree, it was not too difficult, but there was a lot to remember. The incoming mail had to be stamped with a date-stamp with 14 empty boxes, and placed into a red basket. Everyone in the office had to initial it as proof that they had seen and read the letters. Then the basket went to Fräulein Mohrmann, who allocated them to the various employees. The green basket contained all copies of yesterday's outgoing mail. After everyone had initialed those, I had to file them.

There was a whole shelf of hard back spring opening files from 'A' to 'Z' each one with sub-divisions, practically for each client a separate section. In addition, some clients or suppliers had a separate file all for themselves. I needed to know which ones they were, and had to be meticulous in filing, strictly according to client and dates. Meyer took quite some time explaining and showing me the intricacies of the filing system.

Lunch time had to be taken in shifts. Meyer and I went on the early shift, so that we could be back by 1 pm. Most of the others went from 1-2 pm.

When we came back from lunch with the last mail for the day, there was a big hard covered folder on my desk.

"That's the out going mail," Heinz said. "Make sure the letters have been signed. Then you put them in their appropriate envelope, put a stamp on it, and leave it on your desk for posting tonight. Don't seal the envelopes yet, for there may be some more letters coming to the same address. We don't want to waste postage, do we?"

Throughout the afternoon letters were coming in. There were also rolls of wool samples. We had to type the addresses for those and then stick them on the outside, weigh them and fix the appropriate stamps on. A record had to be kept of all outgoing mail. Until I came to Bremen I had been writing Gothic script, as my first teacher, Fräulein Müller, had taught me, but from here on I only used Latin script.

On the dot of five everyone left the office, except Meyer and I. We still had to finish our mail before we could go. Often it would be another half hour, but if there was a market report, a circular to all our clients, we never made it before 6 pm. Then we took our leather straps with the samples, a big bag for the mail, and made for the Post Office.

"See you in the morning, and don't forget to pick up the mail first thing in the morning." Meyer had disappeared with a grin.

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