Blog #10: Work comparisons

The differences between the bosses in Bartleby, the Scrivener and A&P are very visible to the reader. In Bartleby the boss or narrator, is friendly and cares about his employees. After he fires Bartleby he ends up giving him extra money to cover any other costs he might have. “I owe you twelve dollars on account; here are thirty-two; the odd twenty are yours.” But, he is almost too friendly. Instead of dealing with Bartleby himself he just does the most inconvenient thing he can do for himself which is just packs everything he has and moves the business to another building. While the manager in A&P knows he is in charge and acts that way. “Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy” The manager has every right to serve who he wants to serve and who he doesn't and he knows he has that power.  The narrator in Bartleby knows he is charge but he doesn't act like he really is in charge the same way the manager does in A&P. The effect of this is because the manager of A&P shows his authority; he may have lost customers and definitely lost an employee. Because the narrator doesn't show his authority he ends up losing the location of his business and one of his employees dies. If the narrator had just dealt with it the ending might have been different.

The interactions between the co-workers are different between the short stories of Bartleby and A&P because for starters there are more than one co-worker in Bartleby than that of A&P hence, more interactions in Bartleby than that of A&P. In both stories there is a description, if you will, of all the co-workers but only in Bartleby there are both descriptions of how they look and a little bit of background. In Bartleby, the characters are straightforward as to what they think of Bartleby. Ginger Nut says “I think, sir, he is a little luny” Nippers says “I think I should kick him out of the office” they are mad that Bartleby isn't doing his job because he “prefers not to”. While in A&P there is really only one other co-worker that the narrator mentions and his name is Stokesie. The interaction between Stokesie and the narrator, Sammy, is friendly. This is totally opposite of how the co-workers interacted with Bartleby. Stokesie plays with Sammy when he says “‘Oh Daddy..I feel so faint.’ ‘Darling, I said Hold me tight’”. The significance of the interactions is the fact that at the end of A&P you get a feeling like “oh man he left his friend to fend for himself against that mean manager” but at the end of Bartleby you get the feeling like he didn't leave anyone behind like his co-workers.

The productivity between Bartleby and A&P isn't as different as they may seem due to the fact that they are different stories.  Both of the main characters, Sammy and Bartleby, don’t really do their job. They both start out by doing something but at the story progresses they don’t do anything.  “A few days after this, Bartleby concluded four lengthy documents” then later when the narrator asks him to do some work he says “I would prefer not to”. In A&P, Sammy starts out by helping a very picky customer “I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell. She’s one of these cash-register-watchers..and I know it make her day to trip me up.” Then as the story progresses he starts describing the girls because he is watching them instead of doing his job. This has importance because they feel like they are doing what they want to do instead of what others want to do. In both stories the main characters are not the boss and so they are going against the working  “system” by doing what they want to do and by doing this, they both end up jobless.  

There are differences between Bartleby and A&P through their bosses, their co-workers and the productivity of the workplace.