Common sense and discretion, in equal measure, along with attention to detail and the ability to execute disparate operations concurrently and accurately.
The best clerks, by far, are the ones who learn to think as their employers do. A truly outstanding clerk has no life of his own to interfere with the needs of his employer. He is for practical purposes an extension of his master's hand, wand, even his mind.
That is why I say that clerking ought to be an aspiration, to do it well. Too many take it up as a means to another end. Unfortunately, it means both that they have not the temperament to subsume themselves as needed to do the thing to perfection, nor indeed usually the boldness to ascend beyond the limitations of the post.
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Common sense and discretion, in equal measure, along with attention to detail and the ability to execute disparate operations concurrently and accurately.
The best clerks, by far, are the ones who learn to think as their employers do. A truly outstanding clerk has no life of his own to interfere with the needs of his employer. He is for practical purposes an extension of his master's hand, wand, even his mind.
That is why I say that clerking ought to be an aspiration, to do it well. Too many take it up as a means to another end. Unfortunately, it means both that they have not the temperament to subsume themselves as needed to do the thing to perfection, nor indeed usually the boldness to ascend beyond the limitations of the post.