As already noted in Soul of a Buying Clerk, Bristow is unmarried and has no girlfriend. He is however keen to have one and frequently embarks on diligent searches for a suitable partner to share his vision of executive success.

Miss Pretty of Kleenaphone

The ultimate sex symbol, she sweeps up from time to time in her little pink van to stimulate the frustrated imaginations of the massed ranks of C-P workers. She appears very early on in the strip, announced in August 1962 thus:

Big day tomorrow
Young Miss Pretty of Kleenaphone is coming round...most attractive
I've loosened the mouthpiece on my receiver...
tied knots in the cord..
and inked in the numbers on the dial
I'm hoping for two hours pleasant conversation
strip 151

Bristow is rapidly disillusioned. Not only does she ignore him but Sampson of Sales goes on a date with her instead strip 2030. But true love cannot be denied. The sight of her Kleenaphone van wobbling to a halt outside the C-P building stimulates another rush of hormones and Bristow is one again ready to throw himself at her feet. The trouble is that being in love does tend to interfere with other things - like work strip 4292.

Just hanging round with a dirty telephone never seems to work. But Bristow has no more luck when he actually tries to talking to the delightful young sanitiser - he should learn not to pose as a brain surgeon strip 4521. In any case on those days he has spent extra time preparing, he is more likely to be fobbed off with her plain (to put it mildly) colleague, Miss Dimmitty, whose fun in life is disentangling the knotted cords of the office phones.

Miss Pretty pursues her career for many year, leaving a trail of moonstruck clerks clogging up the C-P sickbay with unrequited love symptoms. Then disaster strikes when Bristow hears one day that not only is Miss Pretty married, she has children. At a stroke his ultimate romantic fantasy has been destroyed. Savour this moment strip 10475

The girl in the office across the street

Normally the office across the street is part of the Myles & Rudge building. But because the Buying Department moves around the C-P building from time to time this is not definite. Anyway, should a comely young lady appear at a window you can sure that a C-P clerk will be staring back with his tongue hanging out. Jones succumbs early on, damaging his existing liason with a member of the typing pool. Bristow too finds the prospect irresistable and is quick to identify a potential soul-mate.

I've made friends with the girl in the office across the road
She thinks I'm a scream…I’ve been pulling funny faces.
I started by rolling my eyes...after that I put my tongue out
After that I rolled my eyes and put my tongue out
After that I ran out of conversation
strip 165, September 1962

However it becomes clear that the girl across the street is not that interested strip 2712

A Dizzy Blonde

That well known manual for would-be executives, Space at the Summit has a lot to answer for. For one thing it convinces Bristow that only a beautiful scheming ruthless woman can spur him on to success. And that fount of all wisdom, the post-boy, agrees strip 11221.

But where to find this highly desirable female? Naturally Bristow turns to the only two places he can think of - the switchboard and the typing pool. (Strangely, he ignores the other main employer of women in the C-P organisation, the canteen, but perhaps one Mrs Purdy is enough for him). But the girls are too rough a bunch to fill the role he requires. Any that are even slightly passable are either already spoken for or would not look twice at him.

Although absolutely convinced of the importance of having the right woman behind him, Bristow does not seem have to much of a clue about to find her strip 11677. It seems that he will probably not find a dizzy blonde to inspire him and must remain a humble, and single, buying clerk.

Miss Glockling

During yet another ambitious phase, convinced that the right woman can propel him to success, Bristow conceives the arguably insane idea of getting off with the dragon of the typing pool. What on earth made him think that Miss Glockling, who holds him in even more contempt than the girls in the pool, would find him even remotely interesting? But it does not come to pass strip 2945

Miss Sunman

Miss Sunman has, course, her own page in this site. But how serious is her interest in Bristow - and will he ever reciprocate? We first meet her when Bristow selects her to type out Living Death in the Buying Department and she quickly customises it.

Miss Sunman offered to type my book for me...
Like a fool I accepted. How was I to know?
She has introduced new characters and changed most of the dialogue
Instead of a searing saga of office life it now tells of a lonely spinster who is seeking romance!!
She has renamed it autobiography
strip 134, July 1962

Some of the most recent strips confirm the point as once more Bristow wonders how he can make it as an executive strip 11678 and strip 11680.

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