MODEL OF SELF-RESTRAINT

Mattel’s famous Barbie doll has been a teacher, a veterinarian, a dentist, a paleontologist, an astronaut--she even ran for president. So how did this accomplished gal get her start?

According to the latest chapter from the Barbie myth makers, her first job was as a See’s Candies sales clerk.

Mattel has memorialized Barbie’s days behind the candy counter in a $21 doll sold exclusively through See’s. She wears a smart white dress and hairnet, and even uses the required waxed paper to dispense that Bordeaux cream sample. More than 65,000 have been sold since the doll’s September release.

But with a liberal policy regarding tasting, See’s employees want to know how she maintains that minuscule molded-plastic waistline.

“One of our salespeople said, ‘Barbie hasn’t been working at See’s for long,’ ” recalls Richard Van Doren, See’s vice president of marketing.

One other aspect of the See’s Barbie “will probably give us more problems with employees than the public,” says Van Doren--the daring length of Barbie’s skirt at a company that requires sales clerks’ skirts to reach below the kneecap.