Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-28
PERPLExITIES OF SHOPPING.
Some Boston Experiences Which are
Known Elsewhere.
Boston Adyertiser.l

Inc puDnc nave recently been as
sured that they have the power Of
reforming the bad manners Of clerks
in shops by speaking to the heads of
the establishments, There are, how
ever, objections to this mode of pro-
cedure. In the first place, a lady in
this way makes herself unpleasantly
conspicuous, and again it takes time.
1t is certainly a field for action, and
moved by hat conviction, we have
chosen to jot down a few feminine ex-
~periences in Boston shops within the
last six months for the benefit Of any
heads of establishments who care
to know how their business is con-
Quoted. 1t is believed that many of
them would be surprised to know how
much their interests suffer in some
cases at the hands Of those employed
by them.
Formerly the kind of manners most
dreaded in the shop was a kind of
bullying familiarity on the part of
men clerks, who had a way of forcing
their goods and of insulting those who
declined to buy. Something quite
different has taken its place-a certain
spirit of enmity toward all customers,
as a class, which seems to animate
both men and women attendants in
certain places. Customers are treated
as prying marauders, from whom the
clerks must defend the precious goods
confded to their keeping. To keep
the goods and to get rid of the intru-
der seems to be the object Of life.
They have many ingenious devices
for the furtherance Of this object. The
prompt mechanical formula, farther
down, is one of these. A lady, on a
recent occasion looking for buttons,
was sent from one end of a long shop
to the other, passed on and on with
farther down" till she got to the
very end, when it was found that the
thing she sought was close to the door.
oh, said the first clerk, II thought
you wanted dress buttons No effort
had been made to ascertain what was
wanted. Another device is to insist
upon having everything called by its
technical trade name. Here are some
veritable instances:
81 want to get some very heavy
black braid" said an o~ut-of-town lady,
h%urrying for her train. An ordinary
black alpaca dress braid was indicated
at a short distance, the clerk never
moving, and continuing an earnest
conversation with his nearest fellow
clerk.
mo, that is not the kind | want
something heavier and wider"
I'VE have nothing different"
Many people would now have left
the store aud tried another, but this
lady having had a long and valuable
experience, cast her eyes about and
presently say something like what she
wanted.
ooh. yes, you have she said
there it is"
"0h, that is Hercules braid.
On another occasion it was very
narrow white braid for which a lady
asked at five or six shops in vain, and
finding 1t herself, at last, in the win
dows of one Of the very places, was
told contemptuously that that was
Tom Thumb braid"
Another " Have you any sort of
narrow black and white fat trim
| ming?'
Nom, no black and white trim
mings at all"
Why, persisted the hardened in
truder, you must have something.
What is that on the second shelf?"
That is silk"
Well" said the lady whose sense
Of humor had survived several years
Of shopping, what made you think
that | did not want silk?' and, to her
credit be it told, although she did not
want silk, she bought a couple Of
yards by way of emphasizing the les
son.
| gave j. for Christmas a lovely
lace thing for the head, and | wanted
a bow 10 surmOunt 1t. went 10
5, vaguely thinking about color.
Myself" want some double faced
satin ribbon"
She" What color do you wish 2"
Myself" Well, / was thinking Of
blue and black"
She (sqap pR-" We haven't any
blue and black"
Myself fairly laughing Well.
that's odd, for ] don't ia the least
care let me look at all you have and
decide"
Gazing on columns Of ribbon / seem
to see nothing but blue and black, and
mention il.
She Oh,sI thought that wasn't
the width wanted.