Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1883-05-18
The Model Clerk.
HOW HE WAITS UPON A CUSTOMER AND
WHAT HE SHOULD KNOW.

HOW HE WATTS UPON A CUSTOMER AND
WHAT HE SHOULD KNOW.
A leading dry-goods firm in st. Louis
lately offered prize of $25 for the best
essay on the subject of how to wait on
customer, and the following was the win
ming contribution. It is repuplished for
the benefit of the dry-goods clerk and his
many customers
Row TO WAIT ON A CUSTOMER.
The above phrase, when analysed, is
very suggestive. Why should tho word
"wait" be used in this connection instead
of any word implying ''service?" Milton
says, speaking of Christian duty:
They also serve who only stand and watt
1t may seem almost irreverenJ to apply
the words IN this connection. but those
who stand behind counters doubtless find
| it sometimes the hardest kind of service
to "stand and watt" and can appreciate
the significance of making the word ''wait"
with the proposition following. the techni-
cal term for attending to the wants of GUS
TONERS. If there is any class of people
who learn practically how to conjugate the
verb "to watt in all its moods and lenses
it is our statesmen and saleswomen; those
who wait, wait. wait from morn till night,
day after day, week after week, while the
| fastidious compare tints and shades and
fabrics, the captious find fault. the impa-
| tent fret and scold, the close chatter and
cheaper, while the gossips relate their
family affairs or discuss the latest scandal
with their friends, and the idlers, who
only come to kill time and exhibit their
toilettes, dawdle over trihes or pile the
counters with goods they have no inten-
tion of buying. We have watched such
proceedings until We thought life must be
burden to such long suffering lndivldu-
ais, and that by Saturday night they
would be ready to take up the wall of
Tennyson 8 Mariana
II am aweary ,aweary,
would that were dead"
But there is another side to the picture.
If clerks have grievances, so most assured
ly, have customers, There are clerks and
clerks. For example. there is the conceit-
ed specimen. usually masculine, who
knows everything. He knows all about
the fashions aud all about the goods. He
knows what you want great deal better
than you do yourself. He knows entirely
too much, and is simply exasperating,
even more so than the wooden clerk, who
Nv of oil
automaton. Then there is the very effu-
sive clerk-so smiling and bland-so anxi-
Gus to please, washing his hands with in
visible soap, as he asks with insinuating
tone, what shall 1 show you to-day 20
He praises his wares, and artfully seeks
to fatter when his customer is green and
wheedle her into purchasing. whether she
will or no. swine color? No. we are
just out of that, but peacock blue is all
the style now; would be so becoming to
you - There is the languid, listless, in
different clerk-the coxcomb, who is so
busy twirling his moustaehe and watching
some pretty girl across the way that you
can hardly get his attention the super
cilious clerk, who fawns on ladies richly
dressed, but barely condescends to notice
humber individuals, and is quite con-
temptuous when you purchase three
eighths of yard, which you happen to
want, instead of quantity you have no
use for. There is the half-tipsy clerk we
recently encountered in leading dry
goods house. with very red face, and
breath disgustingly redolent of whiskey
and onions. Then there are clerks who
deliberately tell lies. We have wondered,
as they glibly rehearsed their stock supply
of falsehoods about auction sales and
of that particular style could be had for
love or money, whether they supposed
their customers we're green enough to be-
lieve them. Another doubt is whether the
salesman is personally responsible, or
whether it is the teaching and policy of
the firm to misrepresent and deceive. In
either case we would remind them of the
old maxim:
HONESTY is THE BEST POLICY.
When you have been once deceived and
cheated. you steer clear of that place for
ever after, and one sale will not compen-
safe for the loss of a regular customer.
Such instances are frequent, and an honest
dealer often loses much by q tricky sales
man who thinks himself remarkably sharp.
Clerks are sometimes absolutely rude.
These are rare, but we have seen them
even in st. Louis who whistled while
waiting, INDUCED in fippant asides with
their comrades, and lily concealed their
impatience as it grew near lunch-time.
We are glad to say these are all excep-
tional cases. For one who is disagreea-
bic or inefficient, there is large proper
tion who are civil and obliging.
But how to wait on customer, and
how to secure employees who understand
the art, are i'm portant questions to deal
ors, for the style of statesmen employed in
any establishment is quite as important
factor to it's success as the style of
goods displayed. Shoppers who have been
Disguised or annoyed, or illy-treated in
any way, will take care to prevent repe-
tition of such experience, and will avoid
that counter or that store as carefully as
if small pox flag were unfurled there;
while, on the other hand, courteous, re-
liable, accommodating salesman will so
attract and retain custom as to make his
services invaluable to his employers.
1t has been said that every man thinks
he could edit newspaper or run hotel.
This, of course is an extravaganza but
certainly every one thinks that every man,
woman, and child can sell goods; where
as, to do it satisfactorily, is, like every
thing else, an art to be learned, and the !
model salesman or saleswoman is as rare
as skilled artisan among annrentica