The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-09-02
The Hotel Clerk.

Next TO the mule, probably the most
unjustly treated animal on the face Of
the globe is the hotel clerk, says the
Louisville Courier Journal gossiper. He
is made the butt of every paragrapher,
he is reviled at by young girls and made
love to by the old ones, treated super
cilous by young men and snubbed by the
old, held responsible for delayed trains
and missing steamboats,, is in danger of
his life through missing letters, has the
wash bill, over>charges and under atten
ton laid at his door, is made eyes at by
the chambermaids, annoyed by the waits
ers, bullied by the porter, and has his
salary cut down by the gentlemanly pro-
prietor. He must be able to tell a real
Russian duke from fraudulent French
count, must judge a travellers respeCta-
bility by anything from his baggage to
the good clothes he doesn't wear, is ex>
pected to be revised and corrected time
table for all the railroad and steamships
lines in this country and few in Africa
must be able to convince leading actress
that the sixth floor back is every way
more desirable and fashionable than the
second floor front, must know when to
bully kicking guests and when to yield.
and at all times see from behind the
counter that no man gets out of the
house by the back door or that fire escape
without settling his bill. With all this
he is expected to be the glass of fashion
and the mirror of politeness on salary
of $40 month and board.
The hotel clerk holds no sinecure posi-
ton. Usually he stands up behind a
marble topped counter and submits pa
tiently to the abuse of the travelling public
for eight to twelve hours at stretch.
Talk about shop girls having to stand on
their feet and having to work hard! They
are hours, dreaming away their lives in
Mahomets elysium, compared to what
the desk martyrs must endure. A CIR
can sit down once in while, when the
foreman ism looking, and she can always
relieve her feelings by swearing under hel
| breath. The clerk can't do that Aftel
he has shaken hands warmly with man
who has stopped at the house for dinner
| three years ago, and inquired blandly
after his family, he must explain how
impossible it is to take forged clerk OF
800 for So bill and pay the difference
in cash He must do all this with grace
that will make the guest feel rather COM
plimented than otherwise, or he may bt
in danger of losing his custom. Afte
doing this few years. the top of his head
mayhap, take on smooth likeness to th,
counter in which his bland face has 81
long been mirrored, but he must so OIL
and on with work that is never done.
Yes, the way of the hotel clerk is moi
the way of pleasantuess and their path
of peace. But in the course of SOM
years of experience | have found nj
cause for the popular abuse of them
Now and then ] have found man wilt
has become so crazed with his multifarion
responsibilities that his fancies he own
the hotel, but such are, happily, rare
Taken as u class, have found them
gentlemanly set; with intelligence full
equal, if not above, that of their brethre
in the mercantile ranks. True it is, tha
they are not great writers or speakers
but they are charming conversationalists