The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-09-04
CoMpLIMENTs AND COUNTERFEITs.



Tricks of Customers 10 Cheat Lady Cash
iers In City Restaurants,
Il don't mind the smirks, and quips,
and quiddities, and attempts at familiar
ity of the customers who come in here, I"
the lady cashier of a downtown res
taurant said. 1T is part of the BUSH
ness of q woman who accepts such a
position to endure very many things
that would shock many sensitive per-
sons. In short time one can get used
to such things and simply not notice
them. But it is a constant trial and q
perpetual annoyance to be compelled
to be on the lookout for all sorts of
tricks and devices 10y which many per-
sons seek to cheat the proprietor. 1t
is difficult enough to look after those
who try to slip out without paying,
those who are in collision with the
waiter, those who eat dollars worth
at one table and ten cents worth at an
other and try to get out by paying the
ten-cent check. That sort of cheating
is easily detected.
But. the most difficult thing to do is
to escape taking bad money. 1t seems
as if all the men who have bad money
to pass try to pass it on lady cashiers.
They seem to think we don't know bad
money when we see it. They will
hand out regular old-time counterfeit
note and try to distract our attention
with joke or compliment. The
game of deceiving lady cashiers with
that sort of thing is very transparent.
/ have got so used to it that when q
man pays me a compliment now l. al
ways take a second look to see whether
he is not giving me bad money. The
other day dude came in here with one
of the new counterfeit silver certificates.
1 had read about it in newspaper, and
a policeman had just called at the door
to warn us not to take them. The
dude ate hearty meal. His check
was so cents and he wanted a quarters
worth of cigars. He threw out one of
the counterfeit silver certificates, say
ing as he stepped to the cigar case:
"'Two for quarter, please
Il saw at glance that the note was
bad. / did not like to offend him by re-
fusing it at once, so took it up to in
spect it.
Eighty cents and Twenty-Five he
said, carelessly.
"'Excuse me, I remarked, but this
note has strange look to me-
'Oh, that's all right he said; its
one of the new issue. Your hair looks
very neat this morning
"'Yes, 1 said. Gould you not give me
another note?'
Greatly he said, L would rot have
troubled you, but l wanted the change
for car fare. You may give me all sill
yer if you have no small bills. Your
eyes are very bright.
AZ am sorry L have not change
enough in the drawer, said L will
send out one of the walters to get
change
"This staggered him, and he took the
note back and handed out so cents
change, and was so we'll pleased at
detecting him that L did not discover
until after he had left that he had
given me lead 50-cent piece. l know
several lady cashiers who lost from 20
toS50 per cent. of their salaries for
months before they learned to detect
bad money. Once learned, it is sur
prising how quick you can tell it. You
cdnnOJ tell HOW you Iell III, DuJ you 10,
as the saying is, feel it in your bones.
At first it made me nervous and appre-
hensive, and almost sick, to keep up
the constant strain of being on my
guard. Even now l wonder how the
cashiers in the big banks do it so
quickly. They have SO much to handle
that they can hardly give a glance at
each note. But, of course, they do not
labor under the disadvantage of having
soft nonsense talked to them to distract
their attention.
at seems as if counterfeit money is
growing much more plentiful all the
time, and the variety of notes is now
considerable when the different issues
are considered. 1t is really no easy task
to learn the appearance of all genuine
notes.
"Then we must look out for pasted
notes, and mutilated notes, and all
sorts of light and bogus coins. as
sure you that with all this responsibility
a lady cashier has not much time for
silly talk with customers. "-Ne,C York
Sun.