Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-09
SP0TTING BARTENDERS.
INGENUITY STRAINED TO PRE-
VENT STEALING IN SALOONS.
Fair Sharing with the Boss No Longer
SatisfactOry-SpyIng Wives and Chill
dren and Bosses watching Through
PeephOies.


The proprietor of a big Third avenue
liquor store slapped down the lid of his
desk, locked the desk, opened the money
drawer behind the bar, and took out all
the money except about So in bills and s.
in change, put on his overcoat and hat
took last long look around the store,
told the bartender to buy some cigar light
ers if peddler came around with any,
and went out. saying that he would be
back in about three hours.
"Now," said the bartender in a very
low voice, ''you would imagine that he
had gone away, wouldn't you?'
''Well, hasn't hep
''N0tby long shot" said the bartender.
III he is not in this room, he will be here
before you can count thirty-nine."
The bartender noted the mystifed ex-
preston upon the reporters face, and
presently remarked that he would explain
what he had said il the reporter would
mOvSalong the bar to the cigar case close
by the door. He followed on his side Of
the counter, and began his explanation in
whispered tone by saying: Il guess I
can't be heard here ! don't want to be
caught talking about II, you KNOW. Tie
boss is in this room now. Pm sure of it,
for l think | heard him come in. Take
look around and see if you see him, but
-remember-he is dead certain to be
looking at you, so you don't want to give
yourself away"
The reporter took a cigar, lighted it,
and, under the pretence of looking at the
big stock Of attractively bottled liquors,
narrowly examined the big store, and
afterward the smaller room behind it.
Being absolutely convinced that no one
but the bartender and himself were in the
room in human form, he was conscious
Ola slight sense Of mystery, blended with
a faint suspicion that the bartender was
launching "a practical joke.
Il haven't looked behind the bar, or in
the water pitcher, or down the bung-
holes of the barrels said he, $50 l sup
pose he must be in one of those places.'
"NO,' said the bartender, taking a seal
ring from his finger and looking at it as if
1t was the subject Of what he was saying.
''The DOss is behind little lattice blind
right opposite the other end OF the bar.
Don't look now, but when you are going
out you can see it. 1t looks like the rest
of the woodwork. You can walk right up
to it and stare at the Stats in every posi-
bic manner without being able to see
whether or not any one is behind them,
but by means of some tiny gimlet holes,
whoever is behind there can see eVery-
thing that takes place in this room. You
will notice that that part Of the wall
projects into the room. 1t is a little
room or box built on purpose.
As soon as the boss Quilted the door
just now he walked right around the
corner and let himself into that box by
means OF a door leading in from the
street. You will see the door when you
60 out. When he let himself into the box
he found his wife sitting there reading or
knitting. She got up from the chair and
mounted a steep ladder-like flight OF stairs
into her rooms overhead. She will attend
to her homework until the time agreed
upon for him to quit watching, and then
will either take his place or send down
one of the larger children, who will then
have got back from school. What do they
want to watch for? To see that the bar
tenders don't steal.'
"But you have got an electric register
ing apparatus and checks"
Eyes, and in busy hours we have boy
to take the checks and money, and make
the change, but, don't you see, if the
bartenders and the boy stand in together
and don't pull the machine, the machine
won't register. The boss is up to every
thing. He believes there is no certainty
like being sure. So, when he is not
watching through that gimlet hole, and
putting down every cent we take in, some
member of the family is doing it for him.
The electric register records every trans
action on a tape in that little box at the
same instant that it records it here"
The reporter said that he would not
have thought that the bartender would
fill his position under such circumstan-
ces, but the bartender smiled and replied
that if it wasn't one thing it was sure
to be another, so what difference did it
make?
'Bartenders are supposed to be dis
honest. | guess there is no getting around
that" said he. ''Of course a great many
are not, but the way the liquor business is
carried on is proof that the bosses be-
Iieve the majority Of the bartenders to be
more or less given to dividing the re-
ceipts. Pm leaving my own morality out
of the question. You would think me a
fool ii l said one thing, and liar if | said
the other; but l find the business is run
on the principle that 1 may be crooked,
whether l am or not. You'd be surprised
at the lengths to which the bosses go to
prevent stealing. In two of the largest
concert halls in the city the proprietors'
wives spend most of their time at the
cash drawer, and In many of the busy
German places, nowadays, the wife
or son takes in the money. Yes,
indeed, there are German gin
mills where the daughters do that work.
In the last place | worked the boss had a
man, fond OF fishing and opposed to work.
He makes it a rule to spend two cOnsecu-
tive weeks behind the bar in each six
months. In that way he gets an idea of
how the business is running. Now he
/ says to each new bartender. Il want 5000
! a week from you. More if | can get it,
| but 5000 sure.' ] was fool enough to try
it. l did not turn in 5000 the first week,
! but after that l turned in more than that
| sum every week for more than month.
| Business was very good. Suddenly the
receipts began, to drop off. | could not
turn in the required amount, and l was
discharged under a cloud.
81 once worked for a man who has sew
eral liquor stores in New York-fOur, ]
think, but he has had more than that at
times. His plan was to measure all his
goods every week. He allowed so many
drinks to each quart bottle, and so many
/ drinks to each quarter keg of beer. He
locked the stock up in each place and left
the bartender so many filed bottles each
day. He knew within a dollar of what he
ought to get. He took an inventory of
every sealed bottle and every separate ci-
gar once a week. That was pretty fair in
itself, and he was by nature a
fair man. | got along well with him,
and never tried to beat him or was sus-
pected of beating him, but he had another
bartender who went into the thing as if it
was a game of chess. He made a science
of getting MOI money out of the business
than the boss ever dreamed could be made
OF it. For instance, he would get twenty
five more glasses of lager out Of a key
than the boss would have believed posi-
bic. and would do it right before the
boss eyes, drawing at least One-thlrd
frOth. He used, when he got hold of a
greenhOrn or drunken man, to sell him
5-cent cigars for 10 cents. / shouldn't
wonder if he watered the liquors in the
bottles Just little. The boss thought the
world of him, and, indeed, he was a
mighty good bartender.
"But the ingenuity is mostly on the
side of the bOsses," the bartender con-
cluded. They've got peephOles cut in
the ceilings, they hire men that worm
themselves into the secrets Of the bar
tenders, they employ chaps to loaf about
their saloons and keep their eyes open,
they turn their wives and children into
cashiers and spies, they shadow their bar
tenders when they are not at work, and
they compare notes and buy machinery
and tax their brains until you wouldn't
wonder sometimes if a bartender who
started out to be honest should take a lit
tie credit to himself for occasionally beat
ing his boss out of dollar. When l first
went at bartending the rule was that if a
bartender divided fair with the boss he
was considered square, but there are too
many liquor stores now, and the bosses
can't afford to be too generous"
Concerning Gloves