The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-01
SHOP GIRLS AND SHOPPERS.

oleHG anu SyLupdtueLc IndG Ju0 puDllc Is
t~olerably familiar with them. No Constant
reader" of the newspapers can have failed
to be informed that the young woman
constantly referred to in advertisements
and other elegant literature of the period
as a "saleslady" is a hapless victim of
cruel circumstances over which she has no
control. Forced, through financial stress, to
seek a livelihood by measuring off ribbons, and
laces, and feminine fneries for other women
to wear, she at once becomes an object of
commiseration to certain tender-hearted peo-
pie. Perhaps the proprietor Of the shop is a
hard-hearted wretch, who refuses to furnish
divans or fauteuils on which she may repose
when exhausted by the exacting demands of
customers, or when, weary of leaning over the
counter to chaff the young man at the
"~woolens," she desires a change of
position. Or it may be that the
employer, with selfish disregard of the
wants of the young person who has kindly
condescended to assist in selling his goods,
refuses either to let her 60 home each day at
2P. M, with a Saturday holiday thrown in,
or to send her off on a summer vacation at his
own expense. If it happen that there is no
cause of complaint against the employer, the
shopper remains as a never-failing source of
woe to the being behind the counter. The
1900 Il 1---,s - - LII - I--.1.
cule by so many critics and would-be humor-
lists, that we know all her faults and f~railties,
and the male portion of the community at
least, which does not 'tshop," is inclined to
the opinion that she exists for the sole pur-
pose Of making life a burden to the sales
woman.
Aft er all that has been said by those
who profess to be well-informed con-
corning the impositions practiced by a
selfish and designing world upon helpless fe-
male dry goods clerks, it will be a rash per-
son who attempts to controvert the idea that
they are proper objects of compa ssion. With
out going so far as to suggest that life is not
altogether without brightness to the young
women in question, or that, so far from being
ground under the iron heel Of oppression,
they are lucky in being so well situated-con-
ceding, in short, that they are little less than
martyrs to the cause of dress-a word may be
ventured in behalf of the much-abused shop
pers.
1t is painful to come in conflict with the
dear, time-honored witticisms of the newspa-
pers, and the venerable jokes current in pri-
vate life, but justice to a maligned class COM
pels the assertion that the woman who shops
has certain rights which the clerk. who
waits, or is supposed to wait upon her, should
be bound to respect. In spite of a general
impression to the contrary, few women visit
shops and stores for the mere pleasure of turn
ing over and handling goods which they do not
expect to buy. Professional shoppers may
exist, but they are rare; and, as a rule, when
a woman enters a shop she does so with the
view of ultimately making a purchase. 1t is
. OpIuiOu, IL experience las COuflliCcO
her of error, that the business of a sales
woman is to exhibit such goods as may be
asked for, and to serve as best she may all Gus
toners or all who may possibly become such.
1t is her erroneous belief that the stately, but
only spas medically gracious, clerk is hired to
wait upon callers at her department in a man
ner which will inure, not only to the salts.
faction of the possible buyer, but to the profit
of the employer. She soon finds that this is a
wrong conception. In these days, when the
bread-winners and wardrobe providers find
money in comfortable quantities SC hard to
obtain, the spending of even a ten
dollar bill is to most women a mat
ter necessitating careful thought. To
do it properly may require one
or more reconn offering expeditions for the
purpose of learning prices, inspecting mate
rails and counting the cost" before the in
vestment is finally made. To her unsophisti-
Gated mind there is no good reason why it
| should concern the damsel to whom she makes
her wants known whether her selection is
made that day or at a future time; but if she
fail to stand and deliver her cash on the spot,
she learns that she has encountered that young
persons displeasure. The languid interest
manifested 10y the female clerk at the ap-
proach of a possible customer gives way, on
the discovery that she is only looking at the
wares with a view to future purchase, to a
stony glare and an icy Indifference. The or
binary woman is easily intimidated, and it is
with some misgivings, even when filled with
a determination to buy at once, that she vent
ures to interrupt a tete-a-tete which looks