Huntsville gazette., 1885-05-02
FLOOR WALKING DUTY.
An Onerous and Responsible Posi-
ton in Retail Stores.
Talks With the Man Who Meets You at tho
Door of . Dry-Goods Establishments
Shoplifters the Bane Of His
Existence

Existence
One of the most responsible positions
held in a retail store is that of floor
walker. There is hardly retail dry
goods establishment of any size in the
country that doesn't employ one or
more of them. To the customer who
is directed to different departments by
these affable and neat looking individ-
uals, they seem to occupy about the
same position In the store that guide
board does at a country cross roads. but
their duties extend beyond the simple
work they seem to perform. The floor
walker first sprang into favor in lead
ing retail house in New York. where
several sharpers were accidentally de-
tected appropriating goods, without
taking the precaution to put the price
down in advance. The opportunities
offered to thievishly inclined custom
ers to "nip" articles of considerable
value in the aggregate, when they had
only the eyes Of the clerks to fear, were
numerous, and they carried on their
thievery with considerable profit
to themselves and expense to the pro-
prietors of the establishment. In con-
versation with the Herald reporter, .
floor-walker in ono of the largest re-
tail houses in this city said: ''The re-
sponsibility that rests upon our shoul-
ders is by no means light. We have to
keep our eyes open and be on the qui
vive every minute Of the day. We must
be on duty as soon as trade opens in
the morning and remain until the doors
are closed at night, and we get no rest.
We are obliged to be on the move con-
stantly, keeping as far as possible
every customer under our eye just so
long as he or she is within our range of
vision. The job is not a snap by
any means. Floor-walkers are moth
ing more nor less than detectives, but,
of course, it wouldn' t do for us to be
looked upon by the public in that light,
as the majority of the people who
come here to do their trading are
honest, and to give them to understand
that they were doing business under
the eye of suspicion, would no doubt
ruffle the dignity of many of them and
drive them away, so we call ourselves
tloor-walkers, and the people are salts
fed"
In answer to the reporters query, if
people were often detected in the act of
taking goods, he replied: "Oh, yes,
there is hardly day passes that we do
not discover somebody slowing away
laces or remnants of silk and velvets
when the attention of the clerk is at
tracted in some other direction. More
of this business is done in winter than
summer, as the heavy cloaks of the
ladies enable them to conceal articles
which it would be impossible for them
to get out of sight when dressed in
summer apparel. l speak of women
exclusively, as it is them we have to
fear. l have been employed in several
large establishments in various cities
and never knew of a man being de-
tected in getting away with goods
while pretending to be purchaser.
The majority of men are too clumsy in
handling dry goods to attempt to flch
them in broad daylight. The people
we catch stealing are hardly ever pros
ecuted unless they are found to be pro-
fessional counter-workers,' in which
case they are summarily dealt with.
You will be surprised when 1 tell you
the class Of people we have to watch
closest are shop girls and ladies in the
intermediate grade of society. Some
women, no matter where you find
them within the pale of civilization,
have an unconquerable passion for
dress. and though they may enter dry
goods store with absolutely honest in
tentions their conscientious scruples are
often overcome by the fascinating arrav
of rich goods and they attempt to gain
by stealth that which they have not the
money to honestly obtain. When
caught in the act Of pilfering you can
hardly imagine the contrition Of these
poor creatures. They don't seem to
realize what they have done until
they are found out. There would be
no satisfaction to the house in prose-
cutting such girls. 1t is more than
likely that =, they have never. been
guilty of q crime of this nature before,
and to bring them into open court and
disgrace them before the eyes of tho
public would, in nine cases out Of ten,
harden their consciences, and they
would drift into . current that would
carry them to ultimate ruin" rss
"Yes, it requires considerable will
power to prompt one of our profession
to walk up to an innocent-looking
woman and accuse her of q crime Of
which we know she is guilty. and
which we are sure she will strenuously
deny. We avoid doing this in the open
store when possible. but usually get
her to enter the private Office under
some pretext, and then as quietly as
possible uncover her guilt. A novice
in the business Is rarely caught at
thieving the second time. I remember,
while in . New York house few years
0s-.5.s- -. s-t- r14s-