Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-04-09
WHAT A DRY GOODS CLERK has TO ENDURE
AND HEAR.

~
WHAT DRY GOODS CLERK HAS TO ENDURE
| AND HEAR.
| From tho New York Herald.
"How much is this?"
The lady who made the inquiry tilted her
gold-rimmed eyeglasses forward and looked
critically at piece of pink silk lying on
the counter in large dry goods store.
"Six dollars, madam"
wv hat, yard?'
| Th e clerk looked rs though he wanted 10
suy mo, a quart" but simply nodded in a
very tired way. AS the lady passed on he
turned to Herald reporter who, seated on
q red velvet topped stool, bad been listen
ing to the dialogue.
"I'll bet" said he, that one woman out
of every six asks that question. The most
| of them are very queer cattle, anyway, when
they come into a store. She doesn't want
to buy anything. l could tell that as soon
| rs I looked at her. She is what we call Il
| 'swap.' Give me man for customer,
every time. They never know anything
about it and will always rely on fellows
Judgment. Oh, Lord! here comes some
quarter. sixes,'" said the clerk, as he look
ed up the aisle at three ladies who were
coming toward bis counter.
ana Wnat Is 'quarCer-Sl&! !!
'Oh, a part of our slang vocabulary which
means customer who is hard to please. A
woman's bad enough when alone, but when
she has two or three friends along with her
to advise her she's holy terror Now you
watch If she buys anything it will not be
what she wants, but what her friends want
her to-"
One of the ladies wanted to buy brocad.
ed silk dress Every piece in the stock was
pulled down by the long suffering clerk and
spread on the counter before her.
"There, I think like that the best, said
the would-be buyer, after much inspection
and comparison. Don't you Nellie ?"
"Well, yes that's very pretty, dear; but
I believe this would suit you better after it
was made up"
"Ob, my, no, don't get that" interrupted
the third "you will find this vine here much
more becoming"
"Yes, but, my dears," said the first speak
er II really like this pattern better than
the others: but if you think"
"Oh, don't let US influence you, May. The
dress is for you, and"
"But do want your advice about it"
"WeIl, then, what do you think of that
flower design over there? Now that would
make up charmingly."
Aud so the conversation continued until
the lady who was to have the dress was dis
suaded from getting what she liked and
took samples of the other pieces to show to
her Gressmaker.
at is wonderful" said the clerk, again
addressing the reporter, "hoW ladies fear
and are governed by their dressmakers. 1t
is the exception when a lady will buy out
and out what she wants She always says,
"Well, I'll take sample of this and show it
10 Madam So and So, and if she likes it I'll
get it, I have known ladies to bring back
piece of goods that they had bought and
liked very much because their dressmakers
would not let them haveit. The dressrnak-
ers are an awful nuisance to us"
Are you annoyed much by people COM
ing in and wanting to see goods with no in
ton of buying 2n asked the reporter.
"Iudeed we are-'shoppers' we call them.
We always railroad them along by direct
ing them to some other counter"
do you find it necessary to adopt diff
ferent methods in attending different Gus
tomers?"
Certainly. No two people can be treated
alike. There is a still greater difference in
different stores. In some houses q saleman
must be very adroit talker indeed in
other houses it doesn't matter so much.
Then there are all sorts of tricks and lodges
for hurrying slow customers up and induc-
ing them to buy what they want.
"a favorite dodge of mine when l see q
customer just wavering between taking and
leaving the goods is to go off little way and
send cash boy to a friend at the other end
of the store and tell him to work the snap
I send sample of the goods along with tho
boy. He understands it. Presently he
comes tearing over as though his life de-
pended on it, waving the sample. He grabs
up the cloth from in front of the lady, who
is still hesitating. stop him, of course
want to know what he means, and get very
angry. He must have that piece right of
he has just sold twenty FIVE yards of it. |
can't help that, tell him. He should have
taken it when it was in the fixture. I'm
showing it now; when I am through, ifit is
not sold, I'll send it over to him. But it
always is sold-right off, too, always"
"What is the most troublesome kind of
customer you have ?"
"The matching fend. A fair specimen
of that class came in this morning. She
had little sample of thin drab silk, worth
about dollar yard, and wanted to match
it."
"We haven't got it, madam said.
"'Why, that's very funny. How do you
know you haven't got it in all that lot of
silks? 1t came from here
beg your pardon, We never kept It,.
"'Ob, know you did; got it myself
every well, we haven't it now. That's
the nearest, and pulled down the piece
| three or four shades different.
"'Oh, that's not it, at ALL
"'I know it, but it's the nearest She
peered along the shelves, pointed to a roll
and said That looks like it, So took it
down.
"'Oh that's brocaded, isn't it p she asked.
"'Yes, ma'am.'
"tWell-ah-there there's piece that
know is it. It's just exactly the shade.
Oh, yes-there I knew you had it all the
time. How much is this ?