The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-01
WITS GO WOOL GATHERING.
Abscnt Mindedness Of Business lien When
They Lunch Down Town.

They LuECn 1SoNu itNns
do you know that many business men
are half crazy when they enter a restau'
rant at noon for lunch or dinner This
was said to reporter by the owner of
we'll Known restaurant, who continued:
'Their minds are not upon what they are
doing: their brains arc busy as can be
figuring and planning. Their bodies left
their counting rooms, but their heads re-
NAMED. They, as rule eat hurriedly,
and any number Of them do so mechan-
icslly. have seen them do the most abb
surd things possible Often ii happens
that one will throw down one cent at the
cashiers desk with a sevcnty-hve cent
or fftv cent check, and wait for minute
or two for the change. And these are
sharp. shrcwd, calculating business men,
who if YOU entered their places OF bust
ness. YOU would find ART enough, and
who would never make mistake in Civ
ing out or receiving money.
"They show their mental abstraction
in various ways One will come in. and
with deliberation place his hat beneath
his chair, yet when he has done eating he
will rush to the rack, and, Selling some
body elsc's hat, 60 out, probably not dis
covering his error for day or two. IL Is
a positive fact that not long ago man
with Il head wore out of my place
CT hat, which would scarcely stay on the
TOP Of his head. Nor did he discover his
mistake until he reached his Office.
Zone day a man stepped up to my desk
and complained that he had lost his hat, q
very fine one which had cost him s. or 81.
His hat had been stolen, lie charged. and
be was excited and angry Would you
believe IL 1t was he who had stolen one.
| discovered few minutes later that two
DAYS before he had taken the hat OF an
other, leaving his own. The one he took
was of the same material but had been
worn an entire season, being greasy and
soiled: still, he wore it without discover
ing the fact until the time he made the
complaint. although his own lat way u
fine. brand new one.
1T is truly odd how men will behave
about hats Frequently one will come
holding one in his hand and tell me he did
not wear that when he came in. look at
the faces Of these, and if they have but
Just been shaved, tell them they made the
exchange at the BARRIERS and di0 not dis
cover their error until they came in here
One man made great AGO because, as he
said, some one had carried off his hat.
when investigation showed that lie had
worn another mans hat TO the restaurant,
picking it up as lac left the office, but not
detecting it until lie had eaten. Going
out to cat at noon is not an interval of
rest to most business men, because there
is no rest. They rust supply the wants
Of their inner man, but they do 1t without
any rest Of the brain. Their occupation
is before them all the while as their far
away looks show They say and do things
in the most mechanical manner, aud will
skip from twenty four to forty ight hours
in their computations. level headed
man Of business insisted up and down,
while holding his own hat in his hand-a
nice silk one-that it did not belong TO
him. He knew what he had worn down
town-it was n white one, he declared
He probably had done so the day before,
bat would not be convinced Of his error
until the name on the inside Of the inner
band revealed it to him. a man picks up
heap IF human nature in orr business,
because all sorts Of things occur, particu
larry at the noon rush, when men do some
Of the most absurd things in the world.
and arc often most unreasonable because
Of their self absorption. Chicago Herald.