Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-03-11
ENGLISH sHoPwAlKERS.
NE Duties Of These Persons and How
They Garry Themselves.

Iucy tarfy tuemetttts.
1t would appear that the draper has al.
WAYS been a convenient individual tc
make a joke, and the shopwalker especi.
ally has come in for a huge share Of the
attention of many writers. Whether il
b because the duties Of this individual
make it necessary for him to be a model
If cleanliness and politeness, or whether
u is because he occupies such a conspicu.
Gus position that he receives so much at.
s%ention, it is hard to say: but certainly in
oil concerns Of any magnitude the shop.
walker plays a very important part, and
10 him Is intrusted the carrying out OF
the rules Of the establishment. In ZONE
houses. where the business il not large
enough to keep ~shopwalkers and buyers,
1t is usual for the latter 10 undertake the
duties Of shopwalker and buyer; but in
the largest houses the buyers have suffi.
eient buying and marking to do to m
ploy their whole time, and then the shop.
walkers duties aye strictly confined to
NJ routine.
As a rule he is the n to open the shop
and see that the ''squadders' are all in
their various departments ut the proper
time and that the busting Of the various
departments Is properly attended to.
After an interval for breakfast the shop.
walker is found ION the boards" where
he will remain all day, with the excep-
ton of the interval for meals. In a large
concern it requires all the tact and "a.
gacity of the shopwalker TO see that each
customer is properly served, and there is
very little time for him TO stand at the
door and bow to all the carriages rs his
compeer did in Queen Anne's time. A
clever shopwalker Is always on the alert
to take up scraps and in very many
instances he is successful in making a
sale where an assistant has failed TO do
%. Aud this is often not because Of the
ability Of the assistant but for the reason
Of an additional argument in favor of the
purchase. During the busy part of the
Gay it requires no little amount of energy
on the part Of the shopwalker to see that
the counters are kept clear, as he knows
that it is utterly impossible for customers
TO be satisfactorily served when the
counters are in a middle.
An important Iart Of his duties, too, is
10 see that the ri assistants serve the
most important ustomers. By long ex.
perience the shoDwalker soon finds out
which are the tabs" among his GUS
toners, and these are handed over to the
cleverest of his assistants, some of whom
are capable Of %encountering the yilest
stab that come into a shop. "A, a rule
customers know pretty well what they
want, but in exceptional cases there are
people who enter drapery shops whose
minds have to be made up for them, and
It requires no little amount of tact 10 deal
with such individuals without getting
the ''swap." But to their credit be il
said, there are saleswomen and statesmen
In the drapery trade who are capable Of
making a sale TO the most cantankerous
individual, and that not by any set
method, but by treating his customers
according to their several weaknesses. in
something the same manner as Sam
Slick treated his horses-by ''soothing
the fractions ones, encouraging the tlmld
ones and lathering the sulky ones like
blazes."
The last method will hardly commend
Itself to most people, but it often happens
that it is necessary to speak very sharply
10 some customers before they q be got
TO make up their minds. And when the
assistant has used every effort without
avail, the word is passed sign and this
brings the shopwalker to the fore, and
then both try their best, and it Is almost
certain that the sale will be effected.
Tales Of lodges Of shopwalkers with
''tabs' are numerous. One very COM
mon practice in selling dress fabrics is to
put a piece each on four or five chairs in
a casual manner, as if to show them to
the best advantage. and 10 barricade the
customer SO that she can't very well bolt
without making a purchase. Another
very common practice, and which Is fire.
quently successful, is 10 put aside the
articles there is "A difficulty in selling.
and show something else, returning 70
the first article at n convenient time
W~arehousemen and Diapers Journal.