Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-10-26
WITS GO WOOL GA1 Herring.
Absent Mintledness Of Business Men When
They Lunch Down Town.

ABSENT btlndedness OF Business Men When
They Lunch Down Town.
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 q
well known restaurant, who continued:
Their minds are not upon what they are
doing; their brains are busy as can be
figuring and planning. Their bodies left
their counting rooms, but their heads re-
manned. They, as q rule. eat hurriedly,
and any number Of them do so mechan-
ically. have seen them do the most alb
surd things possible Often 1t happens
that one will throw down one cent at the
cashiers desk with q seventy five cent
or fifty cent check, and wait for minute
or two for the change. And these are
sharp, shrewd. calculating business men,
who, II you entered their places of bust
ness. you would find alert enough. and
who would never make a 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 char. yet when he has done eating ne
will rush to the rack, and. Selling some
body else's hat. go out, probably not dis
covering his error for day or two. 1t is
positive fact that not long ago q man
with "a head wore out of nv place Q
Ct hat, which would scarcely stay on the
top of his head Nor did he discove, his
mistake until he reached his office
One day man stepped up to my desk
and complained that he had lost his hat,
very fine one which had cost him 81 or IS
His hat had been stolen, he charged. and
he was excited and angry Would you
believe i'll 1t was he who had stolen one
| discovered few minutes later that two
days before lie 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 hat was
hne, brand lew one.
''lt is truly odd how men will behave
about aats. Frequently one will come
holdirs 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 did not dis
cover their error until they came in here
One man made a. great ado because, as he
said, some one had carried off his hat,
when investi yation showed that he had
worn another mans hat to the restaurant,
picking it up as he left the office, but not
detecting it until he had eaten Going
out to eat at noon is not an interval Of
rest to most business men, because there
is no rest They must supply the wants
Of their inner man, but they do it 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. and will
skip from twenty four TO forty eight hours
In their computations. A level headed
man Of business insisted up and down,
while holding his own hat in his hand--a
nice silk oua--that 1t did not belong to
him He knew wha. be had worn down
town-it was a white one. he declared
He probably had done SO the day before,
but would nut be convinced of his error
until the mare on the inside of the inner
band revealed 1t to him. A man picks up
. heap OF human nature In our business
because all sorts of things occur. particu.
larry &. The ,s,on rush, Enen men do some
OF the most absurd things in the world.
ana are often most unreasonable because
Of their self absorption Chicago Herald