Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-03-23
ENGLISH sHoPWALKERs.
me Duties OF These Persons and How
They Garry Themselves.

me Duties OF inese PERSONS anu nov
They Garry Themselves.
It would appear that the draper has al
WAYS been a convenient individual tc
make q joke, and the shopwalker especi
ally has come in for a huge share Of the
attention of many writers. Whether il
in because the duties of this individual
make it necessary for him to be a model
Of cleanliness and politeness. or whether
il is because he occupies such a c~onspicu
Gus position that he receives so much at
S%ention, it is hard to say: but certainly il
all 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 SOM
houses, where the business is not large
enough to keep shopwalkers and buyers,
il is usual for the latter to undertake the
duties of shopwalker and buyer; but ir
the largest houses the buyers have suili.
eient buying and marking to do TO EN-
ploy their whole time, and then the Shop.
walkers duties are strictly confined TO
enc routine.
As a rule he is the one to open the shop
and see that the ''squalders' are all in
their various departments at the proper
Sme and hat 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 remai all day, with the excep
ton of the interval for meals. In q large
concern il requires all the tact and "a.
sacity Of the shopwalker To see that each
customer is properly served, and there Is
very little time for him 10 stand at the
door and bow TO all the carriages as his
eompre did in Queen Anne's time. A
clever shopwalker is always on the alert
70 take up SCRAPS" and in very man,
instances he is successful in making !
sale where an assistant has failed TO dc
20. And 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
day il requires no lits~ .Hount of energy
on the part of the shop"Alker 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 muddle.
An important part of his duties, too, i
10 see dat the right aP fstants serve the
most important customers. BY long ex
perience the shopwalker soon finds o u
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 vilcst
''tabS' that come into a shop. As "A rule
customers know pretty well what they
want, but in exceptional eases there ar
people who enter drapery shops whose
minds have to he made up for them, and
II requires no little amount of tact to deal
with such individuals without getting
the ''swap." But TO their credit be il
said, there are saleSwomen and salesmen
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 timid
one and lathering the sulky ones like
blazes.'
The last method will hardly commend
itself to most people, but it often happens
that il is necessary 10 speak very sharply
10 some customers before they eau be got
10 make up their minds. And when the
assistant has used every effort without
avail, the word is passed ''sign.' and this
brings the shopwalker 10 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 10 show them to
the best advantage. and to barricado the
customer so that she can't very well bolt
without making a purchase. Another
very common practice, and which Is fire.
IGcntly successful, is to pat aside the
articles there is n difficulty in selling.
ad show something else. returning 70
the first article at q convenient time
W~archOusemcn and Drapers Journal.