Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-10-05
ThE GERMAN WAITRESS
She Works Hard, Fllrts Generously, and is
Good Deal of "a Girl.

She Works Hard, Flrts Generously, and Is
Good Deal of Girl.
The German waitress is not an at
tractive young woman. She is broad
shouldered, tn ck-set aud plain. She
has rough hands, big feet. She is oftener
than not pigeon-toed. She wears no
dainty little cap, as does the English
waitress She has no clean apron or
nor buttonhole bouquet, as have the
mattresses in the coffee and cake rooms
in America. In her wardrobe IS no
tailor-made suit which she can wear to
the theatre on her night off. Her gowns
do not fit her. Her hair is rarely IN
order. Her hands are never clean.
Nevertheless, she is the subject OF
more romance than a dozen French,
English and American mattresses.
Lieutenants smile on her. solid uni
formed government officials make love
to her. and artists draw delightfully."-
pretty misrepresentation OF her for the
comic weeklies. Her name is carved
upon the desks of the university lee
ture rooms. All sorts of proper and I'M
proper verses are written about her by
gay students in fancy caps and top
boots. Little sketches of her face adorn
odd hooks and corners all over the uni
versity buildings.
The waitress shows her appreciation
of all this attention by giving all stu
dents most generous measures OF beer
and an occasional kiss when the land
lord isn't looking. Every waitress has
her pet student. He always gets the
cosiest corner of the best table, the
finest bit of liver sausage, and the
largest piece of mangled steak. She
knows his special beer mug as well
as she knows his face, and the
moment he appears she has it filled
we'll up above the one-pint mark OF the
imperial government. She sw9etens
zach mug of beer for him by taking the
first sip from it. She chats with him
about university matters while he eats.
She learns in just which duel he got
the scar over his left eye, who laid
open his right cheek, what kind OF
stroke nipped off the missing piece OF
his nose, and when that big chunk was
cut out of his chin. She knows his In
tention to step on the toe of the cham
pion swordsman of the Seuvlan duel
ling corps or to call the President OF
the Saxon duelling corps a pup. 1t Is
long day for her when he gives salts
faction for these insults on the students
field of honor. Wheel he comes back to
her, however, battered, bandaged and
smelling strong of iodofOrm and pal
sam. she is Just as proud OF him as
woman can be of man.
For eleven months of the year, how
ever the waitress daily life is a hard
and dreary routine. She gets ridicu-
lousy small wages for working four
teen or fifteen hours each day. Often
enough she receives only the small tips
of the persons she serves. Sometimes
she must pay for the privilege OF re-
tanning these tips. She must remem-
Der an infinite number of details. She
must know the owners of every one OF
threescore or more beer mugs on the
shelves at the head of the big room.
As soon as he comes inside of the door
she must call to mind whether he
drinks lion brew, or court brew, or
Culmbacher, or Wurzburger, or local
beer, in which corner his favorite place
is. and how much froth below the four
tenths liter mark he will take without
complaint. OF course, all German wait
resses do not always remember all
these details. but typical German
waitress rarely forgets one of them.
The German waitress is a pitfall for
foreigners. Within limits an increase
of tips secures an increase of servlllty
from a German waiter. A German
waitress, however, pockets an Amerl-
can S ten-cent gratuity without turning
a hair, although she may have expected
only cent or two from him. A tip Of
twelve or thirteen cents she regards
as evidence that the young man who
gives it is very evil-minded or fool.
In short, she accepts all kindnesses and
consideration in much the same way as
Third avenue shop girl accepts the
seat a man offers her in an elevated
railway car. Men who know the Ger
man waitress well are very fond of her
Foreigners who do not know her at all
are still fonder of her. Every one else
fights shy of her.-N. Y. Sun.
Q