Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-09-23
THE HOTEL CLERKS BAROMETER.


THE HOTEL CLERKS BAROMETER
The Way a Man Registers Indicates His
Desire for Bridal Chamber or Sky Pnrlor.
New York Star.
The hotel clerk had just concluded an
extended consultation with the proprie-
tor. They had definitely determined thai
the new addition to the hotel for the
accommodation of the World IS fair visi-
tors should contain $500 rooms. Fol
some reason this made the clerk cheer
fully lOquacious. He actually beamed
on newly arrived and just registering
guest, he felt so happy
''FrOnt! Show this gentleman to room
sol. Yes, sir, there S bath. -
Now, l had noticed that the clerk
assigned the guest to room 59l (Which
had a bathroom attached) before the
aforesaid guest had said word as to the
desirability of that very excellent addi-
ton to the guest chamber. [ presumed
that he newcomer was known to the
clerk, who possibly was familiar with
the guests predisposition to personal
cleanliness, and L asked him if that was
the case.
ono, - replied the clerk affably-
hotel clerks are always affable. 81
never saw the man before, but l knew
from the manner in which he registered
that he wanted all the conveniences the
hotel affords. -
'Knew from the way he registered?''
[ repeated in surprise.
Eyes, | very seldom fail to size man
up from the way he handles the register
One-half hotel clerk s value consists of
his memory for faces and the names that
go with them. The other half is his
ability to read the desires of a stranger
guest from outward indications as he
spreads his signature over the register
OF course, sometimes 1 get left, but not
often. -
''Won t you tell me about it?''
''Why, certainly; it's no secret
Take, for instance, the newly married
young husband as the easiest example.
His detection is the simplest. 1 can al
ways locate him from the nervous way in
which he adds and wife to his name,
even If his bushes didn't disclose his
newness in the role of benedict. But it
won t do to let him know you are dead
on 10 him. Oh, no. Instead of that 1
lead him to believe that I am laboring
under the delusion that he's the father
of large and constantly increasing
family. That style of treatment just
tickles him nearly to death. And l don't
say word about the bridal chamber,
but he gets it just the same.
Zone os the oldest characters we have
to deal with is the choleric old gentleman
who won L register until he knows just
where his room is, how it fronts and
where the fire escape is; how much we re
going to charge him per diem and if the
bed has been aired. A kicker? Why 4
he s walking eXpostulation. Yet that.
type of man usually ends by taking the.
very best in the house and paying his bill
without a murmur. There are lots
worse than he if you only work him
right.
''There is the man, too, who, before
he registers, looks all over the names
and addresses on the register for week
back, and yet never seems to know a
soul in the house. / generally assign
HIM cheap room, and if he gets awaye
without paving it's not our fault. AS
for the travelling man and the theatrical
advance agent, it no trick to
pipe them off. The twelve-year-
old bell boys can do that before they
get into the door. But there are diff
ferent species Of those classes, and it re-
quires an expert to decide IN advances !
just what they want. Generally / gauGe
them by the size of their signatures. GA
the basis that the larger the signature the
smaller the room. As a rule the man
with the megatherian autograph is gen
erOus only in writing ink. Again, l find
that the more airs man puts on before
the hotel register the more apt he is to
be satisfied with a roof parlor and one
towel
"Onoe in a while we have a queerer
character even than usual to deal with. |
Only yesterday a fne-looking man,
whom l afterward found to be distin-
yuished scientist, couldn { for the life of |
him think of his own name when he cana |
to sign it on the register. The genera |
run of queer customers comes from |
he agricultural districts. a big |
3ity hotel is revelation and |
/ terror to him. Everything in
md about first-class caravansary sur
orises and scares bim-everything except /
he dining room-there he Is very much,
90 much, at home. Even the first act
If signing the register is serious, an
Iwful thing TO him. To him the signing
# his name, besides being an act of
mental and physical difficulty, Is, in his L
mind, ever connected with judgmentf
totes, mortgages, lawsuits and FORE
closures
1.-The meekest and easiest to satisfy of
II whom a hotel clerk meets is the typi-s
al Western cowboy. The tougher hsis 3
IL the plains, the meeker he is lIisTe.
The muzzle of a loaded Colt placed b
gainst his temple wouldn t make hia1
urn half SO pale as the sight of penssESd
nix thrust toward him. He is out OF IBIS
dement, then, and he appreciates it nth