Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-02-27
THE WAITER GIRLS LIFE.
Something About the Good Angels
Who Bring Hungry Men Their
Dinners.

huIIS up OI yOu'A Uc late. lt'S
half-past-ive now."
some such salutation as this wakes
the pretty walter girl these winter
mornings and she must rise and dress
quickly and walk perhaps a dozen
squares, for riding is usually out of the
question, since only the cars on certain
lines are run so early. Promptly at SIX
she Is expected to reach the restaur-
ant where she is employed and she is on
duty until seven at night. If smart
and capable she receives three dollars
a week and board
Waiter girls are not always pretty,
says the Philadelphia Press, but they
invariably are young. a gray haired
woman of fifty who has worked in a
restaurant since she was nineteen, told
me she could no longer obtain employ
ment as a waitress.
"a man doesn't want to look al an
old face while he's eating" she ex-
planned. at is hard to get place In a
restaurant, for the girls never leave
unless they get married. They know
II they do leave they can't get back,
aud when you've been a waitress
awhile you don't to do like anything else
You have your evenings after eight
O'Clock and one afternoon a week and
perhaps Sundays"
Youth, good nature and steady
nerves are the requisites of he sue
cessful waiter girl. 1t Is not likely she
Will ever forget her first day as a walt
reSs. Customers always notice a new
face and If admiring glanceS are be-
slowed the other girls are jealous.
''It doesn't do 10 change help Often"
said the proprietor of a large reStaar-
ant. ''If man comss in an says:
where's MollieP' and MoIlie's gone,
teu to one he goes, too. You see,
MollIe knew Just how he liked his cot
fee and whether he preferred rare or
well done meat, and what dishes a
disliked or fancied, and he saved time
when she waited on him. 50, of course,
he misses Mollie, and perhaps twenty
or thirty others miss her, too. You
can see it doesn't pay TO let Mollie go
If dollar more a week will keep her,
but few restaurant girly get over four
dollars and board, and three dollars
week is all most of them earn"
1t is hard to believe that the awk-
ward country lassie, who askd in
timId whisper if you viii have tea or
coffee, and on being told the latter,
brings you milk. will soon develop into
the accomplished waitress who can take
a dozen orders at once and carry stead
lly tray Of heavy dishes and keep an
apron clean two days Restaurant men
agree in preferring country girls who
have left such quiet lives that they
enjoy tn excitement incident to an
eating house, and Will at least stay
until the Eovelty wears off, although
once a waitress always waitress seems
to be the rule.
"a restaurant Is a good place to
study human nature" said girl who
had been waitress eight years In one
place. Ibid you ever know n man
gOod-natured when he's huDgryI Now,
Imagine waiting on fifty hungry men In
an hour. and nearly every one of item
calling 10 you to step lively and not BE-
all day when you're hardly taxing time
to breathe. Then some one will ask,
Isn't my soup ever comIngI' 'In a
minute, SIR I'll tell him and he'll take
out his watch and say, Now, I'll time
you,' and when the minute is up and
no soup he's madder than ever.
-Four girls and myself have waited
on six hundred men In three hours. and
took in the cash, too. We called this
singing hash.' The man ! dread
waiting on is the one who orders
fifteen-cent dinner Just because he's too
stingy to pay for a fifty cent meal.
Poor men are never any trouble; It's
the mean rich ones haze to see come
IN the door, and I'D rather wait on ten
men than one woman. 1 never accept
fees. Sometimes a gentleman will
leave a quarter under his plate, but
put it IN the cash drawer with a
check"
What are called .shalf-time girls"
work from eleven to three, thus help
ing through the busiest part of the
day. These girls receive two dollars
per week, and most of them have com
Portable homes, only needing to earn
their clothes. They are a well dressed
crowd, who talk about 'going to the
store" and would think it a great
hardship to be obliged to rise at half
past five and work until seven, like the
full time" girls.
OF course the popular restaurant
girls are glad when Christmas comes
and are often loaded down with gifts.
Often a subscription book isstarted and
the girls friends put down their names
for a certain amount. l heard OF a
waitress who received in this way
thirty dollars besides being given sew
eral boxes of handkerchiefs, bottles OF
cologne, books and some ten pounds of
candy. A gold watch Is no uncommon
, gift and certainly at holiday time the
pretty waitress fares very well.