The morning news., 1889-05-04
SECRETS OF sEoPpINe.
A Curious Story Told by az Expert
Who kDows Whereof she Writes


Who Knows Whereof she Writes,
From he Neie York Star.
You SO often hear ladies complain of the
| inattention of salesmen and saleswomen
that attention has been directed to the sub
Ject, and have been investigating the mat
ter myself little Every woman who
shops has noticed that at times she is treated
with careless attention, often bordering
on rudeness. for whic she is utterly un.
| able TO account. At other times, in the
same house. she will receive the most cour-
teOus attention.
This is almost always the fault Of the
buyer, although an innocent one, and one
which she would fine it hard to avoid.
Going throug one Of the large dry goods
houses one day last week, / stumbled on the
| cause. My errand was very simple one
wanted yard of white lining silk, and
also wanted to keep my eyes open for some
thing pretty in an India silk-having be-
| fore my mental vision a remembrance Of
certain hot days last summer when the
mere thought of a cloth dress was absolute
| torture.
AS turned the corner of one Of the de-
| partments piece of silk caught my atten-
tion, and / stopped to examine it. A sales
man Immediately began expatiating on the
extraordinary qualities of this especial silk,
| and was so extremely polite and pressing
that for a moment hesitated as to nv an
swers or excuse for not buying. Every
woman knows that in shopping a moments
! hesitation is often accompanied by direful
consequences, and frequently sends her
home with an article for which she has no
earthly use. A timely recollection of some
| OF my own experience gave me COURAGE on
| this occasion to explain in a few words and
| concillating manner that the material in
! question was not exactly what wanted,
! md ,xx-tth vkot 4 I
after the rather witherng look | received.
| Further down the counter | again stopped,
this time really attracted by a silk which /
knew instantly that l wanted, and would
buy if the price and my purse were not too
| far asunder.
had heard little tap on the counter as
| ] left it at the end, but did not, of course,
pay any attention to it, nor imagine for a
moment that it in any way related to me.
| found the second salesman so lnattentive
and curt in reply to my inquiries that left
the counter without the silk, which really
wanted. AS left l again heard the gentle
| tap-tap on the counter. l proceeded on my
way toward the lining silks, glancing right
| and left at new goods in my way, and was
again confronted with curt and inattentive
salesman when | inquired for white lining
| silk. To make matters more perplexing, |
| had entirely forgotten, If had ever known,
the special name by which this brand of
lining is called, and it was several moments
before | could make my wants plain to bis
| uninterested highpess. | finally got my
yard of lining and left the store in a very
depressed condition, and with an ardent
! wish that l we're Mrs. Astor or one of her
| kin. and could afford to ignore dry goods
| houses, shopping, etc, which are supposed
to be such joy to the feminine heart.
was relating my experience that even
ing TO roomful of people, aud noticed
hPrr
attentively, and, when l had finished, broke
! out into peal Of laughter and exclaimed
"Oh, they took you for 7. A. LIP
"And what is a I. A. I.F' / said.
why, T. A. l. is some one-usually a
| woman--sent from some rival establish
ment to find out all the new goods, their
prices, quality, the size Of the stock, and, in
fact, every point Of information possible "
"But why a T. A. /. n ] asked. "What
does it mean"
1T means take it all in" She went on
to explain further that the little tap-tap |
had heard, and which had mentioned in
cidentally, was signal from one clerk to
the other to look out for me and show me
| no new goods, and she also said that my
| purchase of yard of lining silk was taken
as positive proof that | was a genuine T.
| A. l., as they usually bought some small
article to avert suspicion.
! have been looking into the matter since
then and | find that all she said was true
and very much more might be written on
the subject. But merchants are extremely
uncommunicative but know that it is a
| common practice to send people to find out
all that is possible about rival houses. A
| bright girl is selected, one tlat is not long
| in the house or has never been employed
else where. II she is not properly dressed
she may 90 to the cloak or suit room and
Dut on anything sne nay choose, and is
D., To-
moro houses in the same line of business.
| | happened to be a witness to the disc m
future of young lady ia a certain Sixth
avenue house one day not long since. She
| was sales woman in another house end
| came in TO buy some ribbon. One Of the
| fo rwalksrs recognized her, and the pro-
| prieter being informed, she was publicly
| requested to leave the place and never come
there again. She reported tho affair to her
own house in Tive ty-third street, and
there is dow deadly fued between the two
| esta bllsh ments, the house to which the
| young woman belonged claiming that she
| was on her own private business, d not
sent by them. SalesWOmen are not the only
| ones that are used in this spying business
Many women who drive in their carria Zes
are regularly npoyed and make busi-
| ness Of this very thing, and very good sal
| aries they command too. They often are
obliged to make extensive purchases, but
| these are always in the interest Of the firm
by which they are employed, and the goods
are quietly sent TO them d y or two after
they are bought. In this way rival firms
are accurately posted as to the very latest
importations, the prices put on special ar
ticles, and are enabled to secure the same
goods, and, by the cutting of prices, deal a
very substantial blow TO competing
| trade.
/ write this as a warning TO women who
| shop, and who do not care TO be looked
upon with suspicion by the very people to
| whom they must pay their money.
Safety from Yellow Fever.
| r,Ja-esrrreJ arcsf~aarg If thu