Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-01-14
THE WHITE APPROVED.
A CHAT WITH A ReSTAURATEUR ON
THE SUBJECT OF WALTERS.

What Is Required Of Them White Ser
vitors Are Paid the Best wegcs-The
Difference Between America and Eu-
rope Tipping Is "A Good Thing.
waiting is much harder work than most
people think it is" said popular restaura-
teur to a News reporter "Some men never
become proficient in it; they never cam and
hence the market is never overcrowded with
good walters. Barring the summer hotel
season, walters of a certain stamp are always
10 be had, but this supply is never such as to
prevent an able from getting a place.
IL seems easy, l suppose, to the public for a
man to take an order and bring In the vict-
uals, but there are many difficulties and re-
quirements incident to waiting that are com
monty overlooked There are few places In
which more crochets and foibles are exhibited
than in an eating room, and a waiter has to
learn much of human nature and school him.
self accordingly to give satisfaction.
THE patron of restaurant Is the Great
Am. He is the one to please and If he kicks
against anybody, save the cook, 1t is the
waiter. pleasant address, good memory,
promptness and dizziness, therefore, are prime
requisites for the waiter Nobody wants an
III natured waiter, yet alarge ratio of the
guests are moro or less inconsiderate in their
demands In case of dispute or dissatisfaction
we always have to side with the guest, though
we may know that the waiter was in no wise
to blame
ION complaint of patrons of my establish
ment have actually had at times to change
winters to other parts of tho room, and even
lay them Off for few days-waiters too
whom ! knew TO be among the best In my
employ. little clumsiness, forgetfulness
or confusion In distributing the food to the
guests often bring slightly deserved rebukes
and woe betide the waiter who incurs the i'll
will OF the employees behind the screen, for
the promptness of his service is sadly i'm.
paired and mischief is sure to follow In q
certain sense the walters are the butts of an
establishment. Many of the proprietors'
faults are saddled on their shoulders, and
many a malediction is hurled at the cooks
over their heads"
How do the merits of white and colored
walters compared"
II do not think that colored walters equal
white walters, though this may be a mere
fancy of mine. One thing is certain-colored
walters are the more easily managed They
are satisfied with less, and will stand more.
As a rule, good white waiter can command,
say, 81 a week more than n colored man of
the same ability and experience. Seven dol
lars or IS a week and board will satisfy a col
ored waiter better than $40 will a white
man, and the colored man will ask fewer
privileges. Negroes are less ambitious than
white men, more subServient, and hence
more easily imposed upon. They are satisfied
with poorer fare, and will grumble less at
long hours and extra duty That, think,
and not the fact that they have any special
for ha ic ,,r Nv
so many colored walters are employed"
A WAITER WORTH 10000.
do walters usually stay in the businessr'
YES, till about middle life. You will
rarely find a waiter more than 40 years Of
age At about that age they drift into other
lines of occupation. Many become barten-
ders, Others porterS or ianitors, and the like
l have been surprised ar tho number of col
ored winters who find their way to the va
riety stage. You know they are hail fell
low well mot class and full of fun Few of
them save anything; they rather are given
to irnproyideuce. Still, | have known walters
to work themselves up till they have become
hotel or restaurant proprietors. know one
man, John Bremen, who served me as waiter
for years, and who is today worth $4,000.
But, as n rule. the waiter who lays by enough
for full dress waiting suit is doing well.
THE coveted place most walters aspire TO
is a situation in n club house. There the av-
erage pay Is about so month. The dress
suits are either furnished free or paid for by
the waiter by small deductions from his
monthly pay. The people the waiter serves
are not a miscellaneous public, but select
company, each member of which he soon
knows personally and when individual pecu-
Iarities, likes and dislikes are known, he
runs less risk of giving offense or dissatisfac-
ton. He is sure, further, of good fare and
good usage. the club house is the walters
goal"
American walters have TO content with
certain difficulties that European walters
know nothing about said another well
known hotel proprietor. Europeans are diff
ferent from Americans. They have become
leisurely in habit They have further learned
an art comparatively rare in America-the
art Of eating They are more given to vino
and liquor drinking at meals than We Hence,
one might naturally expect, the stamp of
the people has been impressed upon the wait
ing required. In the Old World one of our
counter restaurants, with its toe treading
and elbow jostling, would be curiosity,
visited once as freak, hut Stunned after
ward. A European waiter, accustomed to
easy going habits, would lose his head and
fall where one of our walters would lie per-
fectly calm and self possessed.
mo class Of people is more pushed in its
work than American walters. III warrant
that fully so per cent. of all the people who
come into my establishment give a special in
junction to the walters to hurry; and yet
with all the rush they expect the highest de-
gree not only of skill but of courtesy on the
part of those who serve them Few Ameri-
cans visit Europe without complaining of the
execrably slow service. The fact Is, they
carry over their American habits and expect
Of European walters what they are won't to
exact from walters at home Hence they are
disappointed and disguised.
Tipping has been condemned, but, l think,
altogether too harshly. 1t is n universal Gus
tom that has come to stay. not only counte-
nance it, but favor it. think that about
10 per cent. of the value of check is the
right thing TO give the waiter and if it be
given it will insure service that no ruling Of
the proprietor can effect. Chicago News
The Dress Sack.
The dress sack, or Cowes or Tuxeko coat,
or whatever it may be called, is intended to