The Butler weekly times., 1891-01-21
NO USE FOR WATERS.
Restaurant Where Every Man Waits -
Himself and Makes Out His Own BILL

I .
| ply quick service because the paeo,a
| helps himself. All he has 10 do is -
satisfy his appetite and thirst at buffess
and then pay his check as he rushes out.
| THIS remarkable system. says the New
| York sun Is known as ''Trustinr-.o-a-
man s-honesty plan % quicl, lunch serv-
! ice" The frs, restaurant Of the kind
| was started in broadway. near Cortiandt
| street. several years age. Il succeeded
| so we'll that others initiated its meth
| DDS.
As the names Of the places imply, the
| owners trust entirely 20 mans honesty
| 70 be repaid for what has been eaten.
! Many men throughout the lower part Of
| the city do not have time during their
| business hours TO take luncheon, es-
| pccially where they have 10 go into
restaurant. hang Up their hats and
| coats. sit down al j table and wait TO be
served, and 10 these men the new plan
| is 4 boon.
When Il man plungeS into one Of these
| places at noon hc makes dash for one
! of the long counters, where delicacies
| are plentifully spread. When his eve
strikes some tid-bit that suits his fancy
he helps himself 10 il, and at the same
time orders 4 beverage from one OF the
| white-aproned men standing about. 1t
is either coffee. tea. chocolate or milk.
| and in less than ten seconds il is stand
| ing before him on the sidcboa-d, not in
dainty cup and saucer, but in a big,
plain mug.
Thus he stands up before the little
| 81, -, .i.-
being belongs 10 him, and munches
| away at his food with frequent sips from
| his mug.
When he gets his first selection down
his throat he walks to another sideboard
and selects some other delicacy.
OF course there are clerks and CASH
icrs in each of the restaurants, but none
of them seem to pay any attention to
the wanderings of q customer. He is
free TO 60 where he pleascs and select
every thing and any thing he likes.
In little place of this sort in Nassau
street the customer walks to the desk
probably while chewing his last mouth
fu. and says to the cashier:
Two ham sandwiches, cuStard and
coffee"
"Twenty-tiyc cents" says the cashier,
and the bin is paid.
The regular customers, however, know
the price of all the goods. and walking
to the counter lay down bill and say
Twenty out" or thirty out" as the
case may be, or perhaps the exact
change.
| In Broadway lunch-rooms the custom
er has to figure out his own bill To
every dish is attached card annOunc.
ing the price and on the walls are hung
placards giving the prices of all the
dishes.
When customer has finished his
lunch he goes up to little rack, takes
out a check from one of the rows, throws
it on the cashiers desk with the amount
of money i: calls for and walks out. The
correctness OF the check is never ques-
toned. The customers word is taken
every time. The men who have put up
their cash TO back this system claim that
the percentage Of customers who delib-
crately cheat the house and get more
to eat than they pay for is SO small that
it is hardly worth noticing.
This system. think said the man
ager OF the Nassau street room, lis not
new with America. 1t was first intro
iuced in Scotland many years ago. Do
lose much from beats? Well, less
than you would suppose. Such mean
ness doesn't happen more than two or
three times Il week, | am sure.
, think man who really is 4 thief and
wanted to cheat some man out of a din
ner would sooner go into big restau-
. rant than cheat me.
Sometimes man forgets something
. that he has eaten and only pays me
part of what is duo me. He rarely
fails to remember this. and only the
other day man came in and, after pay
ing his check. told ID: he owed me ten
cents which he had forgotten the day be-
fore"
At the broadway restaurant the man
ager told me he lost very little by cheat
ing.
! Many times. though, said he, there
are absent-minded men who forget what
they have eaten. and sometimes man
will walk out with his check in his
pocket. He runs across it after q time
and will be sure to have it and the
amount called for the next time he
comes in. Once Il very popular man In
; this city-an ex-Governor-came up tt
' the counter with two checks. He said
he had carried tho first one for a week
He laughed and thought it a very good
> joke.
mo, don't lose enough through dis
honesty to make any complaint. We
!, could easily find out I regular thief
anyway. All we would have to do would
be to watch the customers rather closely
and it would be only matter of a few
days before we found the right man
Then VIC would simply exclude him from
t the place"
Worked for Their Money.
l In one of the modiSh clubs OF this city
not long ago. says the New York Sun
a member told how he earned his frs