The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1895-08-01
WAYS OF BUSINESS.
The MERCHANT WHO CORRECTS
ONLY ONE KIND OF MISTAKE.

keepers and Cashiers-lhe Steamboat
Clerk Who said, I'VE Never Rectify Mis-
takes Here"
No one perceives the wisdom, and in
deed the necessity, Of accurate book
keeping more fully than your humble
servant. who can't keep books to save
her life and who finds herself approach
ing dementia every time she endeayors
to balance cash account. But why III
all bookkeeping systems. from banks TO
the smallest retail shop, is it invariably
the customer who gets cheated if any
body: Tell me We winged winds. which
Ger my pathway roll 1t is useless TO
contradict and say that it isn't The
one exception III thousand years does
not count against the millions Of oppos-
ing instances | have lately read the
pathetic account by some ~ ln~o, who
never goes shopping, Of the blaodthlrsty
monsters who take more change than Is
due them and stalk out, leaving no al
dress behind them, little rocking the
sutferings Of the poorly paid employee
who has TO make good the deficit out Of
mistakes occur, or, If they do, they are
rarer than fresh vegetables on IA country
table In all large establishments there
Is a hawk headed Horua at the sc desk
waiting to pounce on mistake IN the
customer : favor Of | cent, and many
the time every one Of Us can testify the
little slips have been returned 10 be cor
xr.i,i 10
we fumed.
Thank goodness, there are instances
in which the sharpshooters have wound
ed themselves Once | was on sound
boat going from New York TO Fall River,
and the mani at the desk gave me 81
bill too much in change when paying
after supper. There was something Of "a
crowd, but that mistake would have
made itself evident to me in mob. /
dashed back and said, you've made a
mistake in my change.
Cant help that, said the lordly
clerk Whenever reetify mistakes here.
"Oh, you DON'T retorted the head Of
the party We'll, it will cost you some
thing this time, for you have given Us
s. too much. But if You never rectify
mistakes you are the loser for once.
1t is foolish to dwell ON the sequel,
and have forgotten 1T. [ only remem~
Der that the young man, pale and agl-
tated, danced in supplication around the
unmovcd figure of the stern admonisher
for some minutes. | suppose he got his
money, and | dare say there Was no law
upholding one in keeping IT, but | hope,
at this distance of time, be didn't. One
day, not long ago, | was at IA furnishing
shop in State street, Chicago buying a
tie The price was 81, 80, and present
ed the man with 81 bill He swung
over the little birdcage on telegraph
line and it came swiftly back with 50
cent piece. Seeing another tie for that
price, | handed back the change and
was about to leave, when Voice came
from the elevated desk at the other end :
Hi This half dollar is eOunterfeitW
Although it was public place and |
am a retiring lady, burst wildly forth
into a clarion shout of joy 1t Is so sell
dom a modest customer has the chance
of beholdng a natural enemy caught
with his own quicklime. The mortlfica-
ton If the salesman serving me was
something TO see 1t did me good for -
whole day. sending "A counterfeit half
dollar cheerfully and with promptitude
i'll change and repudiatng it on its re
turn the next minute! 1t was sharp
game and little too sharp
Everybody who shops much knows
that it Is next to impossible to get a
returned" article credited, or, indeed,
called for. If you take two rugs on ap-
prevail mention rugs because you
can t very we'll return them by hand
and state clearly and plainly and over
and over tho price Of the one you have
kept and the one you wish returned,
you are more likely than not to find
both on your bill the next month, and
you arc likely to find the rug day after
day littering your hall unless you tele-
phone twice day and end by flOuncing
down yourself III rage and demanding
its instant removal. OF course if it is
kept long you are charged with it, any
way The other night, when it was very
hot, some friends of lady in moderate
circumstances dining with her suggest
ed drive in the park. One of the men
telephoned for landau, and at the end
of the drive paid for it. Tho next week
the bill came into the lady. Now of
course this was an accident. But why
duesn { the other accident ever happen?
Why should thousands of bills come in
To he Daid twice, while by no oversight
or bad management does "a bill ever get
forgotten or overlooked? Money getting,
grasping, greedy generation Of shop
keepers Business is business, if you
like. but business need not be cut
throat, bloodthirsty system Of demand
ing what is not due, need 1t? Must 1T be
in this way that men grow rich:
1t is because only one Kind of mis-
takes occur that one is justified in think
ing that only one kind is guarded
against. The customer has to look ont
for himself and the shopkeeper too The
shopkceper only looks out for himself.
As for the breaking of promises, the
calm delays and the superb independ-
ence of "puryeyors, words fail me
when | attempt TO depict their aggrava
tions. Success breeds contempt, it seems,
and the only way to get thing done
promptly is to patronizea little up town
place where they cant do it-Mme
Lorgnette in Chicago Post.
Read Your Letter Again.
,s,rl,t