Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-09-14


keepers and Cashcrs--hc Steamboat
Clerk Who Said. ave Never Hcctify Mis-
takes Here"
No one Forcc.yca ITO wisdom, and in
deed the necessity, of accurate book
keeping more fully than your humble
tcrvant, who can't keep DO DkS to save
her life and who finds herself approach
ing demcntia every time she endeavors
to balance cash account. But why in
all bookkeeping systems, from banks to
tho smallest retail shop, is it Invariably
the customer who gets cheated if any
body? Tell me, yo winged winds, which
DER my pathway roll 1t is useless to
contradict and say that it isn't. The
one exception III a thousand years does
not count against the millions Of oppos-
ing instances. l have lately read the
pathetic account by some rcclusc, who
never goes shopping, Of the bloodthrsty
monsters who take more change than is
due them and stalk out, leaving no adj
dress behind them, little rocking the
sutferings of the poorly paid employee
who has to make good tho deficit out of
his or her own pocket Fudge! No such
mistakes occur, on, if they do, they are
rarer than fresh Vegetables on Il country
table, In all large establishments there
is a hawk headed Horus at the desk
waiting to poulco on IL mistake i'll tie
| customers favor of 1 cert, and many's
the time every one Of us can testify tie
little slips have been returned to be cor
rected of mistakes to our credit, while
we fumed
Thank goodness, there are instances
in which the sharpshooters have wound
ed themselves. Once | was OH a sound"
boat going from New York to Fall River,
and the man at the desk gave me Il So
bill too much in change when paying
after supper, There was something of u
crowd, but that mistake would have
made itself evident to me in a mob. I
dashed back and said, You've made q
mistake in my change"
Cant help that said tho lordly
clerk. eve never rectify mistakes here.
ooh, you don't?' retorted the head of
the party. "Wcll, it will cot you some
thing this time, for you have given us
S. too much. But if you never rcctify
mistakes you are the loser for once. "
1t is foolish to dwell Gil the sequel,
and have forgotten it. l only remem-
Der that the young man, pale and agi
! tatcd danced in supplicatiOn around the
unmoved figure OF the stern admonisher
for some minutes, l suppose he got his
money, and dare say there was no law
unfolding one i'll keeping it, but l hope,
at this distance of time, be didn't. One
day, not long ago, l was at a furnishing
shop in State street, Chicago, buying a
tie. The price was 81. 80, and present
ed the man with So bill. He swung
over the little birdcago on telegraph
line and it came swiftly back with SO
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 counterfeitr'
Although it was u public place and
am retiring lady, l burst wildly forth
into a clarion shout of joy. 1t is so sell
dom Il modest customer has the chance
Of bcholding natural enemy caught
with his own Quicklimc. The mortifca-
ton of the salesman serving me was
something to see. 1t did me good for a
whole day Sending IL counterfeit half
dollar cheerfully and with promptitude
in change and repudiating it on its re-
turn tho next minutet 1t was a sharp
game and little too sharp.
Everybody who shops much knows
that it is next to impossible to get
returned article credited, or, indeed,
called for If you take two rugs on APP
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 tho next month, and
you are likely to find tho rug day after
day littering your hall unless you tele-
phone twice % day and end by fiouncing
down yourself i'll a 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 il lady in moderate
circumstances dining with her suggest
ed II 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 tie lady. Now of
course this was an accident. But why
doesn't the other accident ever happen?
Why should thousands of bills come in
to be paid twice, while by no oversight
or bad management does a bill ever get
forgotten OF 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 it? Must it be
III this way that men grow rich?
1t is bcc1use 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 out
for himself and the shOpEeeper too. The
shopkeeper only looks ont for himself.
AS for the breaking of promises, the
calm delays and the superb independ
ence Of "pUrvoyors, words fail me
when l attempt 70 depict their aggrava-
tions. Succ,ss breeds contempt, it seems,
and the Only way to get Il thing done
promptly is to PATRONAGE little mp town
place where they can't do it.--Mme.
Lorgnctte in Chicago Post
New Year day is legal holiday in
all the states but Massachusetts, New