Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-01

apples he bruised dozen sound ones before he found one to his liking. He p4eled this, dropped the peel on the floor for us to pick up, and with evident satis- faction devoured the fruit. Shortly af- ter this he attempted to get up an argu- plent with one of my best customers as te the origin of the hard times, and while doing this he picked up and dispos- ed of a handful of raisins. The last course of his morning meal was pull at the cider barrel. Can you blame me for being just little bit out with him?'
 How often does he do this?
 Every dayl But that isn't half the story I'll guess you that on fair aver -age there are twenty people who enter my store every day who thoughtlessly pick up something and eat it. No one thinks anything about it, not even the man I have been telling about. The loss from this cause in the course of year is enough to pay my insurance. There is no way to stop it that l know of. Most of them are our customers and we are forced to stand it. But the old chronic, some day will simply break his neck"
 Going into another store the question was the cause of a hearty laugh. fol- lowed by rather a serious expression.
 "Callem nippers, galli nippers, or what you please, but they are the most thoughless people on earth. There is absolutely no way to head them off It is no wild assertion to say that annually there is carried away from my store barrel of sugar, and with 1t goes nu- merous other articles. It is surprising the number of persons who pick up lit- tie thing here and another there, eating them as though they were hungry, when they are not I am no doctor, but guess about half the people who are suffering from dyspepsia, stomach troubles and at tendant physical evils could trace their lac rio tr a hnSV day I would think not less than 100 peo- pie will pick up something to eat, some of them two or three morsels. How much year do lose by this? There is posi- lively no way to estimate 1t and 1 am glad I am ignorant of the true facts.
 Tt hasn't been three minutes since fellow went out of here after having free lunch at my expense" said another good-natured grocery keeper. Perhaps he can't tell a wet from a dry grocery, but the manner in which he helped him self would make an unsophisticated fel- low like me think he Is a patron of free lunch counters. What did he take? Oh, nothing much-three or four crackers hunk of cheese and pickle. This prac- tice is not only great expense, but IS an awful nuisance. Ten chances to one when the fellow helped himself to that cheese he gouged 1t out till 1t looks like the mice had been gnawing holes in 1t. I will give anybody a $10o bill who will put a stop to this petty offering. The fellows who want 8, few cinnamon drops or peppermint to settle their stomachs ere legion, and sometimes more of these goods are carried off than are sold"
 q had an experience this summer in the line you mention" said one of our leading grocers, "that demonstrates to a nicety the magnitude of this 'nipping habit I purchased a bushel of red plums when the market was over-stocked. They were at the front door on the side walk, and as sure as we are stand ing here, they were all carried away but two quarts. That statement is positive .ly true. Over and over, every day in the year, people help themselves very freely to little things, as freely as if they cost nothing. But let me tell you little joke. The other day a stranger came in and asked me to sell him a postal card. While I was getting it he picked up 3u apple and when he went out he gobbled an- other Certainly it is a nuisance, but what can we do about 1t? It makes me scringe a little to see fellow cabbage an orange or pull off banana, but oeca- sionally this happens"
 "Nippers!" exclaimed the next vender of sugar and coffee spoken to. "Nippers! Call them that if you choose. Come to think of it, I would like to have nippers on a few of them I have one fellow
 that takes off my show case all the matches his family needs. He don't do 1t purpOSely, IL IS Slmply d ndDlt- SdheS, crackers, pickles, cheese, apples, candy. in fact everything of an edible kind ex- posed for sale is 'nipped. as you call it. and eaten on the premises. Everybody thinks if they think anything, they are the only person guilty of this habit. People by the dozen do this and in the course of year it amounts to many and many a dollar. On a square guess I would say have had a bushel of peaches sampled this season, and how much oth- CT ripe fruit has gone the same way would be a difficult thing to estimate"
 "The habit of which you speak," said the last man called on, 'is one that mo- body ever thinks about but the grocery keeper. It exists wherever there is grocery store. Our trade journals are full of all sorts of devices to prevent it. There are boxes and barrel covers, pat ent holders, racks, screens and even cases with patent and secret locks. These are all beneficial in their way. We can't af- ford to tell people to leave things alone, neither can we afford to lose them, but we lose them just the same.'s At this moment a customer entered the store, and while the proprietor tied up dol lars worth of granulated sugar, on which his profit was cents. not counting de- lvering 1t a half mile fellow stepped inside and in less than three minutes he ate three crackers two prunes and ginger snap, while a man on the outside picked up an apple and another broke off a stock of celery to see if it was crisp.