Evening star., 1895-09-07
THE FLOORW AlKER
He Has Substantial Smile and Important
Duties.
A Wide Range of Details Which Come
Under the Supervision of
This Official.

beams on you from afar. His hai- is part
| ed exactly in the middle, his sidew lskers
are startlingly stiff. ard his necktie is of
| surprising whitensss
He Is the floorwalker and as the ground
| floor representative of the powers upstairs
| whose names appear on the sign, he is
| look ed upon with awe and veneration by the
lest of the help. By the public he is looked
| upon and used guidebook TO the store
and handy reference manual rs 10 street
| cars, halls and pubic buildings. And
| through it all he smiles and rubs his hands
| No one has been able to discover just who
was the first floorwalker or who taught
him his business. Searchers after knowl-
edge in this direction can only imagine
what mental struggles the first floorwalker
must nave naG trying to remember on
| what floor the hosiery was anG whether the
| firm kept stove lifters. With no master
| mind to guide him and no predecessor to
| teach him things. how he must have wor-
ried when some asked him to mlnd
| baby while she and mother went upstairs
| to see the corsets. But the 1oorWalker OF
| today is creature of evolution. He IS the
product originally of the larger dry goods
| stores, which We're the forerunners or the
great department stores. and in the latter
| establishments the foorwalker is an abso-
lutte necessity.
His job is peculiar one. In the first
place. he has to struggle alonG through Efe
|
| cogent reason why he should be called
| ''hoorwalker'' any more than policeman
| should be called a sleeper. Both do other
| things at times. The tioorwaiker might pe
| called usher or director or steeicr with
| much more reason and proprfety. But some
| one began by calling the first one noor-
walker and since then the class must bear
| the name until such time as the r!oor-
| walkers Protective Union shall rise and de-
mand that change be made: But IN the
| dry goods store, as an Offset to the ue-
pressing title, the fioorwalker mas tne per
| ousite of being called ''Mr," while the clerk
| in the notions is simply Thompson. rms
| is regarded as a distinct advance IN the
scale of the store. and Thompson whlie nc. ne
| hates Mr. Smith," looks forward lonslngiy
| to the time when he will be Mr." Thomp-
| SON. anG have stiff sidewhiskers and
white necktie and emile.
His Many Duties.
| The duties of the f1oorwal!lar are not laid
| down in any code or copy of rules anu
| regulations. They are not limited; no one
| not even the foorwalker himself, knows
| lust where they end. They are by no means
| confined, as the thoughtless might suspect
to walking the floor. The fioorwilker Is eN-
ncAed to smile constantly and rub his
| hands as often and steadily as is con-
| sstent with his other duties. He is a gen
| eral guide to the establishment, be IT one
hundred feet square or six Teen stories hlgn'
If he doesn't know where the uepai 7.
| r.ent that you ask for is located ne IS 10
| smile wave his hand indefinitely and say
Third floor. to the right: take elevator.
| In all disputes arising between ernployes
| and customer he is the board of arpilta-
| ton. and his powers in this regard are
| broad or limited, accorcinS 10 WhstiiSt "
| not the proprietor lis out to luhca. II ne 10
| the question is promptly setued. anu ea, eneie
| is no appeal from the dtctum OF the icof
| walker If he is not, the autocrat OF ihe
| notion counter sometimes eondeseends 10
| let him know what Is going Oh anu 10 oil'ei
Eut the manifold and peculiar duties OF
| the tloorwalker do rot end here, by any
| means He is also detective Besides
being a guide book, a judge ara an s,a. en-
| merit on prices, he is a wise and wary Sher-
| lock Holmes. He is supposed TO keep an
eye open for shoplifters, and while ne IS
| smiling his blandest and rubbing his HANDS
| he may be piping a suspect, as the de-
| tectives do in dime novels -
| When the foorwalker has made uo Els
| mind that some one has his or her own
| designs upon the stock. he just forGets
few other things and watches the suspect.
| Usually the fioorwalker is right, for tney
| get to be experts after awhile and the wo-
| man with the long cape Will be seen 10
| pick up something from counter ana pass
| swiftly along in the crowd. Eut the Hoor-
| walker is after her, and before she sels
| out he says: Excuse me, madame; Will
YOU kindly step into the managers othce
When He Gets Married.
| Then it is all off. She kindly steps in
| sometimes, and then again she makes a
| fuss and threatens to have them all ar
rested ard hanged, but the manager gets
| the property, the shoplifter is arrested,
and the noorwalker resumes his smile,
| gently rubs his hands together and re-
| turns to his place to tell people that the
| crockery is in the basement and the yarns
| are on the third floor.
And there are other troubles galore for
| the man of the smile and the eagle eye.
| If one of the young women clerks has a
picnic party on hand and, therefore, be-
| comes suddenly i'll, the fioorwalker has
| to see that her place is filled, and that her
| salary is docked one day. And when the
| foreYoman gets married, which is the only
| cause of vacancies in the dry goods stores,
| the floorwalker is expected to recommend
| a clerk for the place.
When business IS dull. the floorwalker
| is expected to keep the young women, es-
| pecially the pretty ones; from growing
| tired by chatting gayly about his younger
| days and what gay young man he was
| when he was in the ribbons.
Now and then floorwaker gets married
| rjed, and there is one clerk less in the
| store, for, of course, self-respecting
| foorwalker would go outside of his own
establishment to seek wife. The affair
| usually begins by the little chats over the
| showcase becoming more frequent and be-
| fore long he begins to take her to her car
| every evening. In the course of time he
| gets on the and pays her fare, and sees
tnat no one steals her peiore She gets
| home.
Then they begin going out TO lunch to-
gether at noon, and the ether clerks look
| wistfully at the proceedings, declare
| that she is a bold forward thing, and has
| been trying to catch him ever since she
| came to the store. and the Lord knows
| it's time she caught some one. And not
much time goes by until there is a very
| small and quiet wedding one night, and
he comes back to the store looking very
proud and happy, and declaring that he
| has the best little woman in the world,
| while she does not come back at all.
After that the talks with the girls over
the counters are not so frequent or so con.
tidentia but the floorwalker continues
to smile and rub his hands as he talks to
his customers. And he will probably con-
tinue to do until the last fioorwalter
is holding the last job in the world, be-
fore he gives way to what manner of man
will succeed him.