The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-07
RESTAURANT CHEATS
KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE THE
BEST PROTECTION.
The Cashier of "A New York Restaurant
Discusses Several Kinds of Deadbeats
and the Methods by Which They Are
Sometimes Detected In Time.

sometimes Detected In Time.
Don't you often get cheatedf" the Gus
toner asked the cashier of down tow
restaurant who had just completed tn
work of bouncing a man who had failed {,
pay bis check
mo, not often, - said the cashier. "Tha
fellow just put out is the first man who
has got the best of me i'm whole month
i ought to have had him arrested, but il
wouldn't have done any good. lt would
only have been lot of bother TO me, and
the house couldn't have got its money. The
waiter hadn't any business to wait on
him anyway. If had seen him come i'm,
wouldn't have let him sit down at ALL "
Il should think that cheating would he
pretty easy business, remarked the Gus
toner.
Think SOL" replied the cashier. "Well,
just come I'm and try il some day. III tell
you, - he went on, ''if a man does get the
best Of ms, it is for a very small amount
Now, suppose you come in here and sit at
one of these tables around here The wait
er asks you what You want. If you should
order more than 80 cents worth of food,
the waiter would go 10 the head waiter.
Then he would get the stuff ordered, while
the head waiter would walk down and
Z
know he was doing it, but he would do il
just the same, and if he didn't like your
looks you would be watched from that
moment When you got up, there would
be a man handy, and if you tried to bolt
out through the door you would be collar
cd so quick that your hair would be on
end. If you had the money about you,
you'd give up. If you didn't, you'd go to
Jail. If you sat up in those reserved seats,
you might get as cents worth Of food in |
side of you. The walters at those tables |
are allowed 10 serve that much without |
notifying the head waiter. The same proc
ess would be followed if you ordered more
than the limit at that end f"
Suppose man came in and ate a meal
and then discovered that he had left his
money in his other trousers would that
excuse goY''
THAT would all depend, said the cash.
Ter. That's a more or less common ex-
cuse must say. l can size a man up who
is lying about thing like that. When
man is honest about il, he Is in a mighty
embarrassing position, and he shows il.
The honest man generally wants TO leave
watch or knife or ring or something
else as security. Now, we never ask man
TO do anything like that here We simply
ask him TO leave his name and call and
pay the next time he is around 1t isn't
once month that we make a mistake I'm
sizing man up the size of his check PLAYS
an important part You see. man who
eats and then finds he has left his money !
at home eats the same kind of meal he is 4, ,
accustomed to pay for, Well, If a fellow
puts down check for 80 or ~ cents and :
he looks like % cent eater the chances :
are that he Is lying and chat he came i'm l
ana ate not intending to pay If make I
up my mind he did that hC goes 20 iail
because that Is the kind of fellow were "
looking for But if he looks like a fairly G
good liver his excuse with that size check .
would go quicker than il would with a q
small check, because fellows who eat so or j
40 cents worth 40 q meal don Z e., p cent l.
meals j
You have 10 take all these things into q
consideration when man comes IN with u
"A check and no money. The hardest man Is
We ever have TO deal with is the man who a.
zones IN and sits down at table and aft
Pr he gets through walks up To the de-k e
ihd says: I've eaten - cents worth Of &c
oou because was hungry, and | can't
Fly Tor H. What are you going TO do about It
u. Now, the chance urc that that man is ~
tH'hg the absolute truth He was ham Id
Try ana desperate. and he came i'm dclibcr.
'eiy intending 20 stcal his meal You
ION want TO lock such q man up. Hos
n hard lucI, that's al. You say TO him. N
Why uldn You tell me this fcforp Won hl
at uoWh: 10 WASH necessary for you TO
teal. would have given IL to YOU. which IN
: the truth. The boss never wants - do. di
CRYING man turned away hungry. and if III
man comes in and tells me he is hungry 10
nd l believe him III give him n good W
lbStantial meal, probably more than ms Ia
.ould order If be started i'm Co cheat mo To
Ut OF it. But of course we don't get any Ii
'edlt Tor doing thing like that. and nine an
mes out OF ten the man who comes IN
nc way THIS man does I'm talking about ga
VIII laugh al you and say: That's all III
Try wen 10 say now that I've got the al
eaI III me. But If I'd asked you for il Wi
Iu nave turned me down Just as I've su
zen turned down dozen times tonight. nc
mere only one thing to do with man no
ne mat. That's TO get the biggest man al
'he place and have him do stunts with m,
MUM nm on his head, bang him us
'ouU lttle and then turn him out with bu
warning. It's a great deal better than an
resting him.
The ordinary choat-that is. the man m!
|
~ ana sits down at one table and cats a tie
q meal and gets check for il and then OF
the way out drops down at another Ia. L
e and eats 10 cents worth and gets an. Ia
her check, which he pays later. destroy. mi
2 The big check-thero is nothing to do ha
ith except 10 prosecute Whenever we Tho
u that Kind of a cheat, we nut him i'm wi
ll and then we will spend the price of wi
oOO checks prosecuting him. lie is n pc
ain thief and probably would be a bur. ito
ar or somc Other high grade criminal If a d
mad the necessary nerve. There's inst ne.
Re thing that everybody should rernom. RE
r-that 1t pays To be honest i'm "A cbcon tia
staurant If you are not honest Won are Pr
Ible TO get your head broken and got
,ked up in the bargain. If YOU are hon.
D. you'll get along all right, money or -
money, only don't ever get the idea in De
ur head that cheap restaurant is n "a j
aritable institution for honest men. for wa
Ism I. New York sun 80
bis
MnsQaVni