The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1897-04-19
BLOOD HUMORS c6FI5GRgy EfI4af9sy ynssfbIEs. ggfff x
RESTAURANT CHEATS
KNOWLEDGE or HUMAN N-NATURE THE
BEST PROTECTION.

The Cashier OF New York Restaurant
Discusses Several Kinds Of Deadbeats
and the Methods by which They Are
Sometimes Detected In Time.
"Don't you often get choatedF' the Gus
toner asked the cashier Of q down town
restaurant who had just completed the
work of bouncing n man who had failed to
pay his check.
''No, not often, " said the cashier. "That
fellow l Just put out is the first man who
has got the best of me IN u whole month
I ought to have had him arrested, but st
wouldn't have done any good. 1t would
only have been a lot of bother to me, and
the house oouldn have got its money The
waiter hadn't any business to wait on
him anyway. If 1 had seen him come in,
l wouldn't have let him sit down at all. "
II should think that cheating would be
a pretty easy business" remarked the Gus
toner.
"Think sop replied tho cashier "Well
Just come in and try it some day. I'll tell
you, ," he went on, &c a man does get the
best Of us, 1t Is for very small amount.
Now, suppose you como 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 so cents worth of food,
the waiter would go to the head waiter.
Then he would get the stuff ordered, while
the head waiter would walk down and
size you up. or course you wouldn't
know he waa doing Ii, but he would do it
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 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. II you didn't, you'd go to
Jail. If you sat up in those reserved seats,
you might get IS cents worth Of food in.
side of you. The walters at those tables
are allowed TO serve that much without
notifying the head waiter The same proc.
ess would be followed If you ordered moro
than the limit at that end. "
"Suppose n man came in and ate meal
and then discovered that he had left his
money in his other trousers, would that
excuse go2"
"That would all depend, " said the cash
Ter. "That's more or less common ex-
cuse, must say. 1 can size man up who
is lying about a thing like that. When a
man is honest about it, he is in mighty
embarrassing position, and he shows it.
The honest man generally wants to leave
a watch or n knife or a ring or something
else as security. Now, we never ask a 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 mistake. In
sizing O man up the size Of his check plays
an important part. You sec man who
eats and then finds he has left his money
at home cats the same kind of meal ne is
accustomed to pay for. Well, If fellow
puts down n check for 30 or IS cents and
he looks like 25 cent eater, the chances
are that he is lying and that he came in
and ate not intending to pay. If / make
up my mind he did that, nc goes to Jail,
4 because that is the kind of fellow we're
/ looking for. But if he looks like n fairly
1 good liver his excuse with that size check
I would go quicker than it would with a
\ small check, because fellows who eat 90 or
I 75 cents worth at meal don't eat 25 cent
\ meals.
"You have to take all these things into
| consideration when a man comes up with
| q check and no money, The hardest man
we ever have 20 deal with is the man who
comes in and sits down at table and aft
/
and saysi I've eaten 25 cents worth Of
food because was hungry, and l can't
| pay for IT, What are you going TO do about
! itY' Now, the chances are that that man is
| telling the absolute truth. He was hun
| CRY and desperate, and he came in deliber-
ntoly intending to steal his meal. You
/ don't want to lock such man up, He's
| in hard luck, that's all You say to him
| Why didn't you tell me this before you
sat DOWN. 1t wasn't necessary for you to
steal. would have given IL to you, which
| Is the truth. The boss never wants a de-
serving man turned away hungry, and If
a man comes ia and tells me he is hungry
and 1 believe him III give him a good,
substantial meal, probably more than he
would order If he started in to cheat me
out of It, But of course we don't get any
credit for doing thing like that, and nine
times out of ten the man who comes NJ
the way this man does Pm talking about
he will laugh at you and say; That's all
very well to say now that I've got the
meal in me. But if I'd asked you for il
you'd have turned me down just as I've
been turned down dozen times tonight,
There's only one thing to do with a mar
like that That's to get the biggest mar
in the place and have him do stunts with
/ nlIn-bufu MN on ms hedui DhnH Pill
about littlo and then turn him out witt
warning, It's II great deal better thar
arresting him.
"The ordinary cheat-that IS, the man
vino comes in during the busy part Of thC
day and sits down at one table and eats d
big meal and gets check for it and then
on the way out drops down at another Ia
BILE and eats 10 cents worth and gets an
other check which he pays later, destroy
Ing Che big check-thcro is nothing to dc
with except to prosecute. Whenever We
get that Kind Of cheat, we put him IN
jail, and then we will spend the price OF
LOCO checks prosecuting him. He Is a
plain thief and probably would be bur
glaT or some other high grade criminal Il
he had the necessary nerve. There's just
one thing that everybody should remem
ber-that It pays to be honest in "a cheaI
restaurant II you are not honest, you ar'
liable to get your head broken and gel
locked up I'm the bargain. If you are hon
est, youu get along all right money oi
no money, only don't ever get the idea il
your head TINT cheap restaurant is
charitable institution for honest men, fol
1t isn't. New York Sun.
Grip p-Colds-HeadaChe.