The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-02
ON TIE RAILROAD
AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION FOR
GUESTS AT BIG
HOTELS. {,
HOW WATERS WORK THE TIP.
THE SYSTEM CARRIED TO THE EX-
IRENE AT THE
CAPITAL.
IT IS NO USE TO COMPLAIN.
Or the Hotel Manager Will Rail-
road the Guest Out
Entirely.
HOW WATERS WORK THE TIP
IT IS NO USE TO COMPLAIN

people know ANYTHING about it, says
Alexander Trimble, an oldtine servant
in public places, and now a popular
night Waterman.
1.-The term railroading' in hotels,
means a system of playing practical
catch-penny tricks on guests. 1t is i'm
possible for proprietors and managers
to prevent railroading. Of course, the
bell boys and other servants cannot
practice it so much; but it is a common
thing for walters and chambermaids to
railroad guests. The funny part of it
is that the guests don't know anything
about it.
For example, new guest comes
into the hotel He is at once a mark
for the head waiter. When he comes
in TO breakfast the head waiter grave
ly takes him to a table away back in
the dining room. At dinner the guest
is given a place at another table, prob
ably with family, whose conversation
is strained by the presence of the
stranger. Then, at supper time, the
guest is shown to another table. Thus
he is railroaded around until he gets
tired, and begs for a regular seat. His
appeals are useless, for the head waiter
informs him that the very best possible
is being done for him. But, as soon as
he hands the head waiter coin, no
matter how small it is, he gets regu-
lar place But, the bigger the coin the
better the place he will get.
Suppose a railroaded guest gives up
a dollar. The head waiter will seat
him regularly at a table where one of
the best walters is engaged. But that
don't stop the railroading. The regular
waiter learns that the man is a dollar
Upper The regular waiter proceeds to
railroad the guest until he gives up
dollar. Until he begins to tip the
waiter, he gets nothing to suit him.
His meats are cold. His vegetables are
not served according to order. He may
want tomatoes, and the waiter will
bring him boiled potatoes. He may
kick, and the waiter will keep him
waiting for twenty minutes and then
bring him the tomatoes, after all of
the rest of his meal is eaten, or spoiled
by the delay. The guest will suffer all
sorts of annoyances, and may kick at
goes on just the same The clerk at
the office may call in the head waiter,
and rebuke him right before the I'M
happy guest, but the annoyances will
continue Finally when the unfortu
nate man gives his waiter tip, the
railroading ceases. But until he does
pay the waiter, he will remain on the
railroad, and nothing can help him.
Even the proprietor is powerless in the
matter. The head waiter may seat him
at another table and turn him over to
a good waiter; but he simply goes out
of the frying pan into the fire.
1.-The chambermaids have a system
of railroading, but they do not have Sc
easy a time of it, because they are
usually dealing with women; and Wo-
men don't generally carry the pocket
book 1t is very easy for a chamber
maid to forget numerous things She
may not bring towels sufficient. She
may not make up the beds early
enough in the morning. She may leave
the beds without sufficient covering.
There are scores Of ways of railroading
people in their rooms, and experienced
chambermaids know all of the tricks
Finally, when there is a piece of silver
handed to the chambermaid, things go
smoothly.
mo, 1 don't believe that it is pos
sible to stop the railroading. Proprie-
tors and managers may change walters
and chambermaids every day, only 90
get others who will do the very same
thing. In my opinion the only thing
for guests to>do is to give up early in
the game and tip their servants. 9th
erwise they will never get the kind of
attention they desire.
ONa1 Ill., IF onl6 re 10
you how l gave a hard man cold meat
I had him on the railroad for week
before he came to time. He COM
rlained to me, to the head waiter, and
to the office; but his meats came up
cold every time. One day an office CLERK
went right out to the cook, after | mad
served a cold dish, and the cook an
grily declared that he had given me
the steak right off of the fire, only
few minutes before Nobody could tell
how that meat got cold SO quick. But
it was dead easy. While [ was arrang-
ing the things on the tray, I slipped
piece of ice under the steak and left 1t
there until l picked up the tray to GO
to the dining room. Of course, that
steak looked beautiful on top, but it
was too cold to be Dalatable when the
guest went to eating it.
"One time down at Cape May 1 had
two tables to wait on, and when walt
ers' day came around 1 placed flowers
at the plates Of all my guests, except
two There was a man there with his
wife. and he had been with me several
days without giving up cent. On
walters day I garlanded my tables,
and fixed up everybody but that man..
When he and his wife came to dinner
they saw that everybody at the tables
except themselves had bouttonieres be-
side their plate and that the dishes
were fairly cleaning with decorations.
They were aStonfshed and abashed.
The gentleman spoke to a guest at his
side about it, and began to berate the
waiter But the other guest informed
him that it was because he had not
tipped the waiter. / waited on the
other people first, and kept that man
and his wife sitting there awaiting my
Meg sure. Finally he beckoned me and
slipped a five-dollar bill in my hand.
I rushed out at once to where the flow
ers were and came in quickly with
trimmings for that end of the table,
and hurried up the dinners, too. After
that the guest was quite liberal, and
when he left the hotel he declared that
was the best waiter he had ever
known But if he hadn't got off of the
railroad I'd have starved him that
summer.
soThe bell boys are obliged to answer
the rings of guests, and of course, they
can't do much railroading; but they
get there just the same, in their own
way. For example, when Senator
Shoup was guest of Wizards, he al
ways gave the bell boys a quarter, no
matter how trif1ing the service. When
ever his bell rang, the boys would al
most break their necks to get to his
room as soon as possible. For other
guests they would take their time.
Then, when any guest scolded them
for their SlOWneSS thew would reply: