The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-01
WOMAN WHEN SHE SHOPS
THINGS SHE DOES AND THINGS SHE
SAYS WHEN IN THE STORES.
FOrgets Her ChanEe-Loses Her Be-
Buys Things She Doesn't Need.



phases of mental alteration are more con-
spicuous in woman than in a big dry goods
store. Shopping certainly has curious eff
feet on the average woman She gets be-
wildered in the labyrinths of the finery that
she loves so WELL and does and says all
manner of queer things. In the course of
chat man who has worked his way up
from cash boy to assistant superintend-
ent of a big department store told Sun
reporter about the strange things that
women do while shopping.
Really, I believe if a body of physicians
were set to watch store full of women
shoppers for day. he said they would
decide that at least ha,f of them were suf-
fering from lunancy of one form or another
Women do strange things when shopping,
and, of course, all the very unusual actions
reach my ears. Every day hundreds of
women come in, make purchase, and go
off leaving their change and very often
their parcel, too. This is such a common
occurrence that we've had to establish de-
partment to take care of the money and
packages left in this way-a department
entirely separate from the lost and found
counter. The customer in such cases in
variably returns and Identifies her goods,
states the amount due her, RECEIVERS both,
natural thing for a woman to buy an ar
ticle, pay for it, and then leave it and the
change behind.
THE number of women who give wrong
addresses where goods are to be delivered
is astonishing, and that is one of the most
troublesome bad habits that shoppers have.
The majority of them give the wrong adj
dress heedlessly. They have their minds
on something else, and may be they have
moved and give their old address. Not long
ago we sent parcel to a woman, and when
the maid met the delivery man at the door
she said there was no such person there
The lady of the house, an old woman
heard the talk in the hall and hobbled out
from the drawing room to see what it was
all about. The package was addressed to
her niece, who had been married ten years
and had made her home there previous to
that. When she made the purchase she
gave her maiden name and her old address,
though she had never lived there since her
marriage There isn't store in New York
where the saleswomen and statesmen are
not particular in taking addresses. 1t pays
them to be, and they are required to first
repeat the address, then write it, and next
to repeat it again to the customer. With
all that, women constantly give wrong adj
dresses. We can't require our customers
to write the address themselves, but it
happened just few days ago that one of
the girls asked customer to do so. The
goods were sent and the driver brought
them back saying that it was the wrong adj
Oh ess. A few days later the customer came
in and gave that girl the worst tongue
lashing she probably ever got and told her
that she was going straight to the super
intendent to report her for inett1c1ency and
CarelesSness.
WROTE 1T HERSELF.
The girl waited until the woman finished
her TRADE and opening her book said
very politely:
Madam, don't you remember you wrote
the address for me yourself? L don't know
how 1 ever happened to ask you to do SO,
but l did and here it is
1.-The woman stood and looked at her
own writing and gasped. Did she apollo
gize to the girl? Not much. She turned
on her and said:
- 1t was probably a very easy thing for
you to change that four to three The
girl did not lose her place.
There is a class of shoppers who pur-
chase goods and have them sent to wrong
addresses purposely. Often a woman will
buy something ana have it sent c. o. d.
TO a neighbor with whom she is not on
friendly terms, just to cause her annoyance.
Thousands OF parcels are sent out from
by nearly distracted persons.
Women do another queer thing fire.
Quently. can make IL more clear by tell
ing of specific case. One of our uptown
customers wealthy woman, bought a
pair of cheap rubbers here one day and
had them fitted They were delivered that
afternoon, and the next day she brought
them back and insisted that they were en-
trely too large for her rather small foot.
She scored the salesWoman severely for
having made such an error, and when the
girl said that they were the proper size,
she raved like a mad woman The girl was
patient, and after considerable Wheedling
persuaded the customer to trV the rub
bers. They fitted to T, and the woman left
iii a good humor. They do the same thing
in the underwear and ready made dress de-
partment. Why, | cannot explain, for there
is no reason in such action.
"One of the commoneSt things that sales
women have to contend against is the
turning of goods bought at some other store.
In nearly every case of this kind the GUS
toner declares that she can recall the exact
location of the article on the counter and
many other details in connection with its
purchase. We often have no little trouble
In proving that the goods have been pur-
chased elsewhere.
"A great many women buy things just to
be buying. They order them sent to be
paid for on delivery, without the slightest
intention Of keeping them. l noticed this
failing in the sex even when I was a cash
boy, and I've always been interested in this
phase of the shopper. I've come to the con-
clUsion that the majority of women who do
this do not willfully intend to give trouble.
They see other people buying things and
they can't resist the temptation of doing
likewise At a recent sale of mems fur
nishing goods a rather elderly-lookng wom-
an stepped up to the counter and ordered
a number of things selecting them with
the greatest care. They We're ordered to go
c. O. D.. and after having delivered parcels
a number of times, we learned from the
servants that not a man lived in the house
or had lived there for a number of years
That woman probably just couldn't resist
buying those things, although she had no
intention of keeping them.
BECAUSE THEY WERE CHEAP.
1--WE had a bargain sale of shoes not long
ago, selling two thousand pairs of two-dol-
lar shoes at % cents each. Women crowded
around the counter seven and eight deep
and I'll venture to say that over half
those shoes were sold to persons who could
not wear them and had nobody in their
families who could They fell over each
other, grew hysterical, and several tainted
in their efforts to get waited on. The shoes
run in small numbers, from ones to twos,
think, and there was hardly woman pres
ent at the sale who wore less than a four.
LAS for purses, umbrellas, handkerchiefs
gloves and goods purchased elsewhere they
leave them scattered broadcast on the coun-
tiers. Such things are sent Immediately to
the lost and found counter, and If a Gus
toner comes back in few minutes for her
property and finds that the girl who waited
on her hasn't il, she frequently accuses her
women do this, too. 1t takes strong char
acter, a very Womanly woman to stand the
shopping test. I've long ceased to blame
the average woman for her idiCsyncracies
in a big dry goods store, for l really believe.
there is something in the atmosphere that
9Hd har - m