The age-herald., 1897-11-14

 ; CHRONIC SHOPPERS ; f< DAILY SCENES C. N N DEPARTMENT STORES. ,
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stores in the city. That brings custon- CTS back, of course, and the time comsa when They are compelled to buy some- thinga
 "Is it true that 1t s no trouble Ito show goods?' asked the young matron.
 Why, of couG SC, that couldn't be true,' answered the saleswoman with smile. You saw me show that wSman whom l was waiting on when you came in nearly every silk petticoat in the store. Well, of course, it was trouble to take them out of their plaees and to put them back, es- pecially when I knew from the start that she was looking only fer fun. For my life, I don't see how women enjoy put ting in their time this way. Nine times out of ten these women keep a girl out of sales. So she has little nlonsy in her book at night, and she is rated accord dngly, though 1t may not be her fault.
 "Of course the salespeople who have the biggest sales in their books at night are regarded as the most efficient work CTS, and this advances their chances of promotion. Really, I think if the aver age woman stopped to think or was told how girls standing with her employ CTS is affected by just looking she would think twice before she took up our time needlessly. I've come to the conclusion that people with plenty of money can't put themselves in the places of those who toil for the necessaries of life. If it was once brought clearly to the minds of the leisure class women that we are not only physically, but mentally and materially, Injured by them when they go on these excursions they might be more consid- erate."
 Right. my dsar," sasd the motherly woman, emphatically. And if all these club women would discuss such ques- tions at their meetings instead of harp inlg so much on how to better the con- ditfon eff the working classes in a general way, civilization would advance a peg or two" and off shs, and her friend fiounced to interview another aaleswomanL
 "Of course,' said this one. there are two sides to this question It Is impos- sible for a woman to shop intelligently off-hand. Suppose she wants to put $100 in a coat. That Is a good deal of money, and sIhs' does not want to spend it for the first $100 ccat that is shown her. She wants to look at 8. number of coats at that price, and then she wants to com pare them with $100 coats in other shops. That is but right, and if customer frankly states her position at the start the average SaleSwoman in a Well-con- ducted store will not deem 1t trouble some to show her every $100 coat in stock, and will not feel hard toward Ger if she goes ellsew1helrs to look before buy ing. The class of shoppers who flag us out completely are those who come to look without the slightest idea of buying
 
 who know more about every department in this store, except mine, than I do and I've been f,sre ten years. They come every day. and go from place to place looking and pricing, - pricing and looking. Some days when I've had to wait on a dozen such I fei-l like scream ing: Have you women nothing to do at honAs?' But of course I can't do that, fer I must smile ard look fliesgant and act as if showing goods to people who didn't mean to buy was the joy of my life
 '"rhe easiest customers in the world to please" testified a third saleswoman, "are the business women. They are al- most invariably sure sales. A business woman has no time to run from store to store looking al goods Before she goes into shop she knows exactly what she wants and about how much she is going to pay for it. She generally goes to a firs1t-class house. because early in her business career she learns that it pays to buy only the best things Conse- quently she is suited usually at the first place where she looks. Sometimes af- ter I've had a siege with chronic shop pers l almost wish that every woman in the world had to work for living. at least long enough to learn how to shop only when she really wants to buy some thing"
 The crusaders looked at each othein laughed and went 10 the silk department to hear what the salesmen thought of chronic shoppers.
 I'm sure no other department in the store has to deal with so many of them as we do right hers,' said a veteran salesman. i've been in the silk bUisi- nsss for thirty years, and in the old days such thing as a woman going into store me ely foT the sake of looking at goods was unheard of. Then we could keep our goods intact and make big sales, too. But nowadays it's pull down and put up from morning un,fl night just 10 accommodate women who appear to think that they bestow a favor on shopkeepers by merely looking at their wares. They seem to me to go In droves. Why, every day of my life I hear two, three, four, and maybe five plan meet enc another the next morning early to take in all of the shops. The faces of such shoppers are just as familiar in all of the ttg departms mt stores as the faces of employees. The sacespeople know the m by sight, and, although 1t goes terribly against the grain, we have to treat them with the same courtesy that we show our best customers. It would nsver do to offend them. They make public opinion just as much as the women who shop only to buy, and there is such an army of them that if they once got down on a store they could almost cause it to be boycotted. Besides, a salesman Is ma chine, and he is paid to attend to peo- ples wants, to show them goods with out questioning whether they want to buy or not, and we are paid to do this chee eerfuIly Of course it ds hard lose the sale of a $500 bill of goods because you happen to be waiting on a woman who is shopping just to see the styles. But one has to meet disagreeable things in all lines of trade and in thep rofes- s'ons as well; and, after all, the chronic shopper class is about the most dsa- gaeeable element that we have to contend with.
 '.The worst thing about them s," he concluded, 'etlaat they will not hurry on Saturday any more than on any other day, and this keeps us overtime"
 outrageous said the two crusaders as they walked away.