The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-03-06
observation-disclosures
KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN 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.

restaurant who had just completed the
work of bouncing u man who had failed 10
pay his check.
"No, not often, - said the cashier. "That
fellow just put one is the first man who
has got the best Of me in whole month.
1 ought 10 have had him arrested, but IL
wouldn't have done any good. 1t 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. IL had seen him come in,
wouldn't have lot him sit down at all. -
81 should think that cheating would be
pretty easy business" 4" remarked the Gus.
toner.
Think soF" replied the cashier. "Wcll,
just come In and try IL some day. I'll tell
you" be went on, "if man does get the
best Of us, il is for 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 to the head waiter.
Then he would get the stuff ordered, while
the head waiter would walk down and
size you up. OF course you wouldn't
know he was doing it, but he would do II
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 il you tried to bolt
out through the door you would be collar
ed 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 75 cents worth of food in
eide 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.
Suppose "a man came in and ate 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
ousc, must say. j can size man up who
is lying about thing like that. When a
man is honest about it, he is i'm a mighty
embarrassing position, and he shows it.
The honest man generally wants 10 leave
a watch or a knife or a ring or something
else as security. Now, we never ask n man
20 do anything like that here. We simply
ask him 10 leave his name and call and
pay the next time he is around. 1t isn't
once u month that we make mistake. In
sizing man up the size Of his check plays
an important part. You see, a man who
eats and then finds he has left his money
at home eats the same kind Of meal he IL
accustomed to pay for. Well, If "a fellow
puts down check for 90 or 20 cents and
ne looks like 20 cent eater, the chances
are that he is lying and that he came In
and ate not intending To pay. If 1 make
up my mind he did that, he goes TO Jail,
because that is the kind of fellow were
looking for. But If he looks like fairly
good liver his excuse with that size check
would 60 quicker than it would with a
small check, Necause fellows who eat so OF
rs cents worth at a meal don't eat 20 cent
meals
"You have to take all these things into
consideration when man comes up with
a check and no money. The hardest man
we ever have to deal with is the man who
comes in and sits down at table and aft.
er he gets through walks up to the desk
and says: I've eaten % cents worth OF
food because / was hungry, and 1 can't
pay for it. What are you going To do about
it?' Now, the chances are that that man is
telling the absolute truth. He was shun.
cry and desperate, and he came in deliber
atcly intending to steal his meal You
don't want to lock such man up. He :
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 Iwould have given it TO you, which
is the truth. The boss never wants a dc.
serving man turned away hungry, and II
"a man comes in and tells me he is hungry
and believe him III give him good,
substantial meal, probably more than he
would order If he started in to cheat me
out of il. But of course we don't get any
credit for doing thing like that, and nine
times out of ten the man who comes up
the way this man does I'm talking about
ne 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 ii
you'd have turned me down just as I've
been turned down dozen times tonight.
There's only one thing to do with u man
like that. That's to get the biggest man
in the place and have him do stunts with
him-turn him on his head, bang him
about little and then turn him out with
u warming. It's n great deal better than
arresting him.
1.-The ordinary cheat--that is, the man
who comes in during the busy part of the
day and sits down at one table and cats a
big meal and gets check for 1t and then
on the way out drops down at another tn
bic and eats 10 cents worth and gets an
other check, which he pays later, destroy
ing the big chcck-therc IL nothing tn do
with except to prosecute. Whenever we
get that kind of cheat, we put him i'm
JAIL and then we will spend the price of
1000 checks prosecuting him. He is II
plain thief and probably would be "a bur
glar or some other high grade criminal if
he had the necessary nerve. There's just
one thing that everybody should reriem-
ber--that 1t pays to bc honest in u cheap
restaurant. If you are not honest you are
liable to get your head broken and get
locked up in the bargain. If you are hon
est, you'll get along all right, money or
no money, only don't ever get the idea in
your head that cheap restaurant is a
charitable Institution for honest men, for
II isn't. "--Ncw York sun.