The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-12


A MAD CUSTOMER.
" Where do go to get about eight hun
dred fathoms of this stuff-enough to trim
waist that weighs one-eighth of a pound
hey?'
" Ribbon counter, second floor up last
counter to the left said 1, and away he
went
He came back in about five minutes, still
clutching his bit of cerise ribbon in his
glove. He looked madden than ever
Say said he, walking up to me, how
many ounces of dope, Troy scales, do yoI
shove into your face in the course of q
morning? I've been all over the third floor
There's everything else on earth on thai
floor except ribbon. There's towels and ia.
blecloths and bibs and coal scuttles anC
mechanical toys and pirated literature anC
fine combs and soap and navy-plue rugs
and lunch counters and baby-blue-eyed girls
and all kinds of things up on that thru
deck, but I'll eat every yard OF RIBBON
found up there and do a magician turn fol
the benefit of the poor
" L said the second floor up, you know,
- The devil you did, said he. Don't yor
s'pose l can hear"
Wen, you know said I, you could have
asked one of the clerks up there where the
ribbon counter was, and
ASK EN-? Don't you spose L had
enough sense to do that? ! asked em all,
and I've been everywhere in the DullulnS
except the boiler room. Before they sent me
out into the alley or to Upper MaIlnoco or
to Point of Rocks, I thought l might as well
drop down here and see you, If only to IND
out just how many hop pills a man with
plastered hair and pink carnation can alb
sorb into his carcass and still keep his feet.
Where's the ribbon counter
Ribbon counter, second floor up, last
counter to the left said l again, and he
stamped toward the elevator like a man
rushing for a bookmakerS stand to place a
bet on horse already at the post.
.1.@ 1lNN fny1 T1ln
with package in his hand that must have
held enough ribbon to at least frugally
drape the whole Dahomeyan army of Anna
IONS. He was still chewing his mustache.
:" This is not a gold-brick Jolnt--oh, no,
he said to me on his way out / found the
ribbon counter finally. although it WASH
visible to the naked eye, and L showed the
girl with amber hair and shelly ears my
sample. She didn't have the right width in
my color but she had it in watermelon pink
or something like that and she gave me the
merry SvengaH and threw it into me that
my color wasn't the proper kink anyhow,
and here l am with enough watermelon
pink Irvine to reach from here to hades and
back and I've got to go home with it at
that. like this work. I'm stuck on my job.
of the door and gone before the boy who
came running down stairs with the change
he had left behind could catch him.
VICTIM OF ALL KICKERS.
Now it's a queer proposition. but it's
a fact, that the people who buy stuff here
and then find out that they haven't bought
what they wanted make it their business
TO hold me personally responsible They've
somehow or another got it into their heads
that l am accountable for every 10 cents
worth of goods that leaves the building
Now as a matter of fact, don't know the
difference between a damask table cloth
and a red counterpane, and neither does
any other floor walker that 1 ever met A
floor walker doesn't have to know anything
about the goods sold in the establishment
where he floor walks, any more than q
track walker has to know about 'Steentf
mortgage bonds of the railroad for which
he track walks. But the floor walker has
to stand for the whole thing, all the same
| He is the buffer between the purchasing
public and the proprietors, and what ht
doesn't have to take in this capacity is moi
worth mentioning. motherly-looking ole
| glasses came in the other day. She was
so nice and mild and gentle looking thai
l found myself wishing / was her Son-in.
law. and sick in bed, that she coulC
nurse me. Well, she got her eye on me
about two seconds after she came in tn,
door, and then, suddenly, she ceased tC
| look motherly or mild at all, somehow OF
another. She cantered up to me and shool
her wet umbrella in my face.
You're fraud and a swindler, sir SaiC
| she to me. It's a wonder to me that tbs
| police don't investigate such establishments
! as this. I was never so imposed upon in
my life. Just look at this, sir
"She pulled out of her black bag a kind
1 of DOYLE about the size OF the top of youi
| hat, with a lot OF yarn of different coors
worked into it. The thing looked like Il
had been washed and the coiors had run