Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-27

llSh and hold a line of customers. When
worked in an uptown cafe where table
d'hote dinners and theater suppers are
features Of the trade, 1 remember one
waiter who was often driven to his wits
end to accommodate his regular customers
He had charge of three small tables and if
we could have given him assistants 1 be-
| lieve he could have filled one side of the
| dining room with people who liked him to
serve them Patrons actually waited half
| an hour to secure place at his table.
Did we raise his salary? That was not
| necessary. His customers saw to that.
! We paid him 81 week. His income ran
from $50 to $40. And he earned it.
What the Diplomatic Waiter Does.
'This waiter was a born diplomat, and
we turned cranks over to him a matter
| of course. A restaurant crank is a charac-
ter worth studying. He will try waiter
/ after waiter until he finds one who suits
him; why, one, the waiter least of all,
| can understand. BY some miracle, the
| waiter happens, in a lucky moment to
please the man, either by tricks of serving
| or by tickling his jaded palate with some
| happy combination of dishes. And from
| that moment the crank is converted. He
| swears by this waiter, and swears after an
| other fashion if his favorite is not on hand
| when he arrives. TrifleS like pneumonia
| or appendicitis cannot excuse his absence,
| and rather than be served by any one else
| I know one crank who seeks another res
taurant until his favorte returns, calmly
| informing us that all the rest of our en-
| ployes are cows for awkwardness and cads
| for bad manners.
Speaking Of manners, your successful
| waiter knows just how far to go in recog
| nizing his customers. He is never obse-
| quious familiar. He takes your coat and
| hat and pulls out your chair with certain
| CLEAN of recognition in his eye, but, though
you may choose to pass the time of day
with him, he will not presume on your
| pleasantly and enter into conversation. He
! gives you just the right sense of import
| ance, then stops. And he never forgets
your favorite dish, your particular brand
| of liquor and your selection in cigars. He
| would consider it objectionable display
| Of ignorance to ask you what sort of ap-
petizer you will have. 1t is his province to
| remember all these things.
II was told by a well-dressed woman the
| other day that when she came down town
| she always lunched here with her husband
because, as she explained it quite naively,
| her husbands waiter always remembers her
| fondness for branded cherries. She never
| drinks cocktails, but once in the presence of
| this waiter she remarked that she would
| like to take them just for the sake of the
cherries. Now whenever the wife accom-
| panies her husband, the waiter thoughtfuly
| adds couple of extra cherries to the cock
| tail, and these the wife carefully fishes out
with toothpick. When the husband comes
alone he takes his cocktails dry, and Harry
| never makes the mistake of giving him
cherries. There is always a twinkle in the
mans eyes when the cherries appear but
Harry knows better than to recognize the
| humor of the situation by so much as a
smile.
How Objectionable Customers Are Got
Rid Of
"a diplomatic waiter is useful to us in
many ways. He can sometimes rid us of
| undesirable customers. 1t would surprise
| you to learn of the annoyance we some
/ times suffer at the hands of people chat we
| dare not order from the place, because of
their standing, social or financial Then We
| try the diplomatic or ingenious waiter.
Last summer man of considerable
wealth and eccentric habits came here each
day for lunch. He sat at that small table
| after sitting down was to take off his
shoes. There he sat day after day, with
| one shoelesS foot resting on a stool and
stuck out in full view of our other custom
| ers. The matter called forth unpl aasant
| comment, but We did not know what 20 do
FINALLY one of the walters remarked, If
| you agree to stand by me I'll get rid of that
man. We agreed, and the next day Gas
con came down the aisle with a cup OF cof-
| fee in his hand Just before he reached the
man with shoes off he stumbled adrotly,
| and the coffee fell upon the protruding foot
The man gave howl, then subsidized into
| abusing the waiter. Gascon had been care
| full to chill the coffee until it was only luke
warm. but the man swore roundy that his
| foot was scalded and he would sue the pro-
| prietor. He showed aside his luncheon.
jerked on his shoes and departed without
settling his account We never saw him
again, and we don't know to this day
whether it was corns or cussedneSs
Working the out-of-Town Man.
1.-The out-of-town man who entertains at
dinner or lunch is fair game for the waiter
who is up to all sorts of tricks. This type
of customer feels it incumbent upon him to
show the men who are his guests that he
has brought goodly roll into town with
him. He picks up the bill of fare with the
air of one to whom money is no object, and
the observant waiter, who spots him on the
instant assists in an artful way in making
out the order. He is all attention to the Sc
lections made by the patron, but he slyly
suggests certain dishes in his own inter
Csts.
For instance. after the oysters and the
soup, your out-of-town man selects a heavy
roast. and orders a beef or portion for
each person, at perhaps, GO cents per order.
Now, the waiter, better versed in the APP
pctites of city men, knows full well that
four orders of turkey will not be consumed,
so he sends TO the kitchen an order for two
or three at the most. The order for four
is charged up on the guests ticket, how
ever and the waiter pockets the difference
when he settles with the checker for his
days orders and receipts. This, of course,
is possible only when the waiter pays the
bills Were the customers to pay the
cashier the trick would be detected and
the firm would make the profit. However,
most managers wink at the trick and do
not begrudge the waiter his extra money.
IF waiter works this scheme the
roast, the game and the salad. he cleans
up a neat sum on one customer alone,
who is none the wiser and is entirely salts
fed if. the service is good and the wines
cold.
Business Women at Lunch.
1T is a mistake to think that elderly
men are the heaviest spenders. particular