Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-04-26
HOSTELR BOO Ks
TASK OF THE JovIAL CLERK OR
PRETTY WOMAN CASHIER
is NOT AN EASY ONE.
They Must Possess the Tact Of a Dip
lomat Besides Being Able to Exc
cute Great Deal of Routine Work
Some "kicks."

SuSe GredG Deal OF Routine Work
Some chicks"
Gimme my bill in a hurry I just
got wire that ] must catch a train i'll
twenty minutes for st. Louis"
Alright here it u.s., answers The no.
Tel clerk, handing the guest a printed
form properly filled out.
Nineteen seyenty-five? What's that
last quarter for?" demands the guest.
That's in the list there-fifteen
cents for messenger and ten cents for
telephone call. You Just left the
telephone box. 1t is charged to you"
replies the clerk, pointing to the fig
ures on the bill.
This is only one of hundred de-
mands day of similar character that
are made upon the clerks in the Ottum-
wa hotels. Hotel accounts are probab-
ly the most complicated of any ordi
nary business enterprises of the pres
ent day. Years ago when all hotels in
this country were run upon the simple
American plan"-that is, the guests
were charged so much per day for
board and lodging-the bookkeeping
was easy.
The old Gam erican plan" is fast dis
appearing. however, and there is not
hotel of that character of the first
class in this city. Two of the larger
hotels have both American" and ''Eu-
ropean" plans, but even then almost
all of the business is of the latter kind.
Guests themselves prefer it so and the
| hotels make more money catering to
the European" guests. Under the
European" plan a guest is assigned a
room and then eats his meals when and
where he pleases, but of course it is
presumed that most of his cafe patron
age goes to the hotel where he is room
ing. A guest with a room usually
| signs his name to the check in the cafe,
grill or dining room and this goes into
his bill.
Commercial Men Hurry.
Travellers nowadays are almost al
ways in hurry, not only in getting
from one place to another, but in every
thing they do. They make up their
minds quickly when they move and, of
course, everything connected with
their movements must be done on
schedule time. Most guests give the
hotel clerk notice few hours before
the time for settling their bills. but
some do not, either because they lack
that consideration which goes to make
the genteel traveller, or because they
have made sudden arrangement and
are pressed for time.
| When Guest Registers.
| When a guest places his name on a
registers in a big hotel he does so with
entire confidence that his every want
will be supplied and at the end he ex-
poets to pay for 1t. But with the writ
ing of that name begins an activity of
forces throughout the entire establish
ment which do not cease until he de-
parts, and not quite, even then, If he
leaves forwarding address. After he
| is "roomed" and nun erous requests
for lice water and trunks up" are
attended to, he begins to make expense
for himself. His name is entered on
a ledger leaf on the clerks desk which
| Is placed in file arranged alphabetic-
ally. From then on each time he has a
telegram collect, letter with postage
due, a telephone message, a messenger
boy, laundry, stamps, or any other Of
a half-hundred regular expenses of the
incidental sort the clerk must enter
each one with proper receipt for it.
All the charges must be kept right up
to the hour Then at meal time a
check from the dining room is signed
and after passing through several
hands, this also reaches the cashier or
clerk who enters the amount on the
guests bill The cashier keeps re-
ceipts for every item of Indebtedness
against the guest in order to fortify
himself against the "kicks" that are
sure to come with every other guest.
Men forget that they had cigars sent to
their rooms on such and such a day,
or that they had drawn SIS from the
cashier two days before, and many
other thangs, but when they begin to
| "kick" the cashier reaches over to a
spindle and finds the evidences of each
separate indebtedness.
Task Is Not Easy.
1t is an interminable job, this enter
| ing items of expense against guests.
Where hotel has 400 or soc guests
and all of them constantly mourning
small items of Indebtedness against
the hotel, to keep everything straight,
requires hard owrk and an infinite pa
tience.
With nine out of ten guests, espe-
cially travelling men of certain class,
each one believes he has bought the
right to "l1ick" the moment he enters
the doors of hotel. He "kicks" from
then until he leaves and then he is
apt to kick the door open upon his de-
parture. The clerks and cashiers who
come in constant contact with these
inconsiderate beings learn to control
their feelings and "iolly" the impudent
ones into good humor. The system of
accounts in a hotel is arranged to fore
stall as many "kicks" as possible, but
even then they are many.
The Cashiers Duties.
The cashier of a hotel performs the
| functions of bank in small way
To her are referred all financial affairs
of daily hotel business. When guests
arrive she kepes a constant eye on
| their accounts. Nowadays almost al
regular travellers who carry large
sums of money with them deposit ii
with the cashier for which they get q
receipt Then from day to day during
/ tbo;r Cd in tho 1,otol chew 1-r