The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-11-06
HOTEL KEYS
fhey Arc Carried on By Guests WAs
FORGET to Give Them On.

they Arc Carried on By Guests WE
Forget to Give Them UD.
"0ur key filter Is one Of the most impor.
tant men on our STAFF" said the manager
Of q large New Orleans hotal He 10
kept busy every day Of the year, and
sometimes he is 70 rushed with wtrk that
he has to call In an assistant Il Is no
exaggeraton to, say that he averages
from Is to 30 keys q day."
But I would suppose" remarked Q
listener, that even . big hotel would &C
Quire q s~ufacency Of keys In the course
Of time"
$50 It does" replied the manager, II
the public would only let 1t Keep EN-; but
It won't. It would astonish anybody not
In the business to know how many guests
walk of with their room keys when thsy
leave the house. When the average man
gets ready to depart, he packs his vslise.
locks his door and then goes direct to the
cashiers wicket to settle his bill. When
that Formally Is attended to, he Is gener-
ally In a rush to get to the depot and 10
quite apt to forget that he has omitted
70 return his key at the clerks desk.
That, at any rate, Is the way ] account
for 50 much observation-disclosures on the
subject. The clerk doesn't discover that
the key Is gone until the chambermaid
applies for It to clean up the room, which
Ia probably an hour or two after the
guest has taken his departure. Then
nothing remains but to call In the key
6ttes and tell him TO prepare . duplicate
as quickly as he can
Formerly the hotels tried to guard
a~gainst this innocent kleptomania," the
manager went on, by having their keys
made very large and cumbersome and
attaching them to enormous metal tags,
the idea being to render It impossible to
put them in ones pocket. To that end
they were probably q success, but they
were such N unmitigated nuisance other
wise, and guests complained SO bitterly
ut the annoyance Of handling them, that
they were generally discarded. You will
still find the plan popular In the country,
however, and In small houses that have
no locksmiths on the premises, and only
q week, or 50 ago I dropped into . quaint
little establishment where the keys were
attached to brass disks fully as large az
dessert plates and serrated at tina edge
like circular saws. -
at present most Of. the big hotels use
Z modest metal check, stamped with their
address and q request to forward through
the mails II accidentally carried OF. AL
that Ii. necessary b. to attach a-3 cant
stamp to the tag and drop the key IN the
nearest letter box. incidentally / may
say that about one man In 30 takes the
trouble. But, aside from the room keys
carried away by guests, q vast number Of
ell kinds disappear through the myster!-
ous channels to oblivion that exist In all
large hotels. They vanish, and that's
the end OF it-keys to furniture, wardrobe
keys, closet keys, bathroom keys, keys to
the helps lockers, paddock keys from the
outside storerooms, big coal bunker keys.
gate keys and keys Of every imaginable
size, shape and style. They are contin-
ually missing and have to be replaced
II q lost key turns up later, the duplicate
Is carefully ticketed and laid away 10 .
drawer set aside for that purpose. But
they seldom turn up. They have gone 70
the limbo Of lost pins, last seasons birds
nests and the SHOWS Of yesteryear."1-
New Orleans Mmes-D Democrat