The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-24
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
To the Honorable and Harassed cit
 Com 1af Ili t.r,a ita aarl,

To the Honorable and Harassed City Commissioners of Birmingham:
 | Since it is considered just now the
 proper caper to address your distin- guished body on various and sundry | topics of public nature, permit me to l join my fellow citizens in making a
 complaint. Please understand that
 do not approach you, gentlemen, In q | spirit of peevishness nor shall I in- | sist on an immediate correction of the
 untoward situation which I shall de-
 scribe. There are some people who win I even say that my attitude in this im- portant matter is a frivolous one and
 deserves no consideration. But I speak
 from experience and a Knowledge of
 the facts and trust that you will give
 me a hearing. Among six honorable
 ears, surely I may hope for the loan of
 at least one.
 | For number of years I have restaur-
 anted--a word of my own coinage--in
 and about Birmingham. During all that
 time have found but three lady cash | iers who would extend me credit with | kind looks and they were the only ones | who ever replied cheerfu1ly and smii-
 ingly to my proffered salutations con- corning their health, the weather and | such other platonic themes as happen | ed to occur to me at the moment The rest, several hundred. I should judge. | have always been so glum, so incom munfcative and so far from friendly | that my spirit Is well night broken | I am not half so optimistic as I used to be. Full many a time and oft have l tripped merri1y Into some eatery, nib | bled piece of toast, gulped down a i cup of coffee and then faced the fema le | behind the cash register with a glad l look, only to stumble forth moment
 later frostbitten to the core. Not only | Is this the case in restaurants. but fin | drugstores, moving picture shows and all other places where naughty young.
 women preside over the intake, Nine out of ten of them seem to say by rhe | cold glitter in their eyes, You be nice
 to me- if you darel"
 | Could not we have a sort of night
 school established here~in Birmingbam m
 for promoting amiability among lady
 cashiers. or else some responsible per
 son who would go aboNt and protect victims Of the lunch counter habit and cafe courses, who suffer enough from the food without having double
 pronged harpoon thrown into them simply because they say, Good morn ling"
 l l do not hold brief for the "masher. 2
 May his kind perish, Nor do l think that fellow deserves kind treatment
 who waltzes up 10 the cashier and gur- gles. "Oh, youl" or tries to slap her on
 the wrist because she gives him the
 wrong change. No, The worse he is treated the better pleased I shall be.
 but I do think that when person of lunassuming manners sidies up to the cashiers desk and fnurmurs. q trust ] this lovely morning finds you fin the | lbest of health" or "It wes too bad that you had to come down this morning in l the rain''--I do think that the person who makes such harmless lutations-- and only after he has become regular patron. too--should get something more than steelly look and the curt re- sponse. Beat it, .or Tn call the boss
 Most respectfully.
 RICHARD SwIvELLER.