The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1918-02-14
TOO MANY WOMEN TAKE UP
MERCHANTS TIME JOLLIING
Customers, to Certain Extent, Are To
Blame for Expense OF Foods, Says
Mrs. Schaldach.
lBr ME-. II. e. schaldachl


Are YOU guilty" or "She Steals |
NV Time" might well be the name of
a little one-act. two-character drama
staged most every day in most every /
town. by most every housewife.
| stumbled onto this quite by ac-
cident and the practice seems to be
so common and all enacted in an un-
thoughtful manner that attention
needs to be called to the EVIL" as
one merchant calls it.
The sum and substance of the whole
affair is that too many women,
thoughtlessly. of course, take a great
deal of "dallying" over the phone
when they are ordering their grocer
les
Take Merchants Time
Good morning, Mr.. Smith, have
you any eggs this morning? They
are 40 cents a dozen Well, you gro
ceryman are surely trying to get rich
off of us poor people. What are you
going to buy with all of your money,
a new automobile? How much are
pork chops this morning? Thirty
cents-well, if you merchants don't
quit raising the price of pork every
day you will have the pigs all high
toning us when we meet them on the
street l suppose that potatoes are
so expensive that l can only afford
to buy one to tie around my neck for
a charm When are you going to
quit all of this, anyawy? l have been
such good customer of yours all Of
these years; seems that you might
Quit robbing me, anyway. Surely
know that it is not your fault. / was
lust iOllving you. But / really do
want a bar of soap and some match
es sent out as soon as you can get
them out hereby 9 o'clock if pos
sible"
This order was given at $3.50 in
the morning, and as the woman lived
at least three miles from the store
special delivery would have to have
been made to comply with her re
quest
This so-caned jollying takes an
other form which is very annoying
states one groceryman. Some women
seem to think that it is great joke
to keep the person at the other end
of the phone guessing who you are
To the grOceryman's question. And
who is this talking, please?' comes
the reply, Seems to me you ought to
know nv voice by this time, as many
orders as l have phoned in to you.
I'm just going to let you guess again. ~
Time Wasted
Then, perhaps after he has finally
GUESSED" her or succeeded in get
ting her all "peved up" because her
voice happened to sound very much
the same as fifty others, and she has
to tell him who it is, the street num-
her must be asked and in many cases
| several more minutes that are very
valuable to the groceryman in the
morning. when he is trying to get his
| orders out, are wasted because she
! insists. "You surely have poor mem
ory. I have to tell you every day
where I live. You must have your
mind on how you are going to get
more money out of us people
All of this and much more useless
chatter often takes fifteen or twenty
minutes of time right in the busiest
part of the day when the actual bust
ness Of the transaction should have
been finished in two or three min
utes.
This all sounds perfectly silly and
ridiculous when put up in this fash
ion. yet I realized when I heard i
that I had been guilty of some of 1
| myself 1t is hard to realize that the
person at the other end of the line
hasn't as much time as we have.
Since talking to these men I hav'
| taken the occasion to tell severa
women that I asked different grocer
this question: "If you could disciplin
YOUR trade, what would be one of tn
: first things you would teach them
Would Cut Useless Talk
And the sum of the answers was
81 would teach them to do their OF
( dering and buying in business-lk
| Misunderstanding out, all unnecessar
! jollying and useless talk.
4 Nearly every woman admitted thi
\ they were more or less guilty.
course thoughtlessly-of this act
The real business manner OF col
Quoting the ordering should be tn
form:
This is Mrs. A. b. Adams, ll9 Broo
lvn avenue" always give the fu
name and address even if you are Il
merchants great aunt or wife
saves time. Have the order in mil
or written down so as to save 9
Of that "Well-lets see what else
Get through and give someone else
chance at the phone.
These men declared that the Gust
mer is in a measure to blame for
great deal of the expense of foods.
Would Help Stores
If they would order their groceri
the day before and order all at one
instead of several orders of a ft
articles three or four times each df
the efficiency Of every store would
increased 100 per cent This won
allow them to do all of the deliveri
in two circuits-say at 9 o'clock a
at three O'Clock in the afternoon.
The rest of the time these m
- could be used in the store, keepi
- the stock in shape, waiting on ira
and filling orders.
Housekeepers should realize IN
good help is scarce and that eve
time they ask the grocers to come
their house with extra orders tn
are putting an extra burden on t
service of the store, which they p
for in the long run.