Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-09
Under Counter Sales
Make Shopping an All
In Wartime England
By JUDY harden.


LONDON (NANA) The postwar
period will bring one certain relief
to the harassed British housewife.
the end of under the-counter shop
ping-a present-day form Of getting
liver, kidneys, cosmetics, hairpins,
matches, razor blades and a host
of other unrationed and hard-to
|get articles. Unless you are friendly
with the store clerk, they remain
under the counter.
Before the war the slogan was:
THE customer is always right
Today the customer is always an!
impossible nit-wit, who has nothing
else to do but worry and irritate
hard-worked store managers and
sales people.
Usually the only thing in the
window of a butcher shop is large
blackboard, on which is chalked:
mo liver" If you are q shopper
with no technic, no sense of finesse,
you disregard this notice, blow
breezily into the store, fix the
butcher with baleful eye and ask
for liver. However, such a request,
| If made out loud, is in itself
sacrilegious.
Reply Is Standard.
And if the butcher then should
give you the liver the next step
would be to call an ambulance to
carry away the customers. 1t
wouldn't happen. Haven't seen
any liver for months" is the stand
ard answer.
The drug store presents similar
difficulties All the goods nobody
wants to buy are displayed in the
windows. All the goods everybody
wants are wrapped in mysterious
parcels and secreted under the
counter. A man wishing to pur-
chase one razor blade-one being
all he is allowed-waits patiently
outside till the store is empty. He
then enters casually and raises one
eyebrow. The clerk disappears be-
meath the counter, to reappear a
few seconds later with a clenched
fist. Money and purchase change
hands rapidly. The man walks out.
No words have been spoken, but
the fanatical CLEAN in the custo-
mer's eye denotes that he is a
satisfied customer.
On returning home, should the
man discover he has been given
box of face powder instead of a
razor blade, or ipstick instead of
tube of shaving cream, he is not
disheartened. He knows that his
popularity among the girls at the
office will soar sky high if he merely
places such things on his desk.
Cigarettes Sold Loose.
Cigarettes often arrive straight
from the wholesaler to the retailer
in boxes of a thousand. This means
that you have to buy them loose.
Should you be the lucky possessor
of cigarette case that holds 20, all
is well. If not, after having crawled
all over the shop floor to pick up
those that have rolled away, you
place them carefully in your pocket
and hope for the best.
Where you can buy matches is
almost a military secret. 1t is, in
any case, as much of secret as
the opening date of the second front.
Your best friend will strike a match
self-consciously, but never reveal
where he got them. well, old boy,
you know how it is. I've dealt with
this shop for years. They only
serve regular customers .-.-.
Should you go into a tobacconist's
and see the clerk apparently suffer-
ing from an acute attack of she'll
shock, don't sympathize. Wait pa
tiently in the darkest corner of the
store. out of sight. He may be
indicating to the man in the derby
hat that if he waits he'll get a box
of matches. This is your oppor-
tunity. AS soon as the matches
are produced, you pounce and de-
mand box for yourself. He can't
refuse. But you'll never have the
courage to enter that shop again,
either.
Women must remember to take
their own hairpins and bobby
pins to the hairdresser when they
have hairdo. 1t has been known
for a hairdresser to lend a bobby
pins, but you are on your honor
then to return them the following
day. Should you forget, never
darken the doors of that hairdresser
again.
(Released by North American Newspaper
Alliance)
AAA