CONTINENTAL WAITERS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5061, 6 December 1926, Page 3

CONTINENTAL WAITERS.

THE UNKNOWN RICH.

HOW THEY WORK AND TRAVEL.

Of the class who sltyle themselves the “new poor” we have heard a great deal. But there is an unknown class of rich people of whom we, never hear, They are the Continental waiter clas®. They operate in Paris, in spring ,and autumn, all over the Riviera in the winter, and at Deauville" and similar resorts during the summer season. They are seasonable birds of passage, never idle.

In the ordinary r.ush o’f the plea-sure-seeking life, the average man has no time or inclination to bother about a waiter. All he desires is that this, individual shall be quick and accurate. Lt was only when it was brought horns to me during conversation with 1 friendly restaurant proprietors in Paris and elsewhere I learned with a shock that, generally speaking, the quiet, obsequious man serving me with food and drink could probably better afford to pay for both than I could.

Let us consider how his- unconsidered trifles mount up over the year. We will take a waiter in one of the chic and popular dance palaces in Paris. His primary duty is to seyve champagne. Most people “consul,tf’ with the waiter over, this in the manner o’f “Well, waiter, what do you recommend ?”

He will probably recommend a wellknown wine, salfe, dry, good. But you may be sure it will be one in which he has a definite interest. Thei interest is known as “corkage.” In other words, he will receive -next morning from the owner’s agent two francs on every cork of that wine drawn from a bottle he has handled. He also has. approximately 10 per cent, o'f the amount df your bill. You are a party of four or six. You drink two, possibly three, bottles of champagne. I know two immature, drab-looking waitresses at a golf club on the; Riviera who last season each made an average o'f £l5 a month in tips alone (on the recognised 10 per cent, basis) throughout January, February, March, and April, and continued so ,to do at Deauville in the summer.

Then follow your picked waiter to the smart French watering-place. He must be a good man, thoroughly trained, tactful, and resourceful —but that is a;ll. See him throughout that festive. season of big lunches, celebrations of lucky gambling, all-night dances, and tot up what his earnings ar,e on the same basis.

'-No,w glance at an average waiter at a good cafe. He is serving not only his thirsty compatriots, but ej large proportion of careless foreigners. He probably serves 80 glasses, twice a day, before lunch and dinner. Ha is the poorest sort of waiter, but comfortable withal.

The croupier class, the man df wonderful hand‘and eye : observe the continual coin or note sent up by a winner with the staccato call “Personnelle.” Is it astonishing that mafay of them have their own .motor-cars ? And the other heterogeneous satellites, known as the “vestiare,” who hands you your coat; the “commelier,” or wine butler, who advises you in tlie restaurant where one dines as opposed to where one dances ; the “chasseur,” who gets the taxi-cab, or the time-table, or the telegraph form ; the “gosse,” a boy or 15, who opens the door of the cab, smiling expectantly. The concierge at the hotel often has his own smart chauffeur.; but he is driven to his duty at an hour whew his clients are it bed. (On leaving the hotel you are doubtless giving your modest 29 francs to .a man who could lend yon £lOO without any inconvenience whatsoever. ;

They are unknown rich, and, relatively speaking, " their responsibilities are negligible. A steady income and a low expense" account in these days are riches indeed.