Diplomacy Dealing with Drunkeness

“‘We mustn't offend him,’ said the proprietor. ‘I'll tell you what to do.’ Then he whispered to the head waiter, and went away. The head waiter called a waiter and in turn whispered to him. Then he went away…” — Restaurant wait staff, circa 1900 

“I know now why one Tenderloin restaurant keeper is successful,” remarked a Wall street broker the other day. “I was in the main dining room at 6 o'clock one evening with a party of men. We noticed a little commotion near the entrance, and saw that it was caused by the arrival of a well-dressed, good-natured looking man, whose bearing showed that he had been out with the boys. He wasn't noisy or offensive, but he couldn't have walked a chalk line if his life had depended on it.

“He came down the room in an uncertain way, shelled off his overcoat, put it with his hat on a chair, sat down, folded his arms on the table, and went to sleep. The waiters looked at him and ran after the head waiter. The latter walked up to the sleeping man, as though he intended to awaken him. Then he stopped and called a waiter.

“‘Go for the proprietor,’ he said. The proprietor came. ‘That's so-and-so,’ said the head waiter. ‘He's a good customer, but he's very drunk, and he's gone fast asleep. What shall I do? Shall I wake him up?’

“‘We mustn't offend him,’ said the proprietor. ‘I'll tell you what to do.’ Then he whispered to the head waiter, and went away. The head waiter called a waiter and in turn whispered to him. Then he went away.

“The waiter went to the china pantry and came back with a finger bowl. This he put on the table where the sleeping man was. In doing so he rubbed the fingers of the sleeper. The man straightened up and opened his eyes. The boy was not looking at him, but had picked up the water bottle and was filling the finger bowl. In doing so he knocked the bowl with the bottle so that it rang like a bell. 

“The drunken man looked at it with brightening eyes. The boy paid no attention to him, but shook out a napkin which he laid beside the finger bowl. By this time the drunken man was fully awake. The boy took up his overcoat and stood respectfully at one side as if waiting for the man to rise.

“The drunken man put his hands in the finger bowl, dried his fingers on the napkin and rosе. The boy was behind him in a moment, and in another the overcoat was on the man’s back, his hat was in his hand, and he was headed for the door. He put his hand into his pocket, slipped a coin to the boy, and walked out.

“Now, that restaurant keeper is a great man. He's a diplomat. No trouble, no noise, no row, everyone satisfied and happy. That fellow ought to be an ambassador. He'd make a success of anything.” — New York Sun, 1901

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