Character Analysis and Manners

“I want a pair of gloves. Tan, undressed kid, please, and let them be mousquetaires. Don't you think they'll look best with a brown crepon? Oh, my gown is too sweet? Say, you just measure and see what number I take…” – Above, a 1879 patent for mousquetaire gloves. Convenient, but often misused with regard to globe etiquette.

A Person’s Character Sometimes Found in Fingers

How a New York Saleswoman Foretells a Troublesome Customer

“Now I'm in for it; I can tell by her fingers,” said a saleswoman in a glove store in the shopping district. The remark was made in an undertone to another saleswoman as a customer took a seat and removed her gloves preparatory to a fitting. The saleswoman turned to the customer and said pleasantly, “What can I show you, madam?”

“Gloves, of course,” came the answer tartly. “You don't keep anything else here.”

“Yes, I beg pardon, we do,” returned the saleswoman amiably. “We keep a lovely line of silk underwear for ladies, and also stockings.”

“Well, I want gloves,” said the customer in an irritated way; “a pair of three-button pique-stitched gloves.”

“What size and shade, please?”

“Butter, with back embroidered in black; number six and a half.”

The gloves were produced and then came the tug of war. The shopgirl patted and coaxed, and finally pulled without making much progress. On those gloves wouldn’t go. The customer got red in the face, and finally said impatiently: “New in the business, aren't you?”

“No, madam, I've been at this counter three years, and I think if you'll let me try a seven on you.”

“Seven! Seven! Are you crazy? I never wore a seven in my life. It’s impertinence in you to suggest to me what number of glove I shall wear, and if I did my duty I'd report you.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the girl. “I'll get these on in time. I was merely going to suggest that every one nearly takes a half size larger in these gloves. There, now it is on. Shall I put on the other?”

The other was put on after another great effort on the part of the saleswoman, and the customer sailed out. The saleswoman turned to a friend, who had dropped in to see her, and said:

“That woman's fingers bend inward and are hard and stiff to the touch. I have found since I have been in this business that this is invariably an indication of excessive selfishness. A woman with fingers of this description has no regard for the feelings of others. 

“She is usually cautious, too, and examines well before purchasing, and then she is reserved. I size a woman up by her hands the minute she removes her gloves to be fitted, and when one shows up with fingers that bend inward, as this woman’s did, I make up my mind to be thoroughly polite and amiable, no matter how much I am provoked.

“What can I do for you, miss?” she continued, addressing a plump young girl, who came in next, threw herself down on a seat, and jerked off a pair of well-worn gloves. “Me? Oh, I want a pair of gloves. Tan, undressed kid, please, and let them be mousquetaires. Don't you think they'll look best with a brown crepon? Oh, my gown is too sweet? Say, you just measure and see what number I take. What? Six and a quarter? I used to wear sixes.”

While the saleswoman was slipping the gloves on the short, plump fingers the girl chattered on about her clothes, where she was going, and her family history, and as she received her parcel from the saleswoman she asked: “What is your name? I'd like to ask for you the next time I come in here.” As the second customer left the store the saleswoman resumed: “Dear, little, impulsive thing! I knew it immediately. Those short-fingered people are usually quick and hasty. Sometimes they get angry, but they always make it up before leaving the store, and as a rule are the easiest customers of all to wait on. They are very full of vitality, and are in marked contrast with my lady with long, tapering fingers. She is very careful about little things and possesses fine tastes. 

“In fact, the long-fingered lady is commonly æsthetic and matches or contrasts gloves and gowns with the greatest nicety. She is often over-sensitive about her appearance, and while we are not bothered by having to make suggestions, she is as a rule pretty hard to please. woman who works does not have to tell it to us. The tips of her fingers and her nails give this fact away by spreading. She is a pleasant customer, though, and attends strictly to business when she comes in. Of course she hasn't much money to spend, so generally has made up her mind beforehand what she wants and how much she wants to pay for it. She comes and goes in a hurry and has little to say.

“The customers that are most easily managed in our business are the ones with plastic, flexible fingers that bend far back. We find that their minds are as capable of being bent as their digits. They are apt to be adaptable in their natures, and, of course, are easily influenced. It would never do to let such a thing get out, but, do you know, such people are fine subjects for off styles and colors and it must be admitted that the woman who understands human nature in this business takes advantage of this fact and gets off many a pair that would either have to be carried over or returned to the factories.” -New York Sun, 1895

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia