The trouble with our manager is, he is
not making as much money as he ex-
pected, and he is looking at the table
and at my regularly rendered account of
cost per meal to find the reason why.
Another of those blue spells has come
upon us which often occur early in Au-
gust when it turns unseasonably cold and
there has been two days of steady rain.
The people sit and mope and have no
appetites for meals, get tired of them-
selves and want to get up and go, and
some do go ; many resort houses are al-
most emptied by the occurrence of two
rainy days. Not only that, but those
who are free are often curious to try a
number of different places during the
season and although the average of goers
and comers may be equal in the endy
there are times when an hotel is almost
depopulated for no reason but that it is
the ebb before the flood, and it happens
so.
The way it began between the mana-
ger and myself was this : You see the
manager at such a small place as this has
to be a gentleman of all-work ; he is re-
quired to look sweet, and play croquette
and tennis part of the time, but he also
acts as host, clerk, cashier, bookkeeper,
paymaster and part steward. As long as
there was nobody in the house and no
bills to collect we will suppose the owner
of the place put up the money for ex-
penses, but when there began to be some
receipts, the manager was told to go it
alone, and I expect he has been countinsj
over his money. Day after to-morrow
he has to pay all his help, the tenth being
the day of the month almost always ob-
served in that way, for by that time the
monthly bills which fall due on the first
have been collected and the indebtedness
to the butcher and market men has been
liquidated, then when the employees are
Eaid he can count over his balance on
and, or at least ask where it is. If our
crowd had kept up to about forty-five
souls he would have been away ahead
and would have asked me no questions;
as it IS he has been asked on every trip to
town to bring back a couple of cans of
irmshrooms, or a dozen lemons, or a can
of shrimps and bottle of oil and so forth
and while he always brings them he hesi-
tates and asks first if they are really nec-
essary, with a great stress laid upon the
* 'really." Now, the butcher at the Glen
knows we get our meats by express and
never go to him except in a case of ne-
cessity ; consequently, he puts his finger
in our manager's eye every time he sells
him a piece of meat. This afternoon he
sold the manager — who is proud to say
he does not know one piece of meat from
another— a piece of the neck of beef for
a roast, and flour briskets of mutton for
racks and loins to cut into chops, and
when I explained the manager only laugh-
ed, and said it was good enough, and he
would like to make somemoney anyhow,
and there was no use of being so particular
Then he went on to ask why the dinners
now were costing sixteen and seventeen
SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL GAZETTE'S
126
Page 273
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The trouble with our manager is, he is not making as much money as he expected, and he is looking at the table and at my regularly rendered account of cost per meal to find the reason why. Another of those blue spells has come upon us which often occur early in August when it turns unseasonably cold and there has been two days of steady rain. The people sit and mope and have no appetites for meals, get tired of themselves and want to get up and go, and some do go ; many resort houses are almost emptied by the occurrence of two rainy days. Not only that, but those who are free are often curious to try a
number of different places during the season and although the average of goers and comers may be equal in the end, there are times when an hotel is almost depopulated for no reason but that it is the ebb before the flood, and it happens so.
The way it began between the manager and myself was this : You see the manager at such a small place as this has to be a gentleman of all-work ; he is required to look sweet, and play croquette and tennis part of the time, but he also acts as host, clerk, cashier, bookkeeper, paymaster and part steward. As long as there was nobody in the house and no bills to collect we will suppose the owner of the place put up the money for expenses, but when there began to be some receipts, the manager was told to go it alone, and I expect he has been counting over his money. Day after to-morrow he has to pay all his help, the tenth being the day of the month almost always observed in that way, for by that time the monthly bills which fall due on the first have been collected and the indebtedness to the butcher and market men has been liquidated, then when the employees are
paid he can count over his balance on and, or at least ask where it is. If our crowd had kept up to about forty-five souls he would have been away ahead and would have asked me no questions; as it IS he has been asked on every trip to town to bring back a couple of cans of mushrooms, or a dozen lemons, or a can of shrimps and bottle of oil and so forth and while he always brings them he hesitates and asks first if they are really necessary, with a great stress laid upon the * 'really." Now, the butcher at the Glen knows we get our meats by express and never go to him except in a case of necessity ; consequently, he puts his finger in our manager's eye every time he sells him a piece of meat. This afternoon he sold the manager — who is proud to say he does not know one piece of meat from another— a piece of the neck of beef for a roast, and four briskets of mutton for racks and loins to cut into chops, and when I explained the manager only laughed, and said it was good enough, and he would like to make some money anyhow, and there was no use of being so particular Then he went on to ask why the dinners now were costing sixteen and seventeen