BARMAIDS LEAVE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18016, 7 March 1924, Page 8

BARMAIDS LEAVE.

- ■ ♦—— SCENE IN A CITY HOTEL. There was an unusual Bcene in a leading hotel in Christchurch one day this week, Some time before 2 p.m., when a number of habitues of the hotel talked into the bar to participate in a midday "spot," they were surprised to find that the barmaid to whom they usually went to be served showed no immediate desire to look after their wants, her attention being wholly given to arranging her hat on her head. Not knowing that she was not merely "trying on" a new confection, they stood by interested in the proceeding, and feeling just a little amused. A moment later and the bar, which usually had three barmaids behind it, was left unattended, the reason of the hasty exit, according to a customer who had been present for some time, being that, understanding their services would not be required much longer, as men were to be employed in their place, the maids decided to "get in first," and accordingly they "threw in the towel," or '' downed tools'' as another custpmer expressed their action. However, the -customers were not left long in a state of thirst, as within a few minutes after the departure of the barmaids men were occupying their places. Barmaids would seem to be getting fewer in numbers every year, and the hotel referred to is the second in Christchurch within a few months that has staffed its bar with men.