swer: Work that can not be accomplished within the
regular working hours already agreed upon should be paid for as
"overtime."
When it is a question of work being prolonged beyond the eight hours a
day by the entertaining of friends, one can only say that this ought not
to happen if the housewife planned her working schedule carefully. She
alone is responsible for her social engagements; she alone can make a
schedule that will enable her to have her friends come to luncheon or
dinner without prolonging the day's work beyond the hours agreed upon
between herself and her employees.
When friends arrive unexpectedly, however, or when a dinner party or
a big social function takes place in the home, an eight hour schedule
may be the cause of great inconvenience, unless a previous agreement
has been made to meet just such occasions. It is certain that some
compensation is due to all domestic employees for the extra long hours
of work caused by unusual events in the home life of their employers,
and many ways have been devised already to remunerate them.
In modern social life a custom of long standing still exists which makes
it almost compulsory for this remuneration to come out of the pocket,
not of the hostess, but of her guests. The unfortunate custom of giving
"tips" is not generally criticised very openly, but when viewed in the
light of reason and justice, it seems to be a very poor way of trying to
remove one of the present hardships connected with domestic labor. Why
should the housewife depend upon the generosity of her guests to help
her pay her household employees? She never demurs at the extra expense
entailed in giving luncheons and dinners in her friends' honor, nor in
taking them to places of interest and amusement. Why then should she
object to giving a little more money to her household employees upon
whose work the success of her hospitality so largely depends?
There are many women who entertain extensively, but they never
recompense a household employee for any extra work that may be demanded
from her on that account. They consider themselves fully justified in
exacting extra long hours of work because of the high wages they pay,
especially as it frequently happens that while the work is more on some
days, it is less on others, and they think in consequence that their
employees have no cause for complaint.
It is a mistake, however, to think that an employee who is obliged
to be on duty and has litt
|