Progress

More Times Select content (shh...):

In 1877 a New York cigar manufacturer grumbled that his cigar makers could never be counted on to do a straight shift's work. They would "come down to the shop in the morning, roll a few cigars," he complained to the New York Herald, "and then go to a beer saloon and play pinochle or some other game." The workers would return when they pleased, roll a few more cigars, and then revisit the saloon, all told "working probably two or three hours a day." Cigar makers in Milwaukee went on strike in 1882 simply to preserve their right to leave the shop at any time without their foreman's permission.

In this the cigar workers were typical. American manufacturing laborers came and left for the day at different times. "Monday," one manufacturer complained, was always "given up to debauchery," and on Saturdays, brewery wagons came right to the factory, encouraging workers to celebrate their payday. Daily breaks for "dramming" were common, with workers coming and going from the workplace as they pleased. Their workdays were often, by the 20th-century standards, riddled with breaks for meals, snacks, wine, brandy, and reading the newspaper aloud to fellow workers. An owner of a New Jersey iron mill made these notations in his diary over the course of a single week:
"All hands drunk."
"Jacob Ventling hunting."
"Molders all agree to quit work and went to the beach."

Thank god that situation has been taken care of, we've cut out the communal newspaper reading, drinking, and trips to the beach, and can squeeze every drop of monotonous, mechanized, hyper-specialized productivity from our workforce so people can finally buy the shit that really makes life worth living.