The chart on the opposite page shows the weekly hours actually worked by chambermaids in one sample hotel in New York City. Beside her regular hours the chambermaid had the morning watch from 7 to 8 A.M., with time allowed for her to run down and eat her breakfast. The second day there was a long watch from 6 P.M. to 12 P.M., the following day a short afternoon watch from 4 to 6 P.M., and every third afternoon after four o’clock she had to herself.
Hours of linen room workers
Linen room workers worked a long and short day. They usually reported at 8 o’clock and worked until 11 or 12 o’clock one day. They were then off until 6 and worked until 12 midnight. The next day they worked from 12 noon to 6 P.M.
Physical effects of excessive hours of work
In all hotels where “extra watches” were worked the maids felt the strain of the excessive hours. On days on which an extra watch from 6 to 12 was worked, a maid was on her feet from 8 to 4, then with two hours’ respite from 6 to 12, or 14 hours a day, with short intervals off for meals. She came to her work the next day with dragging step and a listless air, complaining that she never got rested. Her habits of life were disturbed by the irregularity of hours for succeeding days. She snatched sleep when she could. After work maids always went to their rooms to rest until supper time. Workers living out frequently kept beds in the hotel on which to snatch sleep. The work is indoors in an overheated hotel. Excessive hours prevent the maids from getting sufficient exercise in the fresh air. It is impossible to keep in good physical condition under such working conditions. The maids age prematurely. “Oh, you think I am an old woman. I am only thirty. You’ll look like me, too, if you stay here long.” Similar statements were made by several of the maids. The bathmaids particularly were a jaded and fatigued group of women workers. The older ones in New York City were bent from constant stooping. Even strong, young Polish girls, who were frequently found working as bathmaids in up-state cities, were so tired out at night that they spent their evenings lying on their beds.
The complaint of maids regarding hours of work was general. In several hotels there had been an organized protest to the manager against a seven-day week. In one hotel, with the help of a union, maids were organized and the night watch was abolished. For the most part, however, complaint took the form of individual grumbling, dissatisfaction, and changing of jobs. One worker greeted a new worker as she came into her bedroom sick after a night watch on a very hot night, “They work you like dogs here, you better not stay.” “I was so tired last night I could have cried,” said another worker. “My feet were all swollen this morning. These night watches will kill me yet.” Many complained of sore feet and varicose veins from continual standing. Of the seven-day week, one young maid said, “You don’t mind so much in the winter time, but in the summer to see everybody going off to the country and you working all day indoors in a hot, stuffy hotel, with never a day to go anywhere or see your family—it’s terrible.”