[-205-]
CHAPTER XIX.
BARMAIDS.
THE girls who serve behind the bars of restaurants and
buffets, also behind the bars of theatres, hotels, and railway stations,
consider themselves a step above ordinary barmaids namely, the girls who serve
in public-houses.
They are all young ladies of course, but the former are
designated "the young ladies at the bar," while the latter are
"young ladies in the public line of business."
A very telling little pamphlet, under the title of
"Called to the Bar," was published some time ago by Miss Beale. This
deals with first-class barmaids, and especially with those engaged in the
Metropolitan Railway bars, or the "subterranean hotels," as Miss Beale
calls them. Of all barmaids these girls are most to be pitied. Draughts, bad
atmosphere, and sulphurous smoke give them sore throats and heart complaints.
Not a few of them stand from seventy-six to [-206-] eighty-six
hours in the week, or about eleven hours a day. They work in shifts, coming on
early in the morning, and working with stated intervals until midnight. One
Sunday in the month is considered ample time for recreation. Yet the girls
prefer this life to domestic service. They think it more "genteel" to
be a barmaid than a servant.
They are seldom allowed to sit down, and they say if they
might only have sliding seats to draw back from the bar-rather high, so that
they could rest without appearing to sit-they would be less often on the
doctor's books. But their employers, with a few exceptions, will not hear of
this.
Some of the Metropolitan Railway bars are upstairs; for
instance, the one at High Street, Kensington; but not a few are on the
underground platform-small, dark places, without ventilation, full of smoke,
reeking with alcohol. Let readers think what it means to stand ten, eleven hours
in such places day after day, with no rest except on Sunday; to sleep in rooms
below the streets. which must be lighted all the twenty-four hours with gas, and
which never get a ray of daylight. But the girls say they would rather sleep
four or six in such rooms, and two in a bed, than take the last train to
[-207-] another station, for sometimes they miss the train, and then they
must walk home-or run, for they are afraid to go slowly through the empty
streets at midnight.
Things are not managed much better at some of the largest
London stations. At one terminus twenty-two barmaids are employed, with salaries
of 8s. a week. The manageress receives 17s. 6d., and the
sub-manageress 10s. a week. Each girl is allowed to consume 10d. a
day in spirits, or 5s.10d. a week. This money must be spent in
drink, not food ; but if the girl is a teetotaler she is allowed ginger-beer or
lemonade. The manageress, or her assistant, serves the 10d. allowances,
and the girls are not supposed to help themselves. Nevertheless, they do it.
It is impossible for any manageress, be she (as the girls
say) "ever so much of a cat," to watch all that goes on at the bar of
a large station. So the girls cheat the customers if they dare not cheat their
employers ; and many an innocent customer swallows "waste" while the
barmaid drinks his order for spirits. "Waste" is whatever is left in
the glasses. This is, by order of the employers, put into the glass measures
behind the bar. Each measure has a colour white for brandy, blue for gin, green
for whisky, and red for rum. The " waste" is [-208-]
kept in the measures and served to the customers, for, as the girls say,
"We wouldn't touch that muck." So the customers swallow
"waste" and the girls drink their orders for spirits.
Barmaids have other ways of getting more than their
legitimate ten-pennyworth; but they dare not water the spirits, for if they did,
it would certainly be found out. One excuse for this conduct is that their food
is very bad. The meat they receive is generally tough, and the butter rancid, to
say nothing of stale vegetables and bread. Their work is exhausting, and their
little close sitting-rooms behind the bar or beneath the station are not likely
to increase their appetites.
Most of them spend half of their money on stout, which is
sustaining, and not a few take stout for lunch and for dinner. Some prefer a
glass of ale for lunch, a glass of wine in the afternoon, and a glass of spirits
when they have done work. The manageress takes gin and bitters, and other
"nips," to help her on through the long hours of business.
Board and lodging are provided by the employers. At the
terminus we are now speaking about the girls live quite a mile away from their
work, and as they must wash up before they go home, it is often midnight before
they [-209-] reach their beds. Some of them
complain bitterly of the long walk in winter when the ground is covered with
snow, and others say they would not mind so much if the "hangers-on"
did not follow them.
These "hangers-on" are the men who use bars as
their clubs, who remain in them two or three hours, drinking. Some of them are
"horsey" individuals; not a few are flash mobs-men, who go there to
discuss business. These girls could, if they would, tell many secrets ; but the
bar has its code of honour, and they seldom peach. There is only one sin men
never condone in women, and that is peaching.
Board and lodging, 5s. 10d. a week for spirits,
and 8s. for extras, may seem ample to those readers who forget how
well barmaids are supposed to dress, and their heavy bills for washing and
breakages. The average weekly bill for a first-class barmaid's breakages is from
1s. 6d. to 2s. She not only has to pay for her own breakages, but
for those of customers. In some places there is a regular breakage fund, and a
certain amount is deducted from each girl's wages to put into it. This is very
hard on the girls, for late at night, when customers get intoxicated, many
things are broken. They dare snot complain of their customers.
[-210-] Not long ago three or
four young men watched the manageress out of a railway bar, and then went in to
have "a lark." They upset the bottles of water, put the napkins in the
claret cup, and did other mischief. One of the barmaids ventured to remonstrate.
They then complained to her employer that they had not been treated with
sufficient courtesy; and the following day all of the girls were discharged at a
moment's notice. Barmaids are obliged to put up with a great deal, for if they
call in a policeman they are generally bound to charge some one, and this brings
disgrace on the business. So they wink at many things, and try to keep their
customers in good humour, merely making a few slight objections when a man jumps
across the bar to give them a kiss, or wishes to act as an amateur hairdresser.
Among barmaids there are of course many fast girls, as there are everywhere
else; but all who know them well are aware that a large number of them are
quiet, modest women, who work hard, who neither flirt nor drink.
But they must make themselves agreeable, or they are
dismissed, and sometimes at a moment's notice. Many managers will only have
girls who flirt. Again and again we have heard of girls turned away because they
arc too steady; and of others who are dismissed because managers think [-211-]
it well to exhibit new faces. "Men get tired of always seeing the
same women at the bar," and managers wish to please their customers.
Fifteen to sixteen years of service count in some places for
nothing if custom begins to fall off. First, the sub-manageress is removed, then
a hint is given to the young ladies. The girls try to look smart; they laugh and
chaff, then become reckless. No character is given when they are turned away;
and they say to themselves:
"Who will give employment to a discharged barmaid
?"
It is not the same everywhere, but in the greater number of
places fast girls are preferred, and no questions are asked about what they do
when away from the bar - where they get their smart clothes and jewellery.
Drinking is the fatal sin of barmaids. They are surrounded by temptations; their
hours are long, and their food is bad. It is difficult for them to resist
spirits.
"We are most of us half-seas over when we go to
bed," said a barmaid who lives in a well-known restaurant. She and her
companions have rooms at the top of the house, under the superintendence of an
ex-barmaid. The managers sleep on the same landing. In most cases the girls
return at night from restaurants, buffets, and theatres to depots ; but in some
cases they live [-212-] on the premises. The age of
admittance used to be eighteen, but now it is lower. The distinction made with
regard to morality is that "kept" girls are shunned by their more
respectable companions. The latter marry men of their own station, or start in
the public line of business, while "kept " girls become common
prostitutes.
The "kept" girls take tips ; but the others rarely
accept presents, unless they are Christmas-boxes given to all, not to one in
particular. We cannot mention names here, but there are several employers we
should like to recommend on account of the care they take about accommodation
and food for their young ladies. Their name is not legion, and as yet they do
not seem to realise that girls cannot work ten and twelve hours a day without
breaking down. At several of the large London stations barmaids are allowed to
sit when at leisure; they receive a month's notice if turned away, and live in
the hotels ; but as a rule, employers do not seem to have any conscience about
barmaids. The public ignore them altogether, if we except the hangers-on, who
pester them with inane compliments, and the fast men, who decoy them to their
ruin.
An attempt has been made by the Young Women's Christian
Association to help barmaids, and Miss Gough, the secretary of the Restaurant
[-213-] Branch, is in communication with many of them. Morley Rooms, 14,
John Street, Bedford Row, W.C., has been opened as a centre for those bar- maids
who care to use it; and we give an account of a barmaids' "at home"
there, witnessed by a Commissioner.
But the Young Women's Christian Association cannot attack the
evils from which these girls are suffering-namely, long hours, bad
accommodation, low wages, and an excessive allowance of spirits.
The Society is afraid to interfere between employees and
employers, because they are dependent on the latter to a great extent, and feel,
if the doors were closed upon them, they could not do the work they are doing at
present. They are evangelists, not economists. However, they feel much sympathy
for the workers-in fact, one of them actually said the other
day: "The present state of things is almost enough
to make one a Socialist."
The Young Women's Christian Association only touches the
fringe of the class at the bar. Our Commissioner says that when she arrived at
Morley Rooms she found about thirty neatly-dressed young women playing at
"coach," and Miss Gough looking on with great satisfaction.
The drawing-rooms they were in had beauti-[-214-]fully
decorated doors, the work of Mrs. Watts, the wife of the artist. Other ladies
had helped to decorate the place, and the rooms were full of pictures, books,
and games. One young woman was playing a piano, and the rest were romping in a
dignified fashion. The next game was unique. Some newspapers were fastened
inside an open doorway, and two holes having been cut large enough to show a
pair of eyes, one of the company went behind the newspapers, and the others
tried to guess whose eyes were exhibited.
Then some little musicians arrived, and the girls listened to
an amateur concert. Downstairs were tables covered with fruit and cakes, tea and
coffee, ready for the girls who came pouring in from their work. Miss Gough was
in request everywhere; every one wanted to have a word with the hostess.
Morley Rooms, 14, John Street, Bedford Row, W.C., are open to
members and friends of the Restaurant Branch of the Young Women's Christian
Association for conversation, reading, music, and rest; members and non-members
can also be accommodated with lodging and board at moderate prices.