As the other hotel in which a pantry job was held was much larger, pantry and kitchen work was more specialized. There were pantry maids, coffee women, butter and cream women, and vegetable women. The butter and cream women and the pantry maids (salad girls) had the most irregular shifts. Two pantry maids worked a straight shift from 7 A.M. to 4 P.M. or a 9-hour day; two worked broken shifts from 8 A.M. to 2 P.M. and from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M., or an 8-hour day; and one worked from 4 P.M. to 1 A.M., a 9-hour day. These women ate their meals on the job so no time has been deducted for lunch hours. * * * * * [Sidenote: The effect of broken and irregular shifts on the worker] Broken shifts distributed over a long period of time with scheduled hours of work changing from day to day are a great hardship to the woman worker. Aside from the fact that two hours in the middle of the afternoon are useless to a woman if she must dress and take a car to go home, and take a car to return and dress again on reaching the hotel, broken shifts mean that meals and sleep must be snatched at irregular intervals. Such a hit or miss existence, with no regular hours for work, rest and recreation, does not make for the physical well-being of the worker. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WAGES When taking a position in a hotel the woman worker bargains as an individual for the wages she is to receive. She is without the support of a labor organization which would have set a standard for her occupation and would assist her in maintaining it. She applies for work in an industry where the wage scales are determined largely by the inclination of the hotel managers and by the labor supply. She must go from hotel to hotel to learn what is being paid, for the wage opportunities vary from establishment to establishment. She cannot even estimate the value of the wage she is to receive in the majority of jobs. This is due to two uncertain elements in the earnings of hotel workers; tipping and compensation other than money in the form of board and room. Because she is not in a position to gauge the amount of the tips she will receive and the quality of the board and lodging, the only recourse of the applicant is to try out the job for a time. “Well, I’ll try it out for a week and see how I make out,” is the common expression of the new worker. If it is not a good house for tips, if she can’t eat the food, and if the living-in conditions are unbearable, she will go somewhere else and try again. By trying out job after job she loses time and greatly decreases her yearly earnings. Cash Wages [Sidenote: Wages when the workers live out]