The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions WorkYates, L. K.
History
The Woman's Part: A Record of Munitions Work
Yates, L. K.
Great Britain. Army -- Ordnance facilities; Weapons industry -- Employees; World War, 1914-1918 -- Women
Industrial canteens differ from one another in many respects, partly
because there was at first no fund of common experience in this country
from which to draw, and partly because hours of work, tastes and customs
in industrial areas vary considerably. Hence, methods of administration
and catering, found possible or popular in one canteen, are sometimes a
complete failure when tried in other districts. In one canteen, with a
seating capacity for 2,000 women, I found that three gallons of pickles
were sold in pennyworths daily; in another district, the popular taste ran
in the direction of jam tarts. Yet, even with the small store of
experience so far accumulated, certain general principles at least as
regards site, construction, equipment, and administration of the canteen
have been evolved. For instance, as regards site, a gloomy dining-room is
never popular. If possible, a garden outlook should be arranged, and at
the least, the canteen walls should be of a restful colour. It seems
obvious that if pictures are introduced, they should be varied and bright,
yet I have seen one canteen of which the walls were covered at intervals
with reproductions of the same uninteresting print.
Another obvious point, too often neglected, is the insurance of good
ventilation in canteen and kitchen. The dining-room should, if possible,
provide separate accommodation for men and women, and should have a
buffet-bar and serving-counter with separate hatchments for different
items of the menu. Again, it is a matter of common consent that the
'ticket system' of payment for the food handed over the counter is the
best. Ticket-offices, where the 'checks' are obtainable for cash, should
be carefully placed with regard to entrance doors, serving-counters and
dining-tables, so that the minimum time is expended in preliminaries by a
_clientèle_ who has but a strict dinner-hour at its disposal. In a
well-organized canteen I have seen over a thousand workers seated and
served within ten minutes of the announcement of the dinner-hour within
the factory shops.
In the larger canteens, developments, as may be expected, run chiefly
along the lines of labour-saving appliances. Electric washing-up machines,
electric bacon-cutters, as well as electric bread-cutters, tea-measuring
machines, counter hot-closets for warming food brought by employees may
now be seen in many kitchens where the needs of thousands of diners must
be considered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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