Miss Jones had had a varied experience. In her first situation--a suburban shop, where she lived in the house--the hours were from 8.30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., with the usual additional hours on Saturday. “I always went straight to bed after my work,” she said, “for there was only the kitchen to sit in, and one could not go out at that time of night.” A large second-class shop in a provincial town was not much better. The hours were from 8.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m., twenty minutes being allowed for dinner, and a quarter of an hour for tea. A week’s holiday was given in summer. The assistants lived in the house; no talking was allowed at meals; and if, as was not unnatural among a gathering of young people of both sexes, the place of conversation was supplied by giggling, the “governor” seated at the head of the table growled his disapprobation. “Our only amusement was to kick each other under the table to make one another laugh,” observed Miss Jones; “but where I am now we talk as much as we like, and enjoy ourselves.” In the first-named establishment there were many fines, in the house as well as in the shop. Four girls slept in a bedroom, two in each bed; if the gas was left lit after a certain hour, the room-mates were all fined 6_d._ a head, innocent and guilty alike. My informants laid stress upon the time taken up by straightening the shop after closing hours, an extra burden which is sometimes unavoidable. In a shop which closed at 6.30 Miss Jones had sometimes been busy “straightening” gloves (_i.e._ arranging them in their boxes and sorting the sizes) till 10 o’clock or even later. At sale times such extra work is frequent. Neither speaker objected to the system of fines if reasonably administered, but they thought it hard to be fined for not making a sale when the article demanded was actually not in stock. About the pressure put upon assistants to effect sales they had some amusing stories. On one occasion a buyer brought a lady customer to the counter where Miss Jones was serving, with the request that she would show her “furniture fringes,” adding in a low tone, “And see that she gets them.” Miss Jones, who knew that furniture fringes were not in the shop, was at her wits’ end. “I showed her everything I could think of,” she said, “and kept her there until I saw the buyer move away, when I whispered hastily, ‘We _haven’t got_ any furniture fringes,’ and the lady took her departure. Fortunately the buyer forgot to ask me any questions afterwards. Another time a lady asked for a kind of beaded dress front which we did not keep; but because I let her go without calling up the buyer I was fined 2_s._ 6_d._” The details here given from personal experience amply bear out what has been said about the difficulties and disagreeables of a shop assistant’s life, and they may be multiplied _ad infinitum_ by anyone who cares to make personal investigation into the subject.