858 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



PROMPTNESS AND RELIABILITY IN BUSINESS. 



Their Bearing on the Matter of Work and 

 Wages. 



BY A. I. ROOT. 



Just now there is not so much being said 

 about competent people being out of work ; nor 

 is there so much discussion and contention re- 

 garding the wages people shall receive ; but I 

 feel once more impressed to take up the sub- 

 ject, and point out at least one reason why so 

 many people do not have a permanent situa- 

 tion, and why the pay is small when they do 

 get a job, and it is in this matter of reliabili- 

 ty. We have a notice up almost constantl}' at 

 the time-desk, which reads something as fol- 

 lows : 



' ' Those who leave their work without giv- 

 ing notice (or getting permission) must not 

 complain if they lose their places without 

 notice. ' ' 



Notwithstanding this, we are annoyed con- 

 stantly, year in and year out, by certain per- 

 sons who will leave their job at any time they 

 feel like it, without saying a word to the fore- 

 man or anybody else, and come back the next 

 day, or later, and expect to go to work with- 

 out any notice or apology for their absence. 

 As an employer of many hands, perhaps I look 

 at this matter from a selfish point of view ; but 

 I think there is justice in my position ; and, 

 even though there be something to be said on 

 the other side, I feel sure you nmst all admit 

 that I am at least in some respects right. 

 When you hire a man to do some work for 

 you, it is a contract like all other contracts ; 

 and it is one of the first business axioms that 

 any man should either keep his business con- 

 tract or promise, or get a release from said 

 business contract or promise. When a man is 

 hired regularly at so much a day or hour, he 

 agrees, indirectly if not directly, to be on 

 hand at regular hours ; and to be consistent 

 and reliable he should be at his post or else 

 get permission from his employer or foreman 

 to be absent. If he absents himself without 

 saying any thing, or comes an hour or two 

 hours late, he causes trouble and expense in a 

 way one will not readily understand until he 

 has had charge of men, and had charge of 

 work that is important. With the irregular 

 man, the foreman can only keep watching and 

 waiting, thinking he will be along soon. Fi- 

 nally, when it begins to look as if he were not 

 coming, somebody is selected to fill his place. 

 To do this, annoying changes have to be 

 made. Two or three men have to be changed 

 about, frequently, to get one who understands 

 the particular work of the absent man. After 

 these changes are made, and every thing is 

 running fairly well, the absent man turns up. 

 Then they have to go and change back again. 

 Sometimes a new man has been employed 

 temporarily, and this man nmst either be sent 

 home or kept at a loss. I have known goods 

 to be returned because of defective workman- 

 ship ; and after an expensive investigation we 

 find the trouble came in right where one man 

 stayed away and somebody else was obliged 



to take up his job where he left off. The one 

 who had started his job had careful instruction, 

 and was watched until he did it all right. 

 When the change was made, the one who gave 

 these careful instructions knew nothing about 

 the change, and so did not have an opportuni- 

 ty of making plain to the new man what was 

 wanted. 



Perhaps our friends do not all realize that it 

 is only certain ones wh.o are missing when they 

 are wanted most. There are those in our em- 

 ploy who are sick every little while, and give 

 that as ah excuse for going away without no- 

 tice. There are others who always miss a 

 train by accident. I suppose it never occurs 

 to them that it looks singular that ilwy should 

 always be having such accidents when others 

 around them do not. 



Last Saturday (Nov. 6) was a beautiful sun- 

 shiny day, after having had almost a week of 

 rain. Two men were set unloiding a car of 

 lumber. They could have finished it easily by 

 night, and their foreman supposed they would 

 do so of course. Late on Saturday afternoon 

 it was discovered that neither one of them had 

 been at work since noon. As all the other 

 hands were busy, the lumber was left, just as 

 they dropped it (when the whistle blew at 

 noon), all day Sunday. On Sunday it rained. 

 Now, neither of these men asked permission 

 to be away, nor did they inform their foreman 

 that they would have to be away. They sim- 

 ply dropped their work, leaving the lumber all 

 scattered about so it was not in condition to be 

 protected from the rain, without saying a word 

 to anybody. One of these men had persisted 

 in doing this thing so repeatedly we had tried 

 to get rid of him ; but because of a poor over- 

 worked and sickly wife we had taken him 

 back several times, with his promise to give 

 notice, hereafter, when he was to be away.* 

 The other man was one whose wages had been 

 recently advanced, and was a sort of second 

 foreman, so he could, during the noon time, 

 have easily arranged with somebody else to 

 finish unloading the car. 



One man once gave as a reason for not 

 speaking to his forenun, that, whenever he 

 had asked to be awa}', the foreman was almost 

 sure to refuse to let him go, and that was his 

 reason for going away witlwul notice. This 

 man was running a machine. If his machine 

 should stop, several others woidd be thrown 

 out. Wlien I spoke to the foreman about it 

 he said he could usually make arrangements 

 to let a man go when necessary. Sometimes, 

 when there is to be a car loaded, and the 

 force is kept up late at night to do it, it is very 

 inconvenient to hive a machine stopped. A 

 great part of the year, however, we have a 

 surplus of help, and a great many times it is 

 really a convenience to us to have a man ask 

 to be away. In the fall of the year we often 

 give vacations for two weeks or more. If the 

 man who wants to be away will talk over the 

 matter with his foreman or employer, very 



* I have since learned that this man left his work to 

 attend a sale in the neighborhood. Which is of more 

 importance — attending to your legitimate bu.siness and 

 holding your job, or going to a sale without leave of 

 absence? 



