Factories

Reading the rules of a factory in Berlin in 1844, I noticed that some of the rules are basically continued today.  "No workman, whether employed by time or piece, may leave before the end of the working day, without having first received permission from the overseer..."  If someone just left work in this time period with out the permission of their "superior" or boss than they would most likely get fired.  Only difference is in 1844 you may not be fired, just fined.  

Hours for the working day were long.  The day began at 6 AM exactly.  Worker get a half an hour for breakfast, an hour for dinner, and a half an hour for tea.  I thought the tea time was a little weird.  I mean maybe not for the adults, but I thought when I did research on child labor that they had tea time too.  Then the day ended at 7 PM, you could not leave even by a minute early.

It kind of sucks that you could not have conversations with anyone all day.  Unless of course you have a work question, then you can talk to the overseer or a workmate that is doing the same job as you.

One topic I found interesting, as a girl that always has to use the bathroom (LOL), was that they could not get up to go use the restroom.  They were not allowed to leave their post unless work related.  Therefore, I take it that they used the restroom during breaks.  There was a rule saying they could not do natural functions anywhere but the bathroom.  Which I assume that has happened on a few occasions.  I highly doubt anyone really wanted to risk soiling themselves though.