Work conditions in the past and now
By Porcospino
@Porcospino (31365)
Denmark
August 25, 2012 2:05am CST
I recently read a book that described that work conditions of psychiatric nurses in the past (in my country) About 100 years ago the nurses lived at the hospital. Most of them didn't get money for their work, but they got free clothes, free food and they didn't pay for their rooms either.
If they wanted to get money for their work they had to ask leaders and then the leaders accepted or rejected their request. If they received cash and broke one of the rules of the hospital they had to pay a fine. If one of the nurses wanted to get married she had to ask the leaders for permission, and the nurses generally spent all of their free time at the hospital.
I think that it could be interesting to hear your job in the past and now. How were the work conditions in the past? Which changes have you heard or read about or experienced in person?
1 person likes this
7 responses
@SomeCowgirl (32189)
• United States
26 Aug 12
That is a very very interesting thing to read about. I can imagine it happening and I suppose most of the time the nurses were all women who were young and not yet married or not wanting to be married for a very long time. With them not spending much time out of the hospital, i wonder if many of the women's husbands were former patients?
I can't really begin to speak about history of jobs here in the USA, but I imagine somethings aren't much different between your country and mine when it pertains to job history (the way people were treated).
I know it used to be that doctors would make a call to a person's home, milk was delivered on a person's front step every morning, newspapers were delivered by young boys...
Ladies and their young daughters worked in seamstress shops to make a few extra dollars...
1 person likes this
@SomeCowgirl (32189)
• United States
29 Oct 12
Hi, I meant to come back and comment after I had thought about what to say but I forgot to do that! woops. The medical field is very different from what it was years ago, a lot has changed. Nurses and Doctors don't have to go to the administrators to ask if they can marry someone, but of course any story of a nurse marrying a patient would just be a romantic one now and not classified as the norm.
Yes, we do have people here who deliver them still, I don't know why I didn't mention that (I am talking about newspapers) before. We don't get the newspaper here, so maybe that's why I hadn't even thought of it. Most of the time they get up very early. What I am not sure of is if they have to drive to the newspaper office to get the papers or if the papers are delivered to the newspaper deliver's house? woo that's a tongue twister.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
30 Oct 12
We sometimes read about the stories when a nurse and a patient get married. In the past that wouldn't have been possible, but today the situation is different. In my country some people pick up the newspaper at the office and some in some cases the newspapers are delivered to the deliver's home, it depends on the place where you live. My uncles delivers newspapers and he has told me about his job. He picks up the newspapers at the office. In the big cities people generally pick them up at the office. If you live in a village where there is no office they deliver the newspapers to your home instead. There is a man who drives around in the villages and delivers the paper to the newspaper deliver's homes.
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@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Aug 12
I also think that most of the nurses were young women who weren't married yet. If they wanted to get married they had to ask the leaders for permission. It is hard to imagine that situation today because today it is a natural thing that nurses and other employees make their own decisions about that kind of things.
In the my country they also used to deliver milk in front of people's houses. The people who delived the milk were adults and young boys who worked before school. Today we can only buy milk in the shops. I don't remember the time when the milk was delived in front of people's houses, I think that it was abolished before I was born. There are still people who deliver the newspapers, but today it is often done by adults who who drive around in cars.
1 person likes this
@myfb2009 (8296)
• Malaysia
26 Aug 12
Hi Porco, i heard from my aunt who worked as an admin clerk before that their pay is very low and not allow to work overtime. Besides that, no medical benefit at all. Nowadays, i see the working condition is difference a lot from before. We must work overtime if there is urgent matters arises especially during peak days like on pay days. And there is medical and leave benefits are included. Some companies even include insurance benefit for their staffs. I feel the work conditions are so much better than those in the past.
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Aug 12
In my country I also think that the work conditions are much better today. In the past most people worked many, many hours a day and today the average week consists of 37 hours. Sometimes we have to work more than 37 hours especially if there there is some extra work that we need to finish before a deadline. When I worked in home heath care I also had to work overtime relatively often because we often had extra work to do. When one of my co-workers was ill we had to do her work as well and then it was hard to finish the work in time.
@bhanusb (5709)
• India
25 Aug 12
I think that was very good work conditions for the psychiatric nurses in your country. They were not paid in cash. But facilities they used to receive for their job were more than cash payments. They got free all the necessities of life. Though they have to abide by some rules but I think it was necessary to keep discipline. At present we can't think of such work conditions.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
25 Aug 12
Yes, today people wouldn't accept those work conditions. They want to get money for their work and they want to have a life outside the place where they work. Today nurses have their own partners and children outside the hospitals. In the past the other nurses were their families since they all lived together in the hospital. They hardly ever left the hospital, because there hospital was their home.
I would find it hard to work without money because I would like to be able to buy things that I needed like books, presents for friends etc, but I think that the positive side about their work conditions were the things that they didn't have to worry about. Like you say they got the things that they needed and they never had to worry abour running out of money for rent or food.
@SIMPLYD (90717)
• Philippines
25 Aug 12
Many years ago, when i was still working in a bank, we don't have computers yet, except for the tellers' and cashier's terminal . For the backroom people (Accounting) we have the typewriter to type our reports.
But now, almost all have adapted an all computer or laptop offices, with colored printers.
SUch a contrast to long ago.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
25 Aug 12
I also remember the time when most things were done without a computer. When I learned to type we used typewriters and not computers. Today there are computers everywhere the many of the jobs that also excited in the past are done in a different way today. I think that the computers have made many things easier, but every once in a while they break down and when they happens we don't have access of any of the information that is stored on the computers and that makes it hard to finish the daily tasks.
@natliegleb (5173)
• India
26 Aug 12
ya now the times are changing and work is becoming more aggressive and compassionate now.no other go ,we have to tolerated it.but i have not heard about or experienced those kind of persons
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Aug 12
Yes, a lot of things have changed when we compare the work conditions to the work conditions of the past. In the past people worked much harder and it was a normal thing to work 60 hours a week or more. Today the average week consists of 37 hours. In the past people worked 6 days a week, today a lot of people only work 5 days a week. In the past children worked when they we 10 years old, today you have to be 13 years ago to work and there are many rules that you have to follow. You wrote that work is becoming more aggresive and compassionate now, in which ways do you think that work has become aggresive and compassionate?
@KOSTAS499 (1624)
• Greece
25 Aug 12
One thing that has changed in the last twelve years is the hours. People |(and me) used to work too many hours and didn't get paid for those hours. I remember working 58 hours a week for 530 euros. And women got less for the same hours. Since then hours are better (40 a week) and the money too. That's for those stupid enough who say that Greeks are lazy.
There is also a change in attitude. Those who want employees don't consider them "slaves".
1 person likes this
@yanzalong (19091)
• Indonesia
25 Aug 12
In the past work could be obtained because you had necessary skills but now getting a job is easy if you have lots of money. I mean you have to bribe to get a job.
1 person likes this
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
25 Aug 12
In my country it is not common to bribe to get a job. I can't say that it doesn't happen at all, but it is not very common and most people get jobs based on their qualifications. The jobs that I have had I have gotten because of my previous experience or my qualifications. I have also applied for several jobs that I didn't get because someone else was more qualified than me. Bribing would not have made a difference in those situaitons because it was more important to the employers and to get the employees with the best qualifications than the ones who were able to pay.
