« Reply #14 on: Saturday 24 October 20 02:06 BST (UK) »
Until the advent of the railway, all towns had their own different times, which made it rather difficult to estimate when the next train would be arriving at Platform X - (nothing changes lol.)
I worked for a large company owned by Quakers in the 1950s-1960s. In those days we had one and a half hours for lunch/dinner. This was plenty of time for everyone to cycle home for dinner or shop in the town centre. The company then expanded, built a new factory out in the sticks and then asked the employees what hours we should work. Factory floor employees worked 40 pr week, office workers worked 37.5 hours per week. The company had given options of starting later, closing earlier, shorter dinner hour.
As 78% of our products were exported, our chief salesman and export director had the last word. Nothing was changed, we worked the same number of hours and we started and finished work at the same time, in order not to confuse our customers.
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