Posted on 11/02/2011 6:36:35 PM PDT by Keltik
The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Mass Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.
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Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women
Employees: There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things now are to select the most efficient women available and how to use them to the best advantage.
Here are eleven helpful tips on the subject from Western Properties:
1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.
5. Stress at the outset the importance of time the fact that a minute or two lost here and there makes serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.
“This is not always true.”
Hey now, it says “husky” and “a little on the heavy side.” I wouldn’t use either of those to describe her, she’s superlative!
I saw a special on that once about that on TLC or Discovery or something. They had only proven it in birds, but were studying the chemicals that make up our internal body clocks. In the birds (and theorized in people), the females were better at telling what time something was, or rather, better at doing something at a set time, say 6 o’clock, while the males judges how much time had passed say “6 hours.” I have found this to be true, anecdotally, but I think it’s worth researching. Of course, there are always exceptions, but I have found that males are better at things for a duration of time (which includes being to work on time, because they recognize the duration of time it takes to get there), but can often get caught up in doing something, and miss something scheduled at a specific time, while I have found women to be able to have reminders, etc. while sometimes having no clue how long something will take.
I have often heard that men compartmentalize things more, while women have everything on their plates at once, and I wonder/suppose it’s just part of the biological differences that God gave us, to make men and women work in marriage as a team.
Then there was the 20 year old, who was always wanting to hit on me . . . but that's another story.
Sound reasonable. I just know that if a woman is supposed to be somewhere at a certain time, or be ready to go at a certain time, .....they aren’t.
Amen. I’m confident they know what time it is and that they’re late, too, AND that it gets on men’s nerves. :-)
(the birds didn’t have to to anything but come back to the nest and watch the eggs, not dolly themselves up)
It’s not just funny.
It’s really true. : )
I believe it was the airlines who were most famous for this policy.
Thanks for the ping!
>> hysterical
Hilarious.
Yes....it’s pretty much understood “girls will be girls” in our workplace, but the management team knows fully well who they can rely on and who they can’t. It’s rare to rely on most of the young girls who want their managers to be more like mothers than managers. It’s an adjustment to the real world.
But this also makes it difficult for managers at times who cross the line and attempt tp treat mature woman as they might teenagers....it’s a line they must walk and most don’t understand or do that very well. If there are too many young immmature girls on board then managers tend to be in the “parental” mode 2/7...in addition mature woman find they have to draw a line when that gets out of hand...and it can and does.
1) The potty lid— running to tinkle in the middle of the night and not stopping to turning on the light, then quickly plopping down, down, down, into the water and possible sprinkles on the rim...come on! Ugh!
If we can put it up in the dark, you can put it down in the dark!!! Your reasoning is denied!
(Personally, I cannot imagine touching, with any body part, something which I have not first visually examined for safety, reasonable cleanliness, and correct configuration.)
Whenever we were working on heavy machinery, a delicate touch was needed by the big overhead crane operator. On my midnight shift we always requested a certain woman crane operator. When signaled for just a hair up/down/sideways, she was absolutely the best and saved a lot of sheared off fingers or crushed body parts.
LOL, when is the divorce?
I think it’s very interesting. I bet no one even thought of sexual harassment lawsuits in those days.
In a similar vein, research has shown that men navigate by creating maps in their heads while women navigate by landmarks. You can screw up a woman by shuffling landmarks and you can screw up a man by changing the distances between waypoints.
Boy, I believe it! I’m sure you know if you’ve ever given directions to anyone. If I ever use a map on the road, guess what I check, my odometer! Sure beats the “Did we miss the exit/street?” over and over. When I get within a mile or so (going by distance provided) I then start looking for the street, etc., rather than hitting the breaks when I come to every single intersection, nothing worse than following behind one of those “incessant breakers,” (oxymoron alert!) as I call them.
Standard Oil of New Jersey became Esso and Exxon.
Standard Oil of Indiana became BP. Or more exactly was bought by British Petroleum and rebranded.
“If I want to back anything up, I NEVER refer to Snopes.”
That is certainly YOUR loss. It is an excellent resource, has been around for a long, time, and its originators employ extensive research techniques.
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