Note 351 — Chapter XVII · DOMESTIC SERVICE IN EUROPE
Reading edition
M. Babeau says that in France as far back as 1692 a good cook expected presents at Easter and on Saint Martin’s day as well as at New Year’s. P. 283.
“To the 600 francs (given a domestic in the fashionable quarters of Paris) must be added gifts and New Year’s presents.”—M. Jules Simon, cited by M. Salomon, p. 549.
“A usually substantial Christmas box is given the waiters in West-End London clubs.”—Booth, VIII., 231.
In Germany, while a servant cannot legally claim presents at Christmas, New Year’s, and similar times (Welche Rechte und Pflichten haben Herrschaft und Gesinde? p. 30), the custom of giving them is universal. “I would not dare to give less than thirty marks at Christmas to the cook and twenty marks to the chambermaid.”—German housekeeper, Dresden.
It is not uncommon in Germany for housekeepers to give presents on the anniversaries of the days their servants come to them, and medals on special anniversaries, as the tenth or twenty-fifth. This explains the custom of the German Housewives’ Society in New York of presenting $10 gold pieces to employees who have served faithfully for two years in the home of a member of the society. The Evening Post (New York), December 12, 1900.
“I always give my cook twenty lire at Christmas and ten lire at the fête of the Madonna.”—Italian housekeeper, Milan.