Note 355 — Chapter XVII · DOMESTIC SERVICE IN EUROPE

M. Colletet narrates the story of a young girl from the country who was told of a situation where in addition to her regular wages she could get various profits, such as ashes, old shoes, remnants of bread and meat, and various tidbits.—Le Tracas de Paris, p. 229.

M. Babeau, p. 283, cites from Fournier, Vanités historiques et littéraires, V., 243-257, the advice of an old servant to a new one as to ways of cheating his master, such as burning much wood in order to have many ashes, saving from articles for the table, etc. It is thus that a cook has been able to lay up enough to buy five large farms, while her husband, the coachman, has on his part saved out of the hay and straw bought for the stables.

“A large number of cooks increase these profits by illicit gains, and the tradesmen themselves, with no other reason than the fear of losing their customers, obligingly wink at, or rather become parties in, this trickery.”—M. Jules Simon, cited by M. Salomon, p. 549.

“The cook either brings short weight or reports paying a higher price than he has paid—he has many dodges. The housekeeper must weigh over again the articles purchased, or go to market to ascertain, if possible, the real price of articles bought, or submit to imposition.”—Housekeeper in Spain.