Time For A Coffee Break

Once coffee houses were established in Turkey, Egypt, and eventually in Europe, people actually stopped for short or long coffee breaks. Some of these breaks lasted for the whole day.

These days, the coffee break is a 20th century phenomenon. Although the concept was not invented by union organizers, the advantage of such a break for workers, became apparent over a period of time.

The standard benefits you see these days, were non-existent in the US in the late 19th century. This was especially true in factories or companies that had large numbers of employees, often working closely together, doing heavy work or strenuous rote work.

These were the times when employees were not even allowed to take a bathroom break on company time. The only standard benefit, was to have a job, and they could lose it and have their pay cut at any time.

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