I first worked as a wc in the late 1950's. Things have certainly changed since then.
We had never heard of sqeegys. We used chamois mops and scrim, these had to be washed frequently in cold water. the only detergent used was dreft for the first wash. Nobody wanted to do shop fronts in them days, it's a lot of glass to cover by hand. The price for a standard council house was 2 shillings and sixpence, 12 and a half p in modern money. Mind you, you could by 2 pints of bitter then for the same money.
We would never, ever use scim dry, as soon as it started to get dry you washed it and wrung it out. I had segs on my hands like a navvey from wringing out scrims. After wringing we used to flap them about to try and get them just right.
There is nothing that has been invented since that can better damp clean scrim for polishing glass.
When we were rained off it was back to the bosses house making up new mops.
He used to buy a big bag of chamois bits and we would be using packing needles and theading bits onto parachute cord to make new mops.
In summer if the weather had been fine you could get away with using damp scim only. I was left on my own one day and earned the boss £2 17s 6d. That was 23 council houses on me todd using a damp scrim. My wages were only £3 a week. I resented that. No bonus either.
If someone was out, and that may happen twice a day at most, he sribbled a note on a ciggy packet.
I was only 16 then but being a big strong lad was given the job as the big ladder man. I remember doing a third floor job on a busy sloping high street. The slope was too much to put the ladder up to the sill, so had to go to the corner, the ladder was open top. There I was perched on top of a 32ft ladder and these kids who were learning to roller skate came hurtling down the street, arms flaying like windmills trying to keep their balance. My ladder was the only thing that they could cling onto to stop their momentum. I reckon I broke the world record for coming down a ladder from three floors without falling.
I, those were the days.
How long would you get now for sending a 16 year old up to 3 floors if he happened to fall?
I could tell you loads but the space on this forum is limited. Dai
