Mary Smith, paid weekly for shooting dried peas at workers' windows to wake them for their shifts, Britain, 1930s

395 points · 16 comments · view on lemmy.world

16 Comments

detalferous@lemm.ee · 45 pts · 2y

She was a knocker upper

(Which is a real name for this job, not a joke)

yenahmik@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 2y (9 replies)

Question is: Who woke her for her shift?

Onii-Chan@kbin.social · 40 pts · 2y

It's pea shooters all the way down.

Rolando@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y

The Wokemen.

(but who woke the Wokemen?)

Edit: now that I think about it, they probably just used a "woke agenda".

feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2y (4 replies)

The knocker-upper knocker-upper, I'm not joking.

HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y (3 replies)

Fellow QI fan?

feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2y (2 replies)

That could well be where I heard it!

HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2y (1 reply)
feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

I remember, yes that's the one.

OfficerBribe@lemm.ee · 12 pts · 2y

As per this article:

"The knocker uppers were night owls and slept during the day instead, waking at about four in the afternoon," says author Richard Jones.

257m@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 2y

Well its obvious she just stays up all night. She doesn't need sleep. In fact sleep is deathly scared of her and has been for a while.

Sakychu@lemmy.world · 30 pts · 2y

Freaking Alarm clock are stealing our jobs!

Doorbook@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 2y (1 reply)

How to apply for this job?

PugJesus@kbin.social · 9 pts · 2y

Just show up one day, start doing it, and demand money.

Deceptichum@kbin.social · 5 pts · 2y

I doubt workers could afford much, and it probably took a few, so they must be some cheap arse peas to use as ammo.

gatelike@feddit.de · 4 pts · 2y

I like to think that she shot peas all the time while walking and sitting at home. Obviously she would never miss and is particularly good at ricochet combos.