A Work Week Pick-Me-Up…

Co-working location — 1940’s and 1950’s style.

By Timothy Sheard

Editor’s Note: Tim Sheard is the founder of Work-Bites’ publishing partner Hard Ball and Little Heroes Press. We’re happy to share this little vignette of old-time New York City with you. Have a great work week!

My dad was a New York City newspaper reporter in the 1940's and 50's. On most mornings, he and his fellow reporters would clock in at work, and then go to the pub to start drinking.

Dad noted that there were always several Sanitation workers in the pub in the morning. Some people passing by, seeing the big garbage trucks out front, would think the Sanitation workers were all drinkers — but that wasn't so. Not at all.

In those days, Sanitation workers were often dirty and their work clothes smelled pretty bad, so neighborhood cafes refused to serve them. As a result, they went to the pub — because the pub never turned anyone down.

True story from an old newsman's son, writing in Brooklyn.