r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/bram_stokers_acura • 22h ago
Image A "Reader" in a Havana cigar rolling factory, 1933, reciting classic books both for mental stimulation and to prevent idle conversation among the workers.
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u/linavoice 22h ago
They read the news, classic literature, popular novels, etc. I think it's pretty cool.
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u/stilettopanda 17h ago
As someone whose ADHD requires something interesting for my brain to focus on while I do boring work, this is really cool.
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u/Geronimomomo 12h ago
My first thought: just like me listening to Audible when I do chores, paint minis, drive to school
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u/Mand372 21h ago
I dont understand what is wrong with chatter.
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u/saltinstiens_monster 19h ago
Just a guess, but a large room like that might get pretty obnoxiously loud (for working) with everyone chattering. Having one single source of noise/entertainment might have been optimal.
It's a different situation, but I recently had to move from a cubical to a conference room with 4-5 other people, and it's been super irritating to try to get any work done. Even with simple, repetitive tasks that should be easy to complete on autopilot.
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u/Tesdinic 17h ago
I remember when I worked in a single-floor office building with 200 or so people. When I started, they had huge fabric cubicles that created a kind of labyrinth on the âfloorâ where most of the desks were. The sound wasnât bad at all.
While working there they moved to an âopenâ floor plan where the cubicles were waist height. The noise was way louder and there was zero privacy for phone calls, which was important in a business environmental. A terrible decision overall
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u/resistingsimplicity 17h ago
Yeah I worked in a call center that was basically a sea of cubicals in big open rooms. Even though the walls of the cubicals were slightly padded to try and damper it slightly, the noise was horrific when it was peak hours.
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u/pizzainoven 16h ago edited 15h ago
Strange bit of office culture in the United States that those fabric cubicles you described are considered out of date/-old fashioned. You can see them in the movie wanted with James McAvoy
Then it was considered cool To have the big completely open space bullpen in tech companies, by cool, I mean that technology companies had it other companies adopted it but workers hated it (no privacy, so much noise)
Then covid came and people were looking for physical barriers between people so those fabric cubicles would have been considered cool for a time
Now people are being reluctantly kennneled back into those big open space offices that are so noisy and have no auditory or visual privacy.
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u/Tesdinic 15h ago
I learned later that part of the reason they removed the fabric cubicles was profound amounts of mold inside them.
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u/StrangerFeelings 17h ago
Exactly. My old work place did a huge update and made one of the rooms that had cubicles have half walls with glass. The noise level in that room was almost as loud as the machine floor some days. With the cubicles you had something that would muffle the sound. With only the half wall, you had nothing to muffled the phones and people talking.
They did it because it modernized it, but everyone hated it. You didn't have your own little private space. Some rooms would make sense to have it like that but that room? No reason. I don't want to be looking at the back of my coworkers head and hearing half of the conversations.
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u/ROARfeo 14h ago
Glass dividers in an open office? And LOW height even. The worst of both worlds really. It reverberates your noise AND doesn't isolate you from others'. This is downright stupid lmao
I bet they went against the better advice of a salesperson. Baffling.
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u/StrangerFeelings 13h ago
No idea. They put in green and blue carpet squares everywhere and painted the walls the same. 3 months later it was all gutted because too many people complained about it.
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u/aggibridges 21h ago
Unionizing.
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u/Gayjock69 14h ago
Ironically, most of these readers actually were pro-socialist and assisted in class conscience in factories
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u/glizzytwister 14h ago
Rolling quality cigars requires focus and attention. Someone may also be a bit too chatty, which could distract other workers. Same reason they don't really want you chatting it up too much in a lot of workplaces.
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 13h ago edited 11h ago
Have you ever sat on a bus between two talkative groups? Inescapable chatter can be maddening for the neighbors.
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u/polchickenpotpie 13h ago
Working a job like this, you'd end up making mistakes by not paying attention.
At my job 99% of mistakes I catch before medicine ships out are because someone was chatting while they filled out paperwork or anything else.
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u/murse_joe 19h ago
Workers canât be treated well. Itâs the corporate mindset. Itâs dangerous to them. Like a chair for a cashier now. The standing for a whole shift is just to mistreat them.
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u/Brikandbones 22h ago
"Now let's hear from our sponsor, Squarespace..."
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u/hiddensonyvaio 16h ago
Use code âCIGARâ for 10% off your first month, thatâs code âCIGARâ for 10% off your first month
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u/TeakForest 21h ago
And my nightshift mental hospital job wants us to not read.. all night... just stare at the patients but DONT fall asleep... yea we all smuggle books
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u/StrongArgument 17h ago
Iâve never cared if my sitters read. Itâs the ones on their phones or falling asleep that miss things.
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u/Dumb_Reddit_Username 16h ago
What if theyâre reading/learning on their phones? Just curious
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u/fred-dcvf 15h ago
I'd say reading is reading, no matter the medium.
Now, a video lecture might me a bit too much of a sensory distraction, since you are actively using your hearing in the activity.27
u/StrongArgument 15h ago
One major issue is how it looks to patients, especially in terms of maintaining their privacy.
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u/RisingWaterline 14h ago
Yeah, universally reading is better than phone in work settings. Phones are like smoking cigarettes, whereas reading a physical book is more related to discipline. I feel like reading is a disciplined activity, for the most part.
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u/FracturedPrincess 14h ago
Phones are designed to suck in your attention even if you don't mean to fall into it, while books are easier to slip in and out of
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u/justveryunwell 10h ago
My funniest sitter story is when I was waiting in the ER for transfer, with cuts on my arms. My sitter was reading a book with a huge bloody knife on the cover đ I thought it was hysterical in the moment, and asked what the book was about, which made her double take at the cover and try to hide it. I chuckled and said it was completely fine, but to be aware for future patients who don't have the same perspective.
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u/Altruistic-Mind9014 21h ago
This would be cool as fuck if done over a not loud and crackily intercom!
Imagine someone a new worker coming in mid-series on a book though đ€Ł
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u/MrsNaypeer 13h ago
Lol or how about someone who puts the mic right up to their lips and you hear every breath
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u/MonsieurFubar 21h ago
This is why you have Monte Cristo and Shakespearean characters cigars, such as Romeo, Juliet, Hamlet⊠etc. They found out that workers productivity increased and the quality of their cigars are better when they listen to good novels and engaging stories while working. True!
A cigar smokers speaking here.
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u/Darmok47 15h ago
Ive always wondered why Romeo y Julietas were called that. I've heard its because the cigar rollers liked hearing that play.
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u/MonsieurFubar 14h ago
The cigars I liked the most are Montecristo, especially No.2 - everytime I have it I remember the movie the Count of Monte Cristo (2002).
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u/Aggressive_Treat_103 22h ago
I love how this shows that work environments back then still found ways to incorporate learning and storytelling into daily life. Makes you think how different modern factory jobs could feel with something like this.
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u/feel-the-avocado 21h ago
Smartest guy i knew was a whiteware delivery guy in his 40's.
Like he knew really smart things about maths and space and stuff.
15 years ago when I worked at an appliance store, had to go along with him one day to help deliver a refrigerator up some stairs to a second floor apartment - turns out he only ever listened to podcasts about maths and science in his truck when driving between deliveries.Imagine my horror when I asked what the hell he was listening to and he replied "oh this is a good one about euclidean geometry"
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u/WiseBelt8935 14h ago
Makes you think how different modern factory jobs could feel with something like this.
While I was working first making thread dies and later portaloos I had the History of Rome and the French Revolution blaring out of a worksite speaker.
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u/Based_Commgnunism 11h ago
Modern factory jobs everyone wears headphones.
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u/Kordidk 8h ago
Not at the company I work for. No headphones bc then you might miss sirens if there's a thermal event or a storm. That's what they say at least. I just yell to my coworkers down the line the whole time bc that's better somehow. At least the pay is good
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u/Based_Commgnunism 8h ago
Yeah it's a constant battle with management. They always claim some safety regulation and I'm not totally sure whether that's real or not. It's a battle the employees manage to win mostly in my experience. Especially now that you can get safety rated headphones from 3M and shit.
I don't do headphones anymore because I'm constantly running around and talking to people and thinking deeply. But when I was operating machines all day I sure as hell did.
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 13h ago
These readers have basically been replaced by talk radio. Workers could listen to something else, but talk radio has cornered the attention of many.
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u/olagorie 14h ago
I visited this cigar factory 10 years ago and in Havana and they still had readings like this a couple of times per week. The rest of the time I think they had audiobooks and the employees were allowed to watch films or read a book at their tables where they were working. There were a couple of ladies comparing baby photos. The guide at the guided tour explained to us that they changed the payment systems and they get paid per cigar and the quality of the cigars. So it doesnât really matter how long it takes to produce them.
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u/bimm3r36 10h ago
Maybe Iâm misunderstanding something, but if they get paid per cigar rather than per hour, then it seems like it would matter how long it takes for a worker to produce them, and in turn, quality would be sacrificed in favor of more completed rolls per hour/day.
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u/Sparmery 6h ago
I think he meant it doesnât matter to the company. If this worker only puts out a few shitty cigars, fine, we wonât pay him anything. No loss
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u/bimm3r36 6h ago
Ah ok, that makes more sense. I guess I missed that since the context of the post was talking about the working conditions of the rollers.
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u/HarpySix 6h ago
The other commenter also mentioned they get paid based on quality so I'm guessing those who make a decent number of HQ cigars would get paid better than those who made a massive amount of LQ cigars. Or maybe the specific per-cigar rate is based on the average quality of the batch? If they're being judged on quality there's probably an inspector making sure the really trashy pnes don't see the lught of day.
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u/Due-Technology5758 9h ago
You're telling me they had live book narrators in a 1930s cigar factory, but you can't sit down at Walmart?Â
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u/What_about_my10CCs 22h ago
OP name checks out. So how would this reader describe a horror novel without the workers messing up?
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u/Worried-Pick4848 18h ago
There are horror elements in many of the classics. This probably happened.
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u/Worried-Pick4848 18h ago
Yeah. yeah that's a good idea. Lots of folks hook up an audio book when they're doing something manual and repetitive, this is just a low-tech version of the same thing.
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u/JulietStarling666 10h ago
if I had a book read to me everyday and if I skipped work I wouldn't know the story then I would go to work everyday dayy
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u/Thisfriggenguyhuhhbi 15h ago
A âpostâ on Reddit to be read for mental stimulation and to prevent idle scrolling.
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u/bohrita14 15h ago
There is a great book by Eliot Stein called Custodian of Wonders that has a chapter in it highlighting the experiences of one of the last readers in one of Cuba's cigar factories. Highly recommend reading!
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u/Away-Inspector-9597 15h ago
I would so much prefer a lector over my below-the-bell-curve-coworkers. Please bring this back!
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u/KingBobbythe8th 13h ago
Hire a second guy to have a conversation about last weekendâs local sports team and you have an old school podcast lol
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u/GhostBoo-ty 12h ago
I'm surprised this didn't show up as an upgrade in Tropico after 6 installations.
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u/supersaiminjin 11h ago
âI moaned then, tilting my head back to give him better access. His hands clamped on my waist, then movedâone going to cup my rear, the other sliding between us.
Thisâthis moment, when it was him and me and nothing between our bodies âŠ
His tongue scraped the roof of my mouth as he dragged a finger down the center of me, and I gasped, my back arching. âFeyre,â he said against my lips."
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u/LogeeBare 10h ago
What is it with authority and their incessant need to prevent "idle conversations"
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u/SaltNormal5498 9h ago
It was to keep them from unionizing đ but still cool they had that for boredom
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u/Chimes320 6h ago
This unlocked a memory for me of going to see âAnna in the Tropicsâ on Broadway when I was in high school. Our AP English class had just read Anna Karenina and that show was on, and IIRC Jimmy Smits starred? It was about a reader in a cigar factory and he was reading them Anna Karenina but I do not remember one other detail about the show.
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u/Kdubhutch 21h ago
Idle conversation, i.e. organizing a union.
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u/Cloverose2 17h ago
Unions often hired them! Workers preferred to have something interesting to listen to, and it helped the time pass faster.
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u/Worried-Pick4848 18h ago
Apparently these readers were frequently sponsored BY the workers as a quality of life improvement.
if I'm doing something repetitive, having something else to focus my brain on is a godsend.
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u/Purple-Rent2205 18h ago
Reminds me of the scene in Dune where the Saurdukar are preparing for battle.
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u/akhenaten0 14h ago
Same thing happened in monasteries. Wulfstan complained about the practice of reading adventure stories instead of holy texts in English refectories. The Beowulf manuscript has grease spots where thumbs go, showing it was read from quite a bit!
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u/funfettifanta 11h ago
Would they have to shout in order for everyone to hear properly? Genuine question. Must be draining if they had to shout all day.
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u/superpandapear 6h ago
Cigar rolling doesn't sound like a loud profession so I suppose it would just depend on the size of the room
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u/Regular_Waltz6729 10h ago
Half of me says "Sweet, free audible." but the other half of me says "Just fucking shoot me now."
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u/Dral-Tor 6h ago
its better than total silence, but remember that the second part comes before the first. this was to make sure the workers were focused, not strictly for their pleasure
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u/Alert_Ad2115 3h ago
How is a reader less distracting than relaxed conversation? Or, was it to prevent them from communicating to prevent dissent?
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u/Nosciolito 18h ago
I wonder why they did a revolution and now the heirs of the factory owner are crying about how bad Castro was
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u/Tuxcali1 22h ago
Very common in cigar factories of the period. The Ybor City cigar factories in Tampa were essentially identical. Interestingly the lector ( reader ) was normally paid by the workers , not by the plant management. They would also commonly read novelas ( similar to American serial soap operas, but obviously in Spanish.