Cheaper by the dozen - Chapter 6 Tough system

FRANK BUNKER GILBRETH, Jr. CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN ~ CHAPTER 6 SCANNED BY THẨM TÂM VY, March 14th, 2020.

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN By Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr.

CHAPTER 6 Tough System

LIKE most of Dad's and Mother's ideas, the Family Council was basically sound and, although it verged sometimes on the hysterical, brought results. Family purchasing committees, duly elected, bought the food, clothes, furniture, and athletic equipment. A utilities committee levied one-cent fines on wasters of water and electricity. A projects committee saw that work was completed as scheduled. Allowances were decided by the Council, which also meted out rewards and punishment. Despite Dad's forebodings, there were no ponies or roadsters. One purchasing committee found a large department store which gave us wholesale rates on everything from underwear to baseball gloves. Another bought canned goods directly from a manufacturer, in truckload lots. It was the Council, too, which worked out the system of submitting bids for unusual jobs to be done. When Lili was eight, she submitted a bid of forty-seven cents to paint a long, high fence in the back yard. Of course it was the lowest bid, and she got the job. “She’s too young to try to paint that fence all by herself,” Mother told Dad. “Don’t let her do it.” “Nonsense,” said Dad. “She’s got to learn the value of money and to keep agreements. Let her alone.” Lili, who was saving for a pair of roller skates and wanted the money, kept insisting she could do it. “If you start it, you’ll have to finish it,” Dad said. “I’ll finish it, Daddy. I know I can.” “You’ve got yourself a contract, then.” It took Lili ten days to finish the job, working every day after school and all day week ends. Her hands blistered, and some nights she was so tired she couldn’t sleep. It worried Dad so that some nights he didn’t sleep very well either. But he made her live up to her contract. “You’ve got to let her stop,” Mother kept telling him. “She’ll have a breakdown or something—or else you will.” “No,” said Dad. “She’s learning the value of money and she’s learning that when you start something it’s necessary to finish it if you want to collect. She’s got to finish. It’s in her contract.” “You sound like Shylock,” Mother said. But Dad stood firm. When Lili finally completed the job, she came to Dad in tears. “It’s done,” she said. “I hope you’re satisfied. Now can I have my forty-seven cents?” Dad counted out the change.

“Don’t cry, honey,” he said. “No matter what you think of your old Daddy, he did it for your own good. If you go look under your pillow you’ll find that Daddy really loved you all the time.” The present was a pair of roller skates. Fred headed the utilities committee and collected the fines. Once, just before he went to bed, he found that someone had left a faucet dripping and that there was a bathtub full of hot water. Jack had been asleep for more than an hour, but Fred woke him up. “Get in there and take a bath,” he said, “But I had a bath just before I went to bed.” “I know you did, and you left the faucet dripping,” Fred told him. “Do you want to waste that perfectly good water?” “Why don’t you take a bath?” Jack asked. “I take my baths in the morning. You know that. That’s the schedule.” Jack had two baths that night. One day Dad came home with two victrolas and two stacks of records. He whistled assembly as he hit the front steps, and we helped him unload. “Kids,” he said, “I have a wonderful surprise. Two victrolas and all these lovely records.” “But we have a victrola, Daddy.” “I know that, but the victrola we have is the downstairs victrola. Now we are going to have two upstairs victrolas. Won’t that be fun?” “Why?” “Well from now on,” said Dad, “we are going to try to do away with unavoidable delay. The victrolas will go in the bathrooms—one in the boys’ bathroom and the other in the girls’ bathroom. I’ll bet we’ll be the only family in town with a victrola in every bath. And when you are taking a …