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Common Jobs in a Medieval City

medievalists.net

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Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#21

Post by bruce343434 »

watwut wrote: post #20
bruce343434 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I figured as much. But I don't agree with the premise of the book. Sure, we all "know" the jobs are bullshit, and yet they aren't. Let's go over the wikipedia summary at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs >flunkies, who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, administrative assistants, door attendants, makers of websites whose sites neglect ease of use and speed for looks; They ser…

> flunkies, who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, administrative assistants, door attendants, makers of websites whose sites neglect ease of use and speed for looks; Imo, receptionists, administrative assistant and "makers of websites whose sites neglect ease of use and speed for looks" are all actually useful. Their function is not just to make someone feel superior. Instead, I would…

Exactly. I can't imagine running a doctors office without a reception. Or really any public facing company/office without a reception. Would anyone like to have the dentist use his time to answer the phone rather than fix teeth? Seems like that would under utilize the dentist's degree.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#22

Post by qw »

dmurray wrote: post #11
MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.

4% of the workforce being shoemakers seems enormous. One person working full time making shoes for every fifty-ish adults? I don't know what the right comparison is today. According to [0], the fashion industry accounts for about 3% of world GDP. Perhaps shoes are a quarter of that? [0] https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/

The shoemakers also repaired and maintained shoes. They would replace soles, repair holes etc.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#23

Post by mysterydip »

dmurray wrote: post #11
MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.

4% of the workforce being shoemakers seems enormous. One person working full time making shoes for every fifty-ish adults? I don't know what the right comparison is today. According to [0], the fashion industry accounts for about 3% of world GDP. Perhaps shoes are a quarter of that? [0] https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/

I assume 1) people walked a lot more, 2) shoes took longer to make, and 3) didn't last as long which means more people necessary to handle demand. I could be completely off, though.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#24

Post by Cthulhu_ »

bluedino wrote: post #19
lqet wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect that. Clothes last significantly longer than shoes (you can wear a cheap T-Shirt for way over 5 years, but even good midrange shoes start to fall apart after 2 years). It is also fairly easy to repair or even make clothes at home. But shoes?

Shoes might fall apart in 2 years if you wear them every day. Do you wear the same t-shirt every day?

Yeah, false equivalence. If you wear a dozen shoes on rotation, they will also last for 5 years.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#26

Post by ldoughty »

MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.

This statistic might also be a specialization for just this case/city. The author noted that Montpelier was known for shoes, which might mean people traveled there for shoes, or they were exported/bought by traveling merchants and sold elsewhere.

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#28

Post by honkdaddy »

dmurray wrote: post #11
MikeTaylor wrote: post #4

Striking that there were more shoemakers than tailors.

4% of the workforce being shoemakers seems enormous. One person working full time making shoes for every fifty-ish adults? I don't know what the right comparison is today. According to [0], the fashion industry accounts for about 3% of world GDP. Perhaps shoes are a quarter of that? [0] https://fashinnovation.nyc/fashion-industry-statistics/

It does seem a bit strange, you're right. When you read into it though, this city seemed to have a higher cobbler population than most, as alluded to by the author.

> They were organized in different guilds, based on the street in which they kept their shops. In 1360, nine cobblers’ guilds were attested in documents, all situated within the city’s walls

I know almost nothing about medieval France, but perhaps peasants from smaller surrounding cities may have come to this one to learn or work, leading to this skew?

Re: Common Jobs in a Medieval City

#29

Post by kwhitefoot »

bruce343434 wrote: post #21
watwut wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> flunkies, who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, administrative assistants, door attendants, makers of websites whose sites neglect ease of use and speed for looks; Imo, receptionists, administrative assistant and "makers of websites whose sites neglect ease of use and speed for looks" are all actually useful. Their function is not just to make someone feel superior. Instead, I would…

Exactly. I can't imagine running a doctors office without a reception. Or really any public facing company/office without a reception. Would anyone like to have the dentist use his time to answer the phone rather than fix teeth? Seems like that would under utilize the dentist's degree.

Reception at my doctor's in Norway are all qualified nurses. My sister on the other hand goes to a surgery in the UK has a dedicated receptionist. My sister's experience of visiting the surgery is considerably worse than mine. At the dental practice that I use the hygienists take turns to run the reception desk.

> Would anyone like to have the dentist use his time to answer the phone rather than fix teeth?

I don't care who answers the telephone as long as they are competent to answer questions and have authority to solve problems.

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