Porter Hardships
Hardships
Although the pay was low, the job was one of the best available for African-American men at that time A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up the sleeping berths, serve food and drinks, shine shoes, and keep the cars tidy. They needed to be available night and day to wait on the passengers. They were expected to always smile, thus the porters often called the job, ironically, “miles of smiles.According to historian Greg LeRoy, "A Pullman Porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called a hotel on wheels. The Pullman Company just thought of the porters as a piece of equipment, just like another button on a panel. Porters worked 400 hours a month, sometimes as much as 20 hours at a stretch. They were expected to arrive at work several hours early to prepare their car. They were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher. On overnight trips, they were receiving only three to four hours of sleep, and that was deducted from their pay. However, they made a living with the tips they received. The company expected its employees to pay for their own meals, supply their own uniforms and shoe polish used to shine passengers shoes daily. There was little job security and the Pullman Company inspectors were known for suspending porters for trivial reasons.
This video explains the lack of sleep the porters endured and all the discrimination they went through.