The Factory - TS4 in the 1800s
Eula and Etta Novak grew up in a modest, middle class home with their doting and bumbling father, their mother having died giving birth to Eula. Like all good daughters, they tended to the home and their father’s comfort. But when their father died, leaving the sisters with extensive debt and no income, they found themselves in dire straights. Evicted from their house by the bank and forced to sell their possessions to pay off the rest of their debts, they ended up in an unfamiliar city on the factory steps of the Upton Manufacturing Company one early morning, penniless and petrified, on the first day of work at the first job of their lives.
The arrangement had been hurriedly made with the company owner, Oliver Upton, by the family lawyer through an acquaintance of an acquaintance. The sisters would live and work at the factory, thus solving both problems of shelter and coin. The lawyer was all too aware of the alternatives for women in these circumstances, which were usually limited to starvation or prostitution, and thusly was pleased with himself for having provided a solution. What he was not aware of was Oliver Upton’s reputation amongst his workers.
They were terrified of him, and for good reason. Mr. Upton was a cruel and malicious man who was prone to bouts of rage. Not a day went by that he didn’t shout forbidden words at one of his workers.
On his desk, he kept a bottle of whiskey, and beside his desk, there was always a bat. He made liberal use of both. Oliver Upton was not a man whose bad side you wanted to get on.
Miss Snelling, who seemed to be in charge, quickly ushered the sisters in and assigned Etta the task of cooking breakfast for the workers. Etta had only ever cooked on her own stove before and never for so many people. Despite her best efforts (and despite the fact that I cheated her a 1 cooking skill so this wouldn’t happen), she burned the food badly...and herself, as well.
Miss Snelling informed her that there was no time to clean up before she was due on the factory floor, so she had no choice but to show up on her first day of work covered in soot. This caught the eye of Mr. Upton who was furious. “I took you and your sister in as a favor, and this is how you repay my kindness, you ungrateful, little wench?! If you think you can disrespect my workplace like this, you are mistaken, madam. I’ll be watching you. One more misstep from you, and you’re out on the street!”
Etta had never been talked to this way in her life, much less yelled at by a man, much less yelled at by a man she had never even been introduced to. Shocked, confused, and shaking, she felt the tears well up in her eyes but was determined not to cry in front of him. She, too, knew the alternative to being a factory worker, so she bottled her feelings and took the abuse.
From that point, Miss Snelling assigned Etta all the worst jobs. When all the other workers were relaxing after a full 12-hour day on the floor, Etta was washing dishes...
...or doing the laundry, or some other fatiguing task. Miss Snelling would not allow her sister, Eula, to help her, and Etta, who had always protected her little sister from the more harsh aspects of life, pretended to Eula that she was fine with all the chores, making the excuse that she welcomed the distraction as it kept her from thinking about their dear father’s passing.
And even though her back ached and her feet felt like lead, even though her hands were raw and her skin cracked from endless buckets of dishwater and laundry detergent, even though she would always be the “bad worker” in the eyes of Mr. Upton and Miss Snelling no matter how hard she worked or how hard she tried, she was grateful for the job and the bed and the roof over her head. And most of all she was grateful that her sister had food and a warm(ish) place to sleep.
Etta wasn’t sure if she was assigned all the extra work because Mr. Upton had ordered it or because Miss Snelling didn’t like her either. She suspected it was probably both. The only person Miss Snelling really seemed to like was Horace Thacker.
This was quite funny, in a not funny sort of way, because Horace Thacker was by far the laziest person Etta had ever met. He was a slow worker and frequently sneaked away from his post to take naps. He sometimes even, somehow, fell asleep standing up.
(I did not assign this sim the lazy trait or any similar traits, but for some unknown reason, he can only work a fraction of the time as the other sims before he’s exhausted.)
Etta suspected that the only reason Horace Thacker still had a job was because Miss Snelling had the boss’ ear, and she obviously fancied Horace. On the other hand, who knows what the boss and Miss Snelling were saying about Etta during their frequent talks.
Unlike Etta, Eula was fairing well, considering the circumstances. She was, of course, sad and missed her home and her father, but she quickly made friends with the other workers and was well like by all. That is to say, she was liked by most everyone and tolerated by Miss Snelling, which is actually saying quite a bit. Her sweet, unassuming, and optimistic demeanor helped her get along with others and cope with any situation.
And then there was Vincent. Eula was instantly moonstruck by his big, dreamy eyes (as she put it) and handsome features. She finagled her way into switching stations on the workfloor so she could be closer to his, and she almost always managed to sit near him during meal times. She looked upon him with complete adoration.
The feeling was not mutual. But Eula, in her buoyant way, figured that given enough time to get to know her, he would change his mind. She just needed to spend more time talking with him, but he was often difficult to corner.
Vincent would regularly turn in immediately after supper and retire to the men’s bunk room with his very good friend, Jake, where, presumably, they were either talking about their day or sleeping soundly.
Eula thought it was truly sweet how close they were.
One of the advantages or disadvantages to the sisters’ change in social status, depending upon whom you ask, is that they could now visit the previously dark and mysterious chambers of a drinking establishment without ruining their reputation, for when one is poor, one does not have much of a reputation to ruin. Eula reveled in his newfound freedom and embraced it with a sense of adventure.
Etta’s exposure to this seedier element of life as a factory worker, however, was in pressing danger of taking a dark turn. With no father to guide her and no chaperone to oversee her actions, she took to drink with astonishing enthusiasm, using it to dull the pain, both physical and emotional. Where her foray into the nightlife started as a fun excursion to solve the mystery of exactly what went on in a public house, she began to obsessively think about when she would have her next outing and, more importantly, her next drink. While Eula had Vincent to dream about, Etta dreamed only of the pub.
And so her existence became an endless blur of work and drink and more work, and the only thing that kept her from throwing herself into the river behind the factory was the will to go on for her sister’s sake.
(By the way, this is the future Factory One, the Partihaus residence in Windenburg, before it was remodeled into a contemporary residence in the late 20th century.)