Night waitresses were involved in scandals at night in Pécs in the early 20th century. A decree of 1911 stipulated that waitresses were only allowed to be on duty from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., after that they were punished.
Even before the First World War there was a great demand for prostitutes in Pécs, so publicans and landlords used to hire women to provide sexual services under the guise of waitresses. This was necessary because at the turn of the century, shops were mainly located on the streets, and most prostitutes offered their services in Király Street. In 1900, at a committee meeting of the town hall, Elek Czierer, the chief physician of Pécs, spoke out against the unsustainable conditions and called for the introduction of compulsory health checks for streetwalkers.
When the evening butterflies fill the crowded boardwalk, the walking public can witness scandalous scenes. Sleazy women make their deals in front of everyone. Only our police don’t get excited.
said the Chief Medical Officer in his speech.
The problem was solved only 10 years later, when a public house was allowed to be built in the former Czinderi Street. The „girls” could only walk and hunt for customers in this street. The bordello opened in 1910, and because there were three military barracks in the area, soldiers could legally vent their anger here.
„The solid women sit down at a table with a couple of bottles of wine. These ladies do not sell anything. They are not allowed to sit at the guest’s table, but the guest is not forbidden to sit at the buffet table, move the grid, drink the wine, or even invite the solid women, who are kept for that purpose by their masters, to separe.”
A big scandal was created, so the municipality decided to take an unusual step.
„The most important point of the by-law is the one that puts an end to night-time female service by banning waitresses from being off duty from 8pm to 6am.”
The stricture had been in place for 3 years when it was lifted following protests from waitresses.
„The Secretary of the Interior ruled in an order that waitress service could not be restricted and therefore repealed that part of the city’s bylaw prohibiting waitresses from being at their place of employment from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.”
After that, only a heavy police crackdown put a stop to the immorality, and several innkeepers decided not to employ waitresses in the interest of peace and quiet.
Foto: Fortepan/Saly Noémi
