ABSTRACT
German hotels and department stores of the 1920s and 1930s are prominent settings for narratives. They reflect contemporary patterns and perceptions of everyday work in postwar society. In both institutions, “invisible” workforces play an important role. As key sites of modernity, hotels and department stores display the impact of hierarchies, rigidly organized working patterns and the reality of customer service. This chapter concentrates on two Austrian writers whose success story began in 1920s Berlin: Vicki Baum and Joseph Roth. Focusing on the depiction of the staff, this article explores how hotels and department stores serve to make more tangible some of the implications of an otherwise elusive modernity.
