Not the get you pregnant kind.

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The get you out of bed kind.

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Before alarm clocks, there were people whose entire job was making sure you got out of bed.

 

They were called knocker-uppers.

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During the Industrial Revolution, factory workers had to report to work at very specific times.

Being late could mean losing wages or even losing your job.

 

There was just one small problem.

 

Alarm clocks weren’t sitting on everybody’s nightstand.

So you hired a person.

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For a few pennies a week, a knocker-upper would make the rounds early in the morning, stopping outside customers’ homes and tapping on their bedroom windows until they woke up.

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Some used long bamboo poles or fishing rods to reach windows several stories up.

 

Mary Smith of London had a better system.

She used a pea shooter.

She would stand on the street and shoot dried peas at her customers’ windows until somebody inside finally got up.

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By the late 1800s, the business could be surprisingly busy.

Historical accounts describe knocker-uppers in industrial cities with as many as 80 to 100 customers a day.

 

Eventually, alarm clocks became inexpensive and reliable enough that paying someone to stand outside your house pelting your window with legumes was no longer necessary.

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But for decades, getting to work on time depended on one very important person.

Standing outside.

Holding a really long stick.

Or a pocketful of peas.