Lectors
In the 1920s, those who worked long hours in their cubicles did not have a way to break up the monotony of their workdays, unlike those of us today who can take brief rest periods to glace at social media.
Employers started bringing in “lectors” to entertain office employees by reading news, tales, and other sorts of literature aloud to them while they worked. We’re not sure how this was entertaining; it sounds like it would be pretty distracting.