Baba Metzia 6:8-7:1

Baba Metzia 6:8

If a person moves a barrel from one place to another and breaks it, he must take an oath regardless of whether he is an unpaid or a paid watchman. Rabbi Eliezer acknowledges that both types of watchmen take an oath but it is unclear to him how doing so exempts them in this instance.

Baba Metzia 7:1

Let’s say that a person hires workers and tells them to arrive early or to leave late. In a place where the accepted practice is not to do these things, he cannot compel them to comply. In a place where the accepted practice is to feed workers, he must feed them. If the practice is to give them a certain standard of food, he must provide it. Everything depends upon the accepted local practice. It once happened that Rabbi Yochanan ben Masyah told his son to go hire some workers. The son hired them and arranged food for them. When he returned, his father said that even if he had prepared them a banquet like those of King Solomon, it would not have been sufficient because the workers are descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Rather, before they start working, he should stipulate that he is only obligated to feed them bread and vegetables (which was the local standard). Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that such a stipulation is unnecessary because everything automatically follows the accepted local practice.