Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1893-02-09

According 10 Her Story shs Has Hard
Tine u Il

Time u L.
But til yoa there are some things
that some subscribers don't know; in
f..ct. yoe might say lots Of things that
iots II shcaa DO tot know. and II they
would cosna up and take = look At the
exchange room they would understand
things that occasionally vex them now
sAid telephone girl "a Washington
Post reporter.
-Now. for instance. = man esnrs Ia
the phone in hurry and gives vso-
lent ring. Well. his operator has thir-
teen out Of the fourteen pairs Of cords
on her desk In use and don't have
chance 10 answer for few seconds. and
Mr.. Man ring. violently and eontinu-
soaiy for . whole minute Does be
ssartle tie whole room and call partiru-
Lar attention 10 his demand9 Not cx-
sctly. The little drop on the board
falls quietly from his number. and We
donr hear any Of his ringing. aud. what
l. more, his call can't he answered tili
he quiets down.
This is the wNy IL works. watch that
operator. You see she has an upright
boArd in front OF her full of numbered
holes. one for every telephone Ia the
s.-vice. aud on the ledge below the
holes are fourteen pairs of cords with
metal ends Ike shoe laees. and each
pair Of cords serves 20 make the connec-
tion between a pair OF Subscribers, 30
that an operator can have twenty eight
people in conversation on the switch
board At once.
Now. below the cords on the switch
board are nusabers that correspond TO
the subscribers on the operators list,
an average Of one hundred and twenty
five 70 each girl. so a girl Is kept pretty
busy attending - all Of them. Each
number Is covered by black disk ON
hinges. and the slightest touch on the
bell on your phone makes the disk over
your number fall down But no matter
how hard You ring the operator doeo
not hear H. She just secs the number.
throws down a little lever that connects
your phone with a pair of Office cords.
and then says: Number. pleasc1'
.'You give her the number and she
sticks the mesal-tipped cords into the
numbered hole you called Tor and rings
up the man you want by pressing n
button The central Is out of the con-
vsr>ation til you hang up yorr receiver
and ring on This drops a red disk
over your number. and central knows
she can cut OF aud have the connecting
corslS ready for the next call.
sBut when the operator shoves the
cssr1 tips into hole and hears click.
click. she knows an operator at one Of
| the other boards has subscriber talk
ing on that line. and then she says:
Can't get them now; line Is busy.
This - what makes a great many pco-
pie mad They think central means
she is too busy 70 attend TO them and
they put II down TO novel or y sweet
has.rt every time
Tho greatest trouble q subscriber
has i usually in getting at The wrong
range from his phone. -Four inches Is
tie right distance We had a man call
In herr. the other day that his phone
was out of order. The chief operator
asked him how far he was standing
from IL. and he said:
. Oil about = yard
tosle mp closer, said the operator.
why. said the man. I've got my
nose right In the thing now
The girls have all been wanting 70
sc that man ever since.
We are kept pretty busy the most Of
the time The girls work on eight
hour stretches and average one thou
sand calls day. and there are thirty
two operators employed altogether,
acme Of whom are on all night. though
that work takes fewer than during the
day
We have % keep posted ON ell sorts
of news. and during the baseball season
half ~ our afternoon calls are u tell
what is the score. and u Il the same
with The football games We turn In a
good many ~ the fire alarms, and on
election night gave the white house the
first news on the election returns
The Subscribers are almost without
exception very nice and courteous % "a.
and | think they would - even lee apt
- - vcxcJ or nisunarre.snd II they
would come up - the exchange and @c-
hoVv tkinc4 work