Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-04-14
THE TELEPHONE GIRL
According to Her Story She Has q
Hard Time Of It.
Ono or tho Poor UnfortunatoS UnbosomS
Herself on tho Disadvantages OF
Having to Oniclata ~
"Central."

lots of them do not know, and If they
would como up and take look at the
exchange room they would understand
things that occasionally vex them now"
said Il telephone girl to q Washington
Post reporter.
Now, for instance, 4 man comes to
the phone in hurry and gives Il vio-
lent ring. Well, his operator hns thir-
teen out of the fourteen pairs of cords
on her desk in use and don't have a
chance to answer for n few seconds, and
Mr.. Man rings violently and continu-
ously for whole minute. Does he
startlc the whole room and call particu-
lar attention to his demand? Not eX-
actly. The little drop on the board
falls quietly from his number, and we
don't hear any of his ringing, and, what
is moro, his call can't be answered till
he quiets down.
This is the way it works; watch that
operator. Yop see she has IN upright
board in front of her full of numbered
holes, one for every telephone in the
service, and on the ledge below the
holes arc fourteen pairs of cords with
metal ends like shoe laces. and each
pair of cords serves to make the connec-
ton between pair of subscribers, so
that an operator can have twcnty-eight
people in conversation on the switch
board at once.
"Now, below the cords on the switch
board are numbers that correspond to
the subscribers on the operators list,
IN average of one hundred and twenty
five to each girl, 50 girl is kept pretty
busy attending to 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 docs
not hear it. She just sees the number
throws down little lever that connects
your phone with n pair of Office cords,
and then says: Number, plcasc?'
"You give her the number and she
sticks the mctal-tippcd cords into the
numbered hole you called for and rings
mp the man yon want by pressing n
button. The central is out Of the con-
vcrsation till you hang up your receiver
and ring Off This drops red disk
over your number, and central knows
she can cut off and have the connecting
cords ready for the next call.
but when the operator shovca the
cord tips into hole and hears Il click.
click she knows al operator ut one Of
the other boards has subscriber tally
ing n4that line, and then she says:
Can't get them now; limo is busy
This is what makes q grent many peo-
pie mad They think central means
she is too busy to attend to them and
they put it down to a novel or sweet
heart every time.
"rhe greatest trouble n subscriber
has is usually in getting at the wrong
range from his phone. -Four inches is
the right distance. We had n man call
in here the other day that his phone
was out of order. The chief operator
asked him how far he was standing
| from it, and he said:
"-'Oh! about y yard
" Come up Closer said the operator.
"'Why,' said the man, I've got my
nose right in the thing now
1.-The girls have all been wanting to
sec that man even, since. ->~
1--WE arc kept pretty busy the most of
the time. The girls work on eight
hour stretches and average one thou
| sand calls day, and there aro thirty
I"O 'icibUoAS SihplOS GU hlLOyCJncr,
some of whom arc on all night, though
thnt work talSce fewer than during the
| day.
ave have to keep posted on all sorts
| Of news, and during the baseball season
half of our afternoon 3nlls are to tell
| what is the score, and it is the same
with the football games. We turn in a
| good many of the fire alarms, and on
election night gave the white house the
first news on tho election returns
| "Thc subscribers are almost without
exception very nice and courteous to us,
and think they would be even less apt
to be veXcd or misunderstood If they
would come up to the exchange and sec
how things work"
OUR FOuR-FOOTED FRIENDS.