The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-01-04
A TELEPHONE GIRLS VIEWS.
A Reporter Drops In Central and Picks Up
Some Information.

Some Information.
But tell you there are some things
that some subscribers do not know; in
fact, you may say lots of things that
lots of them do not know. and if they
would come up and look az the ex-
change room they would understand
things that occasionally vex them now
Now, for instance, man comes to
| the phone in hurry and gives vio-
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 TO answer for a few seconds.
and Mr.. Man rings violently and con-
/ tinuouslv for whole minute. Does he
| startle the whole room and call partic-
| uiar 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 more, his call can't be answered till
he quiets down.
This is the way it works: watch that
operator. You see she has an upright
board in front of her full of numbered
holes. one for every telephone in the
oSA FANC dAi Ol4 lAC lCdkC bCIO" l0b
holes are fourteen pairs of cords with
metal ENDS like shoe laces. and each
pair OF cords serves to make the counec-
ton between a pair of su oscrs berS SO
that an operator cal have twentv-eight
people in conversation on her switch
board at once.
Now, below the cords on the switch
board are mum bers that correspond to
the subscribers on the opera tors list,
an average of 125 to each girl, SO girl
is kept busy attending to them. Each
number is covered by blank 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 does
not hear it. She just sees the number,
throws down little lever that con-
Rects your phone with pair of Office
cords, and then says, Mum Der please?
You give her the mum Der and she sticks
the metal-tipped cords into the num-
bered hole you called for and rings up
the man you wanted by pressing but
ton. The central is out of the CONVEX
sation 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 shoves the
cord 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:
Cant get them now; line is busy
This is what makes great 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 a sweet
heart every time.
THE greatest trouble the subscriber
has is usually in getting at the wrong
range from his phone Four inches is
the right distance. We had a 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 a yard.
Come up closer, said the operator.
why said the man, I've got my
nose right in the thing now
THE girls have ali been wanting TO
see that man ever since.
1--WE are kept pretty busy the most of
the time The girls work on eight-hour
stretches, and average one thousand /
calls day. and there are thirty-two
operators employed altogether, some of
whom are on all night, though that |
work takes ftkver than during the day. |
1--WE have to keep posted on all sorts /
Of news, and during the basel ball sea-
son half of our afternoon calls are to !
tell what is the score, and it is the same |
with the football games. We turn in
good many of the fire alarms, and gave
the White house the first news on the /
election returns
THE subscribers are almost without
exception very nice and courteous to
is, and think they would be even less
apt to be vexed or misunderstood if
hey would come up to the exchange
md see how things work. "-Washing
.on Post