The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-09

Central, what time is it?'' "Is
there any news of the s;eamer?'
"What's the matter with this tele-
phone, Central?" Ring up number
- hard;" ''If this telephone isn't
fixed today, Central, you can take it
out; see,' "Where's the Likelike?"
The above questions are a few of the
innumerable ones asked the poor,
long suffering operator at the central
Office of one of our telephone systems.
He is kept busy nearly all the time
making connections, and when he has
to stop to answer "fool questions" it
is certainly an eXasperating thing
Whether or not the company makes a
point of employing men who have no
temper is not known, but if any of he
"Centralsn have feelings of battle,
murder and sudden death toward the
people who ask questions, they are
certainly not to blame.
The telephone systems of Honolulu
have been written up so often that
nearly everyone understands or thinks
he does, just how it works. An AID
vERTIsER man spent some time in the
central office of one of the local COM
panies a few days ago, and learned
more about telephones in half an hour
than he ever knew before-which
wasn't much.
1t looks like very simple matter to
make a connection. Central, when
you pull down your lever and ask for
for number, answers you, and then
simply pulls a plug out of one hole
and sticks it into another. That's all.
There is nothing at all complicated
when you know nothing about it.
But when it is remembered that Cen
trail has about 800 of these plugs to
watch and over 700 Of the holes, and
that if he makes wrong connection
he calls the loudly expressed wrath
of the subscriber down on his head,
the entire simplicity or the matter
fades away.
The operators wear a receiver that
is fastened to the head by steel band.
This brings the receiver close to his
head and holds it there. The ADvER-
TIsER man wore one of these receivers
for some time, and listened to the peo-
pie ask their questions.
1t is astonishing how many people
there are who will not take the trouble
to look on the card for the number
they want. They will only give their
own number and the name of the party
wanted. So Central has to know the
number of every subscriber on the
lines. If he should tell subscriber
that he didn't know the number of
the name called for, that subscriber
would probably say, or at least think,
that Central didn't know his business.
The most commonly asked question
is, "What time is it?' People in Ho-
nolulu seem to have a deep-seated
repugnance to looking at the clock. 1t
is so much easier to pull down the
lever and ask Central than it is to go
into another room and consult the
time piece. a short time ago a GER
tain family here got into the habit of
asking the time so often during the
day, that one of the operators began
to count. He counted thirty-one
times that the different members of
that one family consulted the oracle
in one day. On further investigation
it was found that the house had an
average of one clock for every room.
A about $500 connections are made in
a day at the office visited. This is an
average of almost five connections for
each telephone in use. As the great
majority of these connections are
made during few hours of the day,
Central has to be OIL the jump during
those busy hours.
Each telephone has its own wire
direct to the office. Consequently,
there is considerable expense attach
ed to the work OF putting in new in
strument. If a number of telephones
could use the same wire, it would be
a bonanza for the companies, but
they cannot.
There is an idea in the minds of
most people that Central hears every
thing that passes over the wires. This
is not 30, although he can do so if he
wishes, but he has to use what he
;alls the "listening plug" to do it. 1t
IS a very fortunate circumstance for
him that he cannot hear it all, or his
chances of going to the insane asy-
UNI would be even greater than they |
ire now. A number of people have |
/ habit of pulling down the lever and |
listening to the conversation OF others |
Until Central tells them to let go.
In case of fire, Central has soma |
yery important duties to perform.
The alarms come into the telephone
,ffices first, and Central has the duty
If sounding the gong in the engine
houses and letting the men and horses
NOW that they are wanted for duty. |
There are a number of subscribers
Who want to be notified whenever a
ire occurs aud special keyboard has
'een made for their benefit, which,
When a spring is touched, notifies
hem all at the same time, and saves
much needed time for the operator.
The greatest enemy the telephones
ave is the electric light wires. They
lay more havoc with the telephone
yires than sill the other causes COM
lined. 1t is these that make that dis
greeable buZZing noise in your ears
Dmetimes when you are trying to
ear some one talk. If the electric
ght and telephone wires run parallel
n mile or so, even though they are
xty feet apart, the latter wire is
ffected by induction. Storms, like
ne one we have had lately, are also
ard on the telephone systems, in the