Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-09-28
THE TELEPHONE GIRL.
Why She Is Employed Instead of
q Boy.
She Must BE Able to Keep Her Temper
and Hold Her Tongur-Tact and
Judgment Are lndispens-
able Qualifications.

8 The telephone girl may not he edu-
Gated. but she must be nice, as they say
i'll the south, and must be possessed of
a medium grade of intelligence. She
must be able to write letter, make a
her tongue, keep her temper under
every provocation and give her undivid.
! ed attention to the business of the Of
fee. Any defect in speech or hearing,
says Electricity would necessarily dis
qualify her for the work. Tact and
judgment are Indispensable, and lack
ing one or the other she will break
down in a very short time, for nothing
SO quickly develops a pugnacious ten
dency as service at public telephone.
: Fifteen years ago. when the instrument
! was introduced for general service, the
telephone companies employed boys be-
tween the ages of sixteen and nineteen,
with results that were first disturb
| ing. then discouraging, and finally
threatened to be destructive to the
| interests of the company. Incessant
and emphatic stress was laid upon the
necessity for absolute civility of speech
on the part Of the boys. Terms of ex-
preston were reduced to the soul of
brevity. SO that the language of the
Office was humorously monosyllabic,
and all conversation over the wires was
prohibited. Rules in letters of belliger-
ent hue and formidable size were posted
in conspicuous places. forbidding the
operator to add syllable more than
was necessary to answer the sub
scriber's question. AS further means
Of preserving harmony and protecting
business interests, monitor-operators
were stationed in every section to lend
ear to the sayings and doings Of the
boys. -.1-> -.
/ But the average boy is no respecter
OF persons, and when an irritable mon
ey-bag or q crusty old bank president,
impatient of delay, and wholly ignorant
Ofthe war among the wires, was SO for
getful of richesse oblige as to dilate on
''infernal' things. lazy puppy" and the
like, the impulsive youth quietly but
distinctly told the opulent old party to
take himself to the place Col. Ingersoll
says "is not" Such fragrant violations
of the rules resulted in immediate dis
mlssal. but, Notwithstanding, similar
offenses were of daily occurrence and
necessitated the employment of a relay
force as large as the original staff of
operators.
Everything that could be done by
the company to inculcate a spirit of
forbearance was done; but boys will be
boys, and unable to knock down the
man at the other end who gave them
any ''sass," they gleefully blew him up
and took the consequences. To en-
plOy the services of men of mature
judgment and business sagacity would
have entailed greater expense than the
corporation cared to stand, and as
last resort what was deemed risky
experiment was tried; the telephone
girl was introduced. = - 49,,
At first she was an old girl, quiet.
sedate and thoughtful, with a know
ledge OF human nature acquired
through lost youth and the scars of ex-
perience. She came in modest gray
and melancholy black. Her ways
were kittenish and also motherly. She
brought . piece Of soap, q piece of
comb and piece Of looking-glass, done
up III paper DOxs OuOer the luuuencc
Of her gentle presence at the switch
board, her fingers at the plugs and
cords, her lips at the transmitter and
her ear at the telephone. discord
dropped to MINIMUM. There was no
more swearing or blowing up, no
"back.talk" and no serious complaints
or threats on the part of subscribers to
withdraw patronage; but the service
was still but q mediocre success. The |
girls were stiff. They lacked mallea-
bility and fexibility. They did not !
seem able to adapt themselves TO the
requirements. By degrees sprightly. /
girlish girls were taken ON the force,
also as an experiment, and they
''caught on" so readily and swung into |
line SO naturally that all unconsciously
they solved the problem of efficient
telephone service. From that time the
decline Of telephone widows and old
maids began, and q decided preference
was shown for girls less than twenty
Ave and more chan sixteen years Of
age -