The herald., 1898-01-23


with telephones-and who has not in
these days?-is familiar with the routine
which follows taking the receiver from
Its hook-the question, Number" from
central; the muffied buzz of a bell; or
that maddening reply, Line is busy"
in response to a certain number given.
Everybody knows, too the incidental
annoyance, so irritating when one Is in
a hurry, if central doesn't respond
promptly, even though the hook be
banged up and down, or when that other
infuriating reply comes back over the
wire, Party called for does not reply"
THE TELEPHONE GIRL
Those who don't know these things
by actual experience, are made familiar
with it all by the wagS on the daily or
the funny papers, and the result is that
the telephone Is regarded by a great
many people as a necessary evil, and the
telephone girl' has come to be looked
upon as man's-and woman's-natural
enemy.
| How many people think of her, if at
all, as other than an impertinent mink,
who uses her time when she isn't read
ing a book to the exhilarating accom-
paniment of gum chewing. in devising
spiteful ways for taking advantage of
your helplessness by active malfeasance
of one kind or another, or at the very
least by passive inattention to your
needs?
| Hasn't 1t occurred to you many times
that central" must have some kind of
a grudge against you? That no one else
can be subjected to so many annoyances
as you in trying to use the telephone? :?
OF course you have. What is she paid
salary for except to answer your bell?
| She answers promptly sometimes, why
not always? What is she there for, any,
way?
SEE central"
What indeed! Just make it your bus
mess to pay call at the central office
and satisfy yourself on that subject and
others. You will be most courteously
treated, the whole method will be ex-
planned to you, and it will be a great
saving to your temper forever after
wards.
AS there are two sides to every ques-
ton, so is there the other side to this
one, and 1 am frank to confess that af-
ter having bearded central in her den
1 am fain to take off my hat to her and
to state that in my humble opinion the
lot of the biped who breaks rocks for
living is s1perlatively easy by compari-
son. In the latter occupation one can
at least take it out on the rocks; in the
former there is no recourse save to turn
the other ear for some one else to smite.
l don't remember just who it was that
said the more he saw of men the more
he thought of dog, but it might we'll
have been telephone girl. And as for
the women, bless their hearts, with their
household orders, and the little informal
calls they exchange over the wire, in
which the latest bit of gossip or what
not is retaied at length, they, too, use
the telephone. as central knows to her
cost.
For, do you know, irrational as it may
appear, much as the evidence seems to
point to the contrary, the telephone girl
is, in the vast majority of cases, not in
any way responsible for the many vex-
ing annoyances incident upon the COM
mon use of that important and invalu-
able adjunct to modern civilization.
FIFTY-SIX TO FOUR THOUSAND
In the first place there are 1000 tele-
phones scattered far and wide over the
city and only fifty-six girls all told to
handle the boards at the main office,
and the work at the branch offices is all
tributary to and for the most part done
through that same main office. So, you
see, each girl has to handle more than
any one telephone, be it yours or an
others.
In order to simplify matters as much
as possible, there are sixty switch
boards in the main office built on three
sides of hollow square, each of which
connects with trunk lines, party lines,
sunset the chief operator, etc., etc. Each
board has 200 holes for plugs, all of which
are numbered, and all are divided into A
boards and B boards. On the former
the calls are received from subscribers,
on the latter the ringing is done.
Seated facing these boards in three
long lines are the girls, those on each line
naturally with their backs to those in
the opposite line. Against the ear of
each. usually the left, is black rubber
receiver which is bound to her head by
means Of a curved double steel band,
and suspended from the board in front
of each ones mouth is the transmit
ter for that especial board. On shelf
at the base of the board are the keys
that make the connections and number
of plugs in pairs, all of which are at
tached to the battery by means of fex-
ible tubes through which the wires are
run.
There are rows of indicators on each of
the A boards, and when you take the re-
ceiver of your telephone from it's hook
the number of your phone, say eleven
teen, bobs. No bell rings. Nothing but
the number shows that you want atten-
ton. The girl in front of the board
picks up one of the plugs and pushes it
into the hole which bears your number
and at the same time says Number"
You say, perhaps, Main 1892. The girl
who is answering you by means of one
of the keys in front of her connects her
self with another girl, perhaps on the
other side of the room, who is running
the b board that has Main 1892 on it and
tells her the number asked for. She
calls back the number of the trunk line
that is free, and the girl who has an
swered you pushes the other plug of that
pair into the trunk line number she has
been given which completes the circuit
as far as she has to do with it. Then
the girl at the other board takes her
pair of plugs, puts one in the same trunk
number she has given the first girl and
the other plug goes into the 1892 hole.
She then presses button or turns down
key and that rings the bell of the
l~l-