The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-08-03
TELEPHONE GO-BETWEEN.

conversations that are going on over the
wires. Al the central once each giFi
has fifty wires. and you may Imagine
she IL too busy to pay any attention to
anything that Is said except as she
catches a word here and there. You
have TO keep going over the wires TO rs
ten and see II people are talking still' u
they have the people they wish, or u
they have finished. But when YOU -
going constantly from one 10 the OILY -
OF the fifty you may be sure tnat ~ ,yIi. ~ y,
not get very connected idea o. "'i-' =
going on. ,, 20 ,,,,sn
There Is always some one looking AFTER
the girls at the central ONCE ana II t ny
were found listening to the conversion I,l1li
The would be discharged-not the nIst
time. perhaps, but after once or Twice,
Then. a telephone girl can't talk over
the wires TO any one on her lines except
10 answer questions. and she can't an
swer back II people get cranky. % "a
can't tell anything that goes on oEeE w w
wires, either, II she happens 70 catch
any OF It. There are great many I'M.
portant things thai are SAID one way
and another. ,,,s %
KNEW lllE kAl - AAAOAnAAa
get good tips on the races, and she used
10 piay them, too. don't know how she
did II. / shouldn't understand II. !
used 10 tend that wire sometimes, but !
never knew what they were talking
about. The only time when girl might
have a chance TO listen at all II she
wanted TO would be Saturday afternoon.
when there Is not so much going on, only
a few girls at the ONCE and the wires
are quiet. 1 knew one girl who was
switchboard operator, who had man
talk over her lines with his girl Ohe
day she got the line for him, ana ne was
telephoninG and central called hef up.
'''Did you hear what that man was
' No. she said. 4 wasn't paying at
tention.' -, a..
cause he didn't get the connection right.
You ought TO have heard all he had 70
say to that girl Then she told her what
"can central hear me when am talk
InE?' asked the man when he came out
Of the telephone box.
IOh, mo- said the girl. Central can't
hear But she did that time.
att Is to get TO be a switchboard OPP
orator that most telephone girls Try
trail office are pleasant and easy TO get
along with they like the work there. A
telephone girl likes her work. anyway.
She Is kept busy all the time. and she
doesn't know where the time goes 10.
She is sorry 10 stay at home.
There are great many large business
firms that have switchboard operators
now. They have anywhere from a doz-
en- or more rooms in building to be
connected. so that when man wants 70
talk to anyone In the building he doesn't
have to 90 up or down stairs. and a
number OF people can be talking outside
at the same time over the four trunk
lines.
'aThe switchboard operators work is
easy compared with that OF telephone
girl in the central office Where the
central girl Will have fifty wires to at
tend 10. and is rushed all day from one
to the other, she will only have ten. and
pnrt OF the time she doesn't have any
thing to do. II IS pretty hard for her at
first when she makes the change, and It
Is all she can do to keep awake with so
little 70 do. But It Is very satisfactory,
for the switchboard operator has all the
holidays: she never has to work on Sun
DAYS. she Is responsible only to the firm
she works for, and the rules are not so
strict Most OF the girls try to get
switchboard positions. Usually the firm
that wants an operator sends to the CEN
trnl Office and they send some one. Il
knew one girl who got a position for her
self. The firm that she went to sent up
to the central office and asked them II
they would send down Miss Smith.
"'She's no operator, they said there;
we will send you some one else who is
first class
ave don't care about the operating,
We can Judge about that for ourselves,
said the firm, and she got the position.
mo: wearing the receiver Is not an
noying, and telephoning doesn't AFFECT
the hearing, at least II never affected
mine have known some girls whom
II made deaf Sometimes II makes your
car sore 10 wear IL. They are training
some girls now to wenr the receiver on
the right ear. so that they can use that
ear in receiving. don't believe could
hear except with my left ear, am so
used to taking the MESSAGES on that
side. This Is most convenient, too. Yoi
always see people use the other kind ol
receiver with the left hand. and put II
to the left car. Then you have the
right hand free to write and the wire is
not In the way.
ITO be n first class operator. girl
ought to be calm and Belf-pOssessed. one
OF the kind who never gets ratified or
loses her head. II is a strain when you
have fifty wires TO attend to. with peo-
pie talking on all Of them at once. some
the people they want, while you hear
OF them complaining that they don't get
shutting OF this one and putting on
someone else.
'Then business men are pretty apt to
be cranky. They are nervous and In
hurry, and they don't see why they can't
get the man they want 10 speak 70 first
thing. They don't realize TINT central
has forty-nlne other wires and can't
give them her undivided attention
Some girls will sort Of Jolly man along
when he IL cranky. and say number,
plensc.' Rmiably and get him In better
temper. but II a girl Is nervous and the
man who Is cranky calls up she is apt
TO snap out, Number us hntefully rs
she can.
''The telephone girl gets to know In n
little while the people on her lines who
are pleasant. and she does the best she
can for them always, though must say
the man who is very cranky gets waited
on as soon rs possible for the girl Is
anxious to get him out Of the way. II
makes lot Of trouble for her II she is
reported In any way, and che likes her
work and will do the best she can 10
keep IT,
"The telephone Girl doesn't hear
enough OF the conversations that go on
over hor wires to know the business Of
the diffcrsn Mt people who are on the wires
the most often unless she happens to
see something about them in the papers.
and then she remembers the names and
knows who they are. She doesn't get
any OF the general Information that any
one else coming In contact with so many
different kinds OF people would get"