The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-03-04
TELEPHONE GIRLSAT WORK
THERE ISN'T ANY PLAr, BUT THERE
RE>T TIMES.
The Hello Girl n Factor In Modern Life
No substitute for Her-she's n serious
Person A visit to Her Workrnom
shows There's No Time for frNolity.

sofarasth the puhlicl Is concerned. said | Y BctHoll,
general manager Of the New lork Telephone
Company, 10 a Sun reporter 1T Is only In ~
ceptiunal cases that the officers Of the company
and the subsc1bers come in contact The burden
OF representing the company falls upon the Eifl~
In spite OF the funny papers and the vermont
Jokes about the hello girls, We consider that the
100 young women employed Ia the telr phons
system Of Greater New York form perhaps the
most efficient, trustworthy and well behaved
class Of women employees In the city That
may sound ~preSumptuuus, but II you VIII so
down 10 our operating room and examine the
type OF girl there, OF II you will watch our girls
os they fock out upon the street AT the close 81
business hours, you will see what ! mean, Tho
Objectionable telephone girl Of tradition did exist
and In some cases does sill eNis, In small towns.
but there IL no place for her In the telephone sys-
TEN OF a large city. An alert intelligence an
agreeable and courteous d. position and manner
and a talent for attending 10 her own business
are the requirements that a girl must have II she
wants 10 stay with us II upon trial she proves
wanting In any Of those characteristics she Is
Dropped. That IL all.
Il wish sons one would put a fair estimate
OF the telephone girl aud her work before the
public In the first place, she does a nervetryilg
work Of which men are positively incapable
The experiment Of using boys In the exchanges
was tried again snd again In the early days q
the telephone, and Invariably failed Theaverago
boy hasn't enough patience or courtesy 10 make
the business run smoothly lie loses his tenn per-,
Is gruff and surly, antaroni7es the subscribers.
Is impairment 10 the supervisors, and Is generally
unsatisfactory. There are exceptions 10 that
rule, Of course, and We have men operating our
exchanges on tho docks, In the commercial eN.
changes, SO, where a woman would be ont q
place, All tie E~urorean cities have expert.
mented with telephone boys, but they, too, irll
back upon the girls. and ! knoN Of no city, save
Munich, where the telephone girl isn't having
things her own way,
The wOrN is hard We realize that, but II is
surprising how seldom the health Of one Of our
girls fails Marriage Is the only thing that thlns
our ranks. and the same girls stay with Us year
after year. The prevailing good health we at.
tribute TO the precautions taken against over.
fatigue. Every operator has a relief period Ia
the morning and another In the afternoon, which
she may SPEND In the reading rooms, or, If she
wants TO lie down, in the rest rooms II for any
reason, some one o~parator has An especially trying
hour or two Of work-as, for example, the girl
who receives the Broad street calls during a sud
den furry in the Wall Street markets the super
visor, as soon az the rush slackens, sends her
TO the rest room, where she lies upon a couch
in absolute quiet, until her nerves ara steady
and she feels ready for work. In case Of illness
the same thing Is done, and II. In the judgment
OF the head operator, it is necessary. a girl may
always be excused TO 60 home.
" keep enough relief operators to fiji all
vacant places The lunch interval lasts forty
.,.-.,o-
indigestion. We have comfortable. quiet dining
rooms, where NATIONS serve free coffee and tea
TO the girls, who bring their own luncheons
"Ono thing that tie girls seem 10 appreciate
especially Is tho fact that there is no necessity
Of their appealing 10 any man for excuses. The
head supervisor or operator has absolute au-
thorIty 10 grant relief hours and leave Of absence.
II tho girls explanations seem satisfactory toher,
and, although the managers arc men, they
have little or nothing to do with the girls, save
when one of the latter Is reported, by asupervisof,
for some delinquency. All this consideration q
the girls comfort and feelings isn't a question OF
philanthropy, II is a matter OF good business,
The operators are valuable to us and their work
Is trying. 1t pays Us 10 reduce the nerve strain
90 the minimum and get satisfactory setyica
That the girls appreciate tho consideration Is
proved by the fact that they very rarely presume
upon their privileges
We are ta,lug On now girls every day. but Wa
chuO,ethem very carefully, and they are IN training
Tor weeks rciuEe they have any dn...ltc
Responsibility. \ green hand Bis beside IA
expert, listens to her and watches her work,
until she get, a clear idea Il the system Ihrn
IN slack hour, tho newcoEl T takes a place at Il,
board and tns old hand show, arr how to do lEs
work; some of the girls pick II up rapidly. Others
are slow. Some can never learn. Unless q gIl
has q certain quickuess and a~leGtness a coAler,
education will nnl MAYA nor "a GnfHp.-tfl tal.
phone girl our most satisfactory mpioy-e s
come 10 us when they ara about II years old and
have Just finished then public school COURSE.
II We Try, a Gln at all We. give Ter u far patient
Trial. When she doesn't learn under one teacher, !
We give her another who may, IN some wa, 3
clear up the log iur her, but il after n tow
weaks sc is sui confused and dense wc have
to let heI go.
Just now We are planning ne establishment
OF s school for employees. That will doENay
with the hinderauce and Inconvenience Of tcarl.
ing in the operating room. We hail have dummy
swltchDOdrdS IN the school and the girls will not
only be taught the terhuIcal terms md theory. q
but will have had enough DrHCucs n make them
sklltul and self confident before theyev"r attempt
the regular work, Cone down TO tho uI 'rat.r's !
rooms and YOU can ST. some idea as to what tnat
regular work means"
tho reporter wa, led through large sunny
reading rooms, where SCORES ui girls %iuungel
in easy chairs. ant, upon the opcniug Of = door. I
found himself confronted by 80 feminine uroiloS F
framed IN telephone r%ec"iyors. Eaci ono Il the
20 glri' was IN lusirlou,ly pokiHE telephone
liOEN INTO Tie SDtull NOES on lLN DOhTl m 'front.'
OF her and, "a lnduStr'ously, pulling the Hugs
out Upon closer eNoHInauuu there proved in
be method IN the mGd,'e, but to tho uuiuI,ntrl
the system i~ wonderful and fearful The gir. T
at tie trucking boards make connections called B
for by other exchange stations, and, in a Way. 4
their work y simpler than that of the girls who
answer calls directly from subscribers IT, |
trunk line grls have little or no tNlkiug 10 de-, but
merely make the connection 'Hlled FIR aud Inc
cNrharga calling fr It attends to pyrr,.'.tr
else. ,Null things do become very lively fr sprn
IL the trunk operators, particularly those Uhu
handle tho connections for the ir al ( root T..
change, which includes Wall street hud the .,..ss
distTlct ~" average gIrl csn make 300 trunk ,
com -CtionS IN an hour, but suMc Of the oparltnrs
can manage $50 rGI,,aU hour without blinking
Tie local '""il' r. ore necessarily slower in
their work. They answer the subscribers signal
make the connection, call up the person Of nn
other end - the line, and are In fg.t. fine t.Ir.
NJ me girls known Ia the public; bat the fo,t
that one # the girls Something's handles 800 col4
NJ huur i'm ,iea n quicku'~r ami ability beyond
the understanding Il HAT zane public EoL
girl has a certain number Il subscribers. russi ?
by ffty or sixty. o. look after and has, before her.
N lower buari holding H1'E- that l., l,l.s r,,,,'
timing electric wires fur all II her suhscuL.r,
lines Above this board i the mu'uule hn,rI
containing the jacks for all connections II Ina
system | udrr these boards arn the cords
lines and terminating Ia plugs Connection l.,
male by the insert N ~ n "Iu. into a mel, wI,r,
II complptr, a current Nl uf this. 10 mo In,
man, sounds like cipher and looks worse III
the telephone company could compel each s,h
scrihor 10 pay a visit Ia the ~, raturs' room, -,
lis exchange, ard, while watching the yri m
las wire work, listen to q technical eIplarnu,n
81 her appnr'utlv erraJic and insane pcrformsncr
lie would 20 home a ChaStorei man, and IN th,
future would breathe honey ed accents inn Tia