The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-11-16

ILcfs are places GaIel tnS IuiSE "a lc
business community.
! of course. the Clearing house Is the best
and sGrest guide as to business transacted.
But there is another. involving not the
handling Of money. but OF talk"
| Tn;s is the telephone exchange.
As an index 10 commercial activity it is
probably the most reliable of any talk"
In tae season of prosperity the Hello
GilIs' are very busy.
"The volume Of business" said one Of the
| st. Louis managers-C. S Reber OF the Kin
loch Comp2ny-"varies just as does that of
the Clearinghouse.
In the summer it Il slack.
In the fall it again is active.
Around the holidays things are going
with a whiri. Then it seems that every
body has something TO say, Of a business
and private nature.
business and residence phones are kept
juggling and jangling."
The business center Of the town Is less
active in summer
Many Of the leading business men are
out Of the city. The mere routine is being
kept up. but the press of business is not as
great.
1t is obvious then that the telephone would
not be so frequently requisitioned in the
business section.
But the condition permeates 10 the resi-
dence districts.
The wives and daughters are away.
Those at home keep their lists of engage
ments at a minimum.
Consequently the need OF intercommuni
cation is much reduced.
And az every telephone call must pass
through the exchange. the number Of calls
offers a key. in a general way, to the
status OF trade.
TEN PER CENT OF CALLS
MADE IN FORENOON.
AS ii fuctuates with the seasons. so the
demands upon the telephone girl fiuctuate
with the hour OF the day.
Mr.. Reber OF the Kinloch Company and
Mr.. Mott Of the Bell Company agree as to
the varying demands OF customers at dif-
ferent hours Of the day.
In the Kinloch Office about 80. 600 calls a
day are answered.
In the Bell office Main" station. at
Tenth and O~live-ive other stations are op-
erated-9.090 are answered.
OF these 10 per cent come between the
hour Of 10 and II o'clock in the morning.
This. too. is the busiest hour outside.
Business is then at its height.
The morning mail has been read and plans
are being made for the day. Matters come
by mail which demand immediate attention,
possibly meeting OF several gentlemen.
Such appointments are made frequently
by telephone.
These, and many other causes, combine to
make the sixty minutes mentioned the most
strenuous.
By II o'clock. these telephone experts will
tell you. the work. for the morning at
least, is pretty well laid out.
After the lunch hour the calls multiply
again. reaching the maximum between 2
and 8 o'clock.
The afternoon business, however, Is slight
ly less than that OF the morning.
There are few calls after tina. hour.
After IL o'clock 1t may be said that the
wires are practically dead"
"Owl" customers are few and far between.
John w. Gay. night manager of the Bell
u Telephone Company, says that calls for
newspapers. physicians and railroad offices
comprise nearly all OF the night business.
NIGHT SERVICE SLOWER
THAN THAT OF DAY.
'Tf the maximum business for twenty-four
hours in the Main" station Is 5000 calls"
said he, the number of these occurring be-
tween IL and 5 o'clock in the morning would
be less than 1,O0o.
Necessarily the night service is slightly
slower than the day.
a UlSht we use j tDe NAM STALLION
only twelve operators
w try to collect all the wires used fire.
quently at night at one board.
often a customer who uses his phone
by day will Unexpectedly ask for q connec-
ton at fight.
THE ring may come a hundred feet away
from an operator.
Then It is necessary to run to that wire
and give the desired connection.
This takes time
The troubles of the customer who wants
one number and gets another, or who wants
a number and can't get anything at all, or
who gets his connection and Is In the m-cgt
OF an interesting conversation and is sud-
denly and abruptly cut off and left sin the
~dark"-these are familiar to everybody.
But ii, troubles OF the girls wko make
these connections are Just about 500 per cent
greater.
All the troubles OF all the customers re-
bound upon these unfortunate young ladies',
30 that they must cultivate adamantine
feelings In order to be a success as IN Up
orator.
As one OF the girls expressed II, "a fell
low may be awfully nice personally. you
know, but when he gets to a telephone be
has q chip on his shoulder.
"It takes about three and one-half sec
1 clOS, On tue ONStd5t, ~ Sifc q CohiCeioh.
Before a half second expires Mr.. Nice
Gentleman yells, 'What're you doing therer
Can't you hear? Do you suppose I'm going
to wait all dayr Then he jangles his hook
up and down.
Now what's a girl to say to that? When
you've been about three weeks on the job
you get q bit angry and talk fast yourself.
"But that don't do any good.
Eventually. you know, you learn to be
sweet to these brutes.
"You say. Wait a minute please. with
accent on the please
mo, It doesn't give you any personal sat-
~isfaction or improve the service any for a
girl to get angry.
"In the first place, you nay be talking to
the Mayor or some bank president or other.
when such persons complain at the Of
fee there's a slight unpleasantness be-
tween the chief operator and the offender.
ONE GIRLS OPINION ABOUT
TELEPHONE WASHERS"
Now, I want to say what We girls think
of a certain class of fellows that are al
ways trying to Jolly US over the wire.
They'll call up and say In a kind OF
smirking tone. Hello. Maude. or hello.
Kate"
.srhen they expect to be edited with a half
hours conversation, and try to say you're
looking well.' or some other c~entenarian
telephone joke.
IT wish this class of men were far away.