The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-03-14

GOOD VOICES, FINE EYES AND
SWEET TEMPERs INDISPENSABLE.


tlonniity-suiien Girls Not Wanted.
Work at the telephone switchboard
Is woman's work, Judging from the
number OF employed and the Quallh-
cations required but few women can
do It. OF 400 applicants for employ
ment by the telephone company In
Brooklyn last year, about $40, or ten
per cent, were selected as capable, or
with faculties developed sufficiently
TO warrant trial. Age, health, size,
temperament, general appearance and
acuteness Of perception were consld-
cred I'm the selection of each new
operator. Dull brains cannot work at
Central"
The funny paragrapher has dropped
the telephone girl for the automobile
driver; the impatient and irate sub
scriber has been Modified by cheerful
responses and quick communications;
the office clerks get little encourage
ment for chats over the wires, and
the telephone girl has settled down to
plain, earnest, everyday business,
without nonsense during Office hours.
The work, with spells Of rest, is not
burdensome the treatment is humane,
and respect has increased. All of
these things have been matters Of
evolution along with the development
Of the business, the extension of the
system and the increase Of the num-
bers Of subscribers and communion
tions.
The telephone girl Of to-day must be
neat ia personal appearance, about
FIVE feet five inches in height, between
sixteen and twenty years of age, in
good physical health, with good eye
sight, able to write legibly, speak dis
tinctly, and, most important of all,
have quickness of perception. Each
applicant must give proof of quick
ness in receiving mental impressions
and acting upon them. Stumblers are
eliminated quickly Two weeks work
at a switchboard will tell the story of
a girls adaptability.
The required Quickness of perception
is dependent partly on previous train
ing and temperament and partly on
nationality. Nearly all nationalities
are represented in the local Offices
Irish-Americans, Communications,
Swedes, Hebrews and others. In
large cities-Boston and Chicago, fol
eXample-the percentage of Irish
Americans among telephone operators
is large. Another observation is thai
girls brought up in the city have
quicker perception and more rapi(
action than girls brought up in thu
country. Considerable depends, o.
course, on the advantages for educa
ton and methods of discipline. Elk
perience has shown that graduates
not too long from school, make TIN
best operators, They have not beer
in ruts, their minds are alert and ac
tive, and they have been subject t,
discipline. Where girls meet tn
principal requirement Of the work. tn
policy is to exercise a little trainin
for the minor ones. A girl with
husky voice must go home RICH
away. If a few vocal defects be NO
ticeable, an explanation and som
home training may be serviceable
The managers here have not bee
obliged to go, on account of poor ma
terial, to the extremes of some i
Indiana, where, it has been reported
the would-be operators have the SCI
vices of a teacher of elocution, wit
instruction for correct breathin!
vocal delivery, articulation, pitch an
reserve force.
A sullen or an ill-bred girl receive
= no encouragement. Cheerfulness an
b patience are among the virtues to b
g possessed by a telephone girl. c
t, course, a girl gets ratified at time
It In such cases the disturbing element
Y can be passed along through the desE
d OF the chief operators and assistal
IS managers to the "'phone" of IL
e manager, if necessary. The most di
d ficult thing for the student is to {
} her work in an impersonal way. 81
It must learn to be a part of the M
chine, actuated by some intelligenc
1t Good eyesight is absolutely nece
Is sary at a switchboard. In recel
e, years the boards have been reduce
n in size, drops have been thrown O.
Is and the figures of telephone humble
ID have been made smaller The figur
lie are on piece of metal one-quart
by three-eighths OF an inch in si2
Beside each number plate is a roul
piece of white glass, known as a lam
little larger than the fiat end of
lead pencil, that can be illuminat
by th1 removal of a receiver from