The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-09
TROUBLES OF THEIR OWN
TELEPHONE GIRLS HAVE MANY
TRIALS AND FOUNDATIONS.
-DiseOurteOus Treatment from Patrons.
Especially Men, Added TO Long
Hours and Trying Duties.
salt Lake Tribune.

the girl who presides at the switchboard
has been the target for jibes and jeers
and cheap wit and even profanity. She has
had TO pat up with the caustic remarks of
the man who thought his wants were not
being attended to properly. with the mawk-
ish conversation Of the callow youths who
imagine the telephone office is an enter
tainment bureau, and worst of all with
the railIery of the p-aragrapher, who pic
tured her as a hippant. gum-chewing. i'm
pertinent damscl whose sole ambition is
To cause as much annoyance as possible to
the subscribers.
1t is a peculiar fact that men who would
never be guilty of the slightest rudeness in
ordinary intercourse with people feel them
selves privileged to roar out boisterous and
ungentlemanly criticisms cf the telephone
girl when the line is not so prompt nor so
satisfactory as he could wish. II the girl
permits herself the least degree Of back
talk and is reported. she is reprimanded or
laid on Tor a week without a chance to
explain. The result of this in Salt Lake
IS that one girl has been driven to matri-
mony and another to resignation.
A few days ago a number Of the ex-
change operators held an indignation meet
ing and resolved TO give the public a
NAM ~ NAAC ONAG sue u II picture.
Accordingly they made an enumeration of
the grievances and trials they are COM
PEELED to meet daily, for eight hours sans
intermission. Each girl contributed her
personal experiences to the list and a COM
~Tilation was made in documentary form.
OF which the following is a part:
"A great deal of the evaporation that
people Leel III talking over the phone arises
from their own ignorance of the proper
W4W tn I-a Tna limo Tho renting hlrru-
ders and annoyance are almost invariably
blamed upon the operator, when a slight
amount OF information easily acquired
might have saved al the trouble.
Worse than this, however, is the not
infrequent use of language that is posi-
lively insulting, and which would be
promptly and properly avenged If the OPP
orator were a man. For example, when
the inpatient man at the end of the wire
is informed that the line is busy he rOars
cut. You're a liar Think of a girl toll
Grating this sort of talk And il happens
oftener than many would suppose. t
such time the girl wishes she were a large,
strong man Tor about five minutes.
a few of the things that happen daily
may serve to give an idea of what is eX-
pected from Central. one man calls from
"a prominent saloon and asks Central where
he lives, stating that he wants to go home.
Another says: Central, give me the party
j was just talking 10. L don't know his
name. but he has red Whiskers.' A party
reads his number as I23SfK; he tells Cen
lral 10 give MN NO L5S4 n street. Inc
impatient man, when told the party he
wants is talking, wants the connection
broken SO he can talk-it is his busy day.
Another wants TO know If there is any
one living at Ninth East and Seventh
South, or thereabout, that has a telephone.
Another wants the best engraver in
town. 1 don't know his number. but L
think he has an Office somewhere In the
business center Another wants the man
VINO lives on the corner of Third street.
Don't know his name, but l am sure he
ia of the smart Aleek who wants Central
To hureNa rn f II MIGHT no Eafh that the gV-
erage time consumed IN answering and at
tending TO calls is between two and three
seconds. AS Central has TO answer 100
suoscrlbers-that IS TO say, each operator
has this TO attend tot frequently happens
that eight TO ten persons call at the same
time. and each subscriber may rest assured
that Central tries as nearly as possible to
attend 20 her subscribers in the order in
which they call. IL you have TO wait it Is
because others are ahead OF you who prob
ably want their connections as badly as
Central learns first thing to distinguish
the difference between a suspender button
and a nickel when dropped IN the slot
phones. Here she goes up against the
man who hammers a tin pan and swears
he has dropped a piece of Uncle Sans
money IN the slot. She knows better, and
saws so. She is called q liar for her pains.
Then there is the man who says he has no
change. After q talk with the superior OF
nccr-Central having no right TO alter fixed
rules-She connection may be ordered. This
individual who Will 50 TO all this fuss to
beat the company out of a nickel then calls
up Central and tells her she is not so smart
and reminds her that he got his connection
without putting up.
The man who calls Central a liar when
told the line is engaged, insists that she
keep ringing until his people respond, after
he does get his connection. Central rings
as many as three times. the limit according
20 the rules. She is abused If she does not
ring as often as requested. Another, when
told the line is busy. informs Central that
he viii wait right here until that line IS
dlsengaged. Central dare not suggest that
they sit down or take a walk-it would be
t~mperiuence- There Is no recourse against
the impertinence that IS hourly incident TO
her work
T n smart man who gets off his gray
headed joke about chewing gum is hereby
informed that gum-chewing is against the
rules, and the rule is strictly enforced.
I'm the case of party l~ines-that is TO
say, where -FOUR or more people are on one
lne-it frequently happens that the line is
reported busy. When the patron finally gets
his number, his first inquiry generally is,
Have YOU been using our line2' he reply
that the particular telephone has not been
in use is accepted as proof positive that
central lied-Che patron forgetting that
three or more other people use the same
line.
many subscribers are not content with ring
ing once. but ring two or three rings. the
result heinz that some one else on the same
line answers. This brings forth the state
mcnt that Central has given the wrong
number, when as "a matter of fact Contra
has given no number. Again. some think
that a long ring brings quicker results
from Central. II simply delays matters.
While Central is waiting for this bright
one TO quit rin~ginG-getuing part of the ring
in her ear-perhaps others may be delayed.
The person WhO wants TO visit with Central
over the phone tells her she he's cold feet
when she declines TO talk with him.
TO many of the bOOrish people who daily
Insult the girls who make their telephone
connections. a little word might not be
0miss. The girls may not always work IN
q telephone office. but they remember many
things that they learned there, and il costs
10 man or woman very much to show the
same courtesy that they invariably get
from Central To others. il might not be
amiss 90 remark that while the girls never
tell tales out of school. they make many
queer connections. and perhaps it is not
FAIR 60 presume too much on the fact that
they are not guilty. as a class, Of telling
tales out of school