Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-02-24

When one has nothing else to do he
might improve his tine to good ad-
vantage by calling up central for
/ little chat. The girls at the telephone
( exchange have lots Of time to Cos
sip. as will be seen by the following
figures. given out yesterday by Sup
erintendent Clark. Friday beng a hol-
iGay there was very little doing eX-
cept 10 loaf around the office. for
nearly all the business places were
} closed up. and Mr.. Clark suggested
that a record be kept Of the number OF
I calls made to the six Young women
on duty in the daytime, and one at
night or a total OF seven. II was found
that there were only 1910 calls that
day or an average of less than 1900
calls fo- each girl on an average
business day there is total of ap-
! proxmately lShCO calls. or about $500
each for the operators at central
/ Very few people appreciate what
an easy time the operators have. Moth
/ ing in the world TO do but answer
. the telephone. and that only about
f. $500 times a day or about go times
, an hour. Naturally there Is no ex-
/ cuse for central ever being irritable
or slow in making tho proper connec-
II ton. and as for mistakes. no charity
! should be shown her. for while they
may come faster during the busy part
Of the dav. on an average she only
/ has four or five connections To make
\ each minute, and all the remainder
/ Of the time she can spend resting or
(. thinking pleasantly about the last po-
\ lite man who sad "D-n it, when
he had to salt almost a minute. or
anyhow half a minute by the watch.
before he could get the attention Of
the operator She loves to recall these
little incidents too for it makes her
so much more anxious to oblige the
same man next time he calls Some
times the patron adds s;u more To
her delight by swearing At central
when the party he is seeking does not
respond. He knows the party is there
/ because he said he would be. and If
central was the right kind of girl
she would make him talk.
The beauty Of it al is that central
can't see who she is talking 10 and
therefore don't know. OF course she
recognizes the voice just as well as
she does her own. but then she cid
not see the face and could not swear
it was this man or that who was so
/ eXasperatingly polite. She has her
own opinions but she Wont express
them. so the proper thing fo~ real
gentlemen to do = 10 be just as rough
as they care TO. Il makes them feel
better and they are safe as long as
they keep inside the dead line. And
then too. central Is Only human and
has TO work for a living, so it don't
matter much. Working people ought
not To be too thin skinned. They
should lay their feelings aside during
/ working hours. II central would only
do that she would not be nearly so
embarrassed at the next party she at
tends. "a she is now when she finds
herself waltzinE around the room with
a big brute that called her down the
day before. and only since then has
discovered that she is an angel. lack
ing little pltrnage and a harp
Perhaps it is just as well that cen
trail can't talk or rather that she
won't. or don't dare %. Anybody with
two ideas above a chinch bug knows
thar she has lot OF valuable in
formation that one couldn't find else
where; even in an encyClopae She
knows more about other peoples bus
mess than anybody thinks she does.
! It's NJ long guess that she sometimes
knows more than anybody does him
self. for Sh- stands on the crest of
the hill and looks down the wire both
ways. Theoretically il is none OF her
business and she is not supposed to
know things. but sometimes things
happen she can't help but know. The
o-cti-ally she is only an automaton.
a part Of a machine. she wouldn't be
worth while unless she had brains.
but she has L. be awfUllv careful not
to overwork them off duty and it's
m ghty good thing for some other
people as well as herself that she is
. careful. II is supposed that the tclc-
phone girl originated the slang phrase.
Forget it."
Some people who don't like tele-
phone girls say they are irritable and
nervous. That is certainly surpris-
ing. Electricity is supposed To- be a
wonderfully stimulating and curative
agent and these girls have it humming
in their ears constantly during bust
ness hours accompanied by a musical
rattle that would make a baby laugh.
And then the jolts that come when
the wires cross with the electric light
circuit are positively JOYOUS When
IT is remembered that all day long this
river of lightning pOurs into their ears.
its bosom weighted with the wrcck1ge
Of cUss-wOrds. smothered roasts. sau-
cy remarks Of polite ladies' and "A
thousand and one things inadvertently
talked into the phones and not in
teded for their ears. it is nothing less
than marvellous that they should be
irritable. One would think their off
duty reflections would be as swectly
somnolent as a summer sea and as
picturesque and romantic as a poets
dream.