Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-11-21
The Girl Who Knows 1t All.

is this Information? Well, can you
tell me how many tablespoonfuls of
spice it takes to make an ounce?"
Information" gives it up. She is
wise in many things, even in househod
affairs, but she isn't a living cook
book.
A great many questions that the
Eisest of sages couldn't answer off
hand are posed to the patient young
pc. sou III the LcIepnone exchange
uIooIoIi.. lone 10 assisneu 20 ner pace
in the clearing mouse OF talk so that
the / Iplc snail nave access TO .ntorln-
alton ABOUT the teIepnone service
which the busy operators at the regu-
Lar switchboard cannot be expected to
possess and which they couldn't take
TIE Lllue 70 ilnparu II they NAG II WIN
out seriously hindering traffic. Her
equipment consists in parts OF lists OF
all the subscribers stauons connected
with her exchange carefully arranged
by name, by numbers, and, in large
cities, by street addresses, too,-iists
that are corrected daily to include the
very last telephones put in and the
latest assignment of numbers, cover
ing the changes made necessary by
subscribers moving their offices or
homes or giving up party-lines service
for special line, or dozen other
causes. The rest of her equipment
consists OF specific knowledge of many
things acquired in the course of her
work-many things not supposed to
come into her work at all strictly
speaking, being in no way concerned
with the telephone service-and i'm
parted to the public with that uni
form courtesy and clearness that are
exacted of employees by all good tele-
phone companies.
But the questions that come UP to
her! Many an exchange manager gets
now and then a feeling that the pub
lie abuses its privilege of putting all
wa W ~ 40SAiSo W SCukldl,
OF course, the great majority of in
terrogations are in reality sensible
and serious. Simply there are persons
in all communities who don't realize
that young woman sitting at a desk
IN the telephone exchange cannot be
expected to tell them everything they
happen to want to know on any con-
ceivable subject. She is there pri-
marily to facilitate the telephone SER
vice, not to satisfy idle curiosity.
Recently one of the Bell companies.
in an examination of its service had
record kept for few weeks of the
conundrums propounded to "Informa-
ton" in the principal exchange of a
city of about 100000 inhabitants. The
result showed, for one thing, what
valuable convenience to telephone
users the information operator is, tor
on the average one call in each hun
dred is up to her." Most of the In
quiries were perfectly comprehensive
even if large proportion of them had
nothing to do with the telephone But
the investigation referred to revealed
an almost unbelievable lack of under
standing on the part of some people
OF what can be expected of Central"
with reason and propriety. For ex-
ample:
Il want a man-dont know his
name or what street he is on but he
has a pay station, and shonld think
you ought to know where he is" said
one Of "Information's" patrons. 1t
hardly seems possible that anyone
would really expect an answer to this
implied question, yet demands as
vague as that are not so uncommon in
the exchange as one might suppose.
A great proportion, indeed, of the alb
surd queries are Of this sort. Not in
frequently the inquirer appears to be
In one of those states of bewilderment
that come now and then to most OF us.
and at such time Information" occurs
as person who can possibly assist
as in the case of this ditressed lady:
information. can you help me out?
told dressmaker on W-Avenue, I
would call her IN. and I have forgot
ten her name. number, and everything
else" Another OF the same character
Is: Information. I want to get some