The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-07-10
PATIENCE AT THE PHONE
Peggy Quincy Writes of Some of
Her Observations

Telephone operators will give Peg
gy Quincy" of the Boston Journal a
warm place in their hearts on account
of the following observations in her
column on June s:
Happening to overhear an irate sub
scriber of tae telephone company
consign the company, the instrument
and the operator to regions unmen-
| tionable yesterday, it struck me that
there was more than one word to be
| said in favor of the patient young
women who serve the populace in this
| important field. A telephone operator
is placed just as are all people who
serve the public. He or she is one
against many, therefore deserving of
| leniency and the benefit of the doubt.
Making connections for a lot of peo-
pie with not a moment to spare is a
| thankless task at best. Men, women
and fools enter a telephone booth and
expect to be treated as though the en-
tire system had been inaugurated for
their especial use.
| know it is aggravating to be kept
waiting at the telephone the fraction
of minute with many important mat
tiers waiting our attention. Occasion
ally, however, il is beneficial to be a
quiet observer of the actions of others
with time to ruminate on the useless
and absolute pig-headedness of losing
ones temper because girl at the
other end cannot make the connection
asked for in record time.
Flying into a rage and verbally re-
lieving ourselves through a transmit
ter is the common fault of all. At
least of my numerous acquaintances
there arefew proofagainst it. | should
say that it. was a good test of per
sons character. The man or woman
who is uniformly courteous under
conditions tnat are as exasperating as
those to be met with sometimes with
in the narrow confines of telephone
booth is an exceptional individual
And yet, making allowances for those
times when he who loses mis- temper
has some merit on ais side, there are
few things that are more unjust than
the berating of girl because she
does not respond to your call and put
you in communication with your par
ty Immediately.
The seconds that seem like minutes
and which you pretty generally count
as minutes when you make complaint
are not passed in idleness by the girl
at the other end. She is very like
ourself. she can only do one thing at
time and if there are five calls in
ahead of yours, then she must en-
deayor to connect these satisfactorily
before taking up yours, which is the
sixth on the List The wonder is that
these girls do not become too confus-
ed to continue their work with the
impatient, surly, and peevish demands
for numbers which are made every
single minute of a long day.
Telephone work is not the easiest
in existence. It's no small matter
keeping pace with the calls received
in a busy exchange and your tongue
and temper at one and the same time.
1t is work that requires alertness,
deftness n sense oforderliness and even
and civil tongue; a
not always at hand. And
it is work that is essentially head
work and as trying to the brain as
any that | can name, first because 1t
requires constant calculation and sec
ondly because it is pursued for so
many hours at time, sometimes with
scarcely break to relieve the strain.
Beside being impatient, those who
make use of the telephone are subject
to all the careless habits of the public
They think themselves
sure of a number and ask for 1t.
When they get the party they find they
have made a mistake in the number
and the connection has to be made
all over again Then there are Others
who seem to think an operator has
the numbers of all the subscribers at
her tongues end and all you have to
do is to ask her for Mr.. So-and-So's Of
fee, or to be connected with some
other mans livery stable or florist
shop.
| hope / shall benefit by a quiet OBJ
of yesterday of man who
lost his head because he
received no response to his ring Tor
a full minute and a quarter That is
a long time, to be sure, when you are
waiting. But it isn't so long when
YOU take time to consider that in that
brief space ten people may nave reg
istered a call and that one girl Is en-
In IN