The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-09-02
TROUBLES OF
HELLO GIRLS
They Have to Take Blame
for Everything.
ALWAYS Be POL|TEl
You May Have Made
Blunder.
Never Give the Central Girl n Call
Down Until You Have Taken Time
TO Think Whether You are Ex-
actly Right N A,Eiii

do we have our troubles" Th'
pretty chief operator at the Bel
Telephone building on Third street
drew long breath, tried to speak
shut her eyes, then said:
"See here, Mister Man, sit In al
this switch board for a while and
hear what you hear. You move
that plug around anywhere you
want to. 1t plugs in on any line.
| You can tell there what thee oper-
ators are saying to the subscribers.
and what they're saying back"
1t was an interesting and convinc-
ing demonstration.
Number" lh
"Nn-ore- -grr-ty- one'
Good heavens, why don't you
listen? 1 said MAIN 4-9-THIRTY-
ONE. DID YOU HEAR THATw
Click-click,
Number" s Nr Nbi"t,
"say, what do yoc think you're
paid for? been a-waitin' here five
minutes, jang;:ng the bell. what've
you been doing? sleeping?"
Number, please?"
Here I'm in big hurry. ard
have to be tied UP on phone for
Eve or ten minutes because you
girls don't tend to your business.
Lemme talk to the chief operator
I'll find out why 1 can't get any
service on this line"
.Click-click.
This is the chief operator" came
the voice beside me.
Say, what's the matter with my
Phone? 1 have been waiting 10 min
utes, right in the middle of a lot %
business, because I can't get any serv-
ice"
do you have an extension phone 2"
"Yes."
"Well, see II someone wasn't us
ing the extension just before you took
down your receiver. swell
was there?"
Click-click-click.
''The old crab rang off," said the
chief operator to me; "he could have
saved lot of time while he was call
ing down the operator.
Another thing that most people
don't know is about juggling the re-
ceiver hook up and down when they're
trying to get central--that they have
to do 1t slowly. II they shake 1t fast,
there isn't time enough for the fash
to ever reach the board. We print
that in the telephone books, but no
one ever reads it, I'm afraid
Number"
"Fifty-eight-seven
Click-click.
Number"
Don't you people ever get anything
right? You gave me the wrong num-
ber. asked plainly for five-seven-
eight. and you gave me five-eight-
seven"
"That happens hundreds OF times
| every day." said the chief operator.
People either mix up the number,
and don't realize 1t, or they call II
from memory, and get the number
reversed"
Number"
"why, you called me. What do
you want? Who called?"
There's no one on your line"
swell, don't ring here unless you
want me. I'm too busy to be run
ming to the telephone unless some
one wants me-"
Number"
what time docs that night train
for the south go out from the Union
| depot?"
"Pll connect you with the depot
The reporter untangled himself
| from the headgear. 'Ive got enough
he said. you've showed me. all
| right Is 1t like that all the timer
"All the time," said the pretty chief
| operator sadly.
"If people got waited on at the
store as quickly as they do here" she
said; "if they got a train or street
car as quickly, they'd think the mil
lenlum had come. But they want
| their party on the telephone the min
ute they take down the receiver"
Ranged in complete circle
| around the room. shoulder to shoul-
der, were the telephone operators
The clicking was continuous. Like
spider webs, the girls were weaving
their coil of connections, putting in
| a plug here, there, pulling one out
| always the continual Hello"
II think it's remarkable the way
| they keep their temper, especially
toward the end of an eight-hour
shift" said the chief operator.-Co-
lumbus Citizen.