The Washington herald., 1912-05-16
TELEPHONE GIRLS
HAVE TRYING TIME
Due to CrOssness and Impatience
of Subscribers.

Who meets the crossest people in the
world?
Think a long while before answering
that question, and II no satisfactory
answer comes to mind, I'll tell you who
it is that comes in contact with more
ru ed tempers. more sharp-tongued, all
in-a-fiurry folk. than any other person
in the universe.
It's the telephone operator. At least.
she says it is; and / believe her. She
was inspired TO talk a bit about her
woes because some one told about those
strange ''corns" on the ears. supposed
to be resultant from the continued wear
ing of the head-receivers.
The public cannot be expected to
know about the physical toll which the
operator may pay for her service at
the switchboard. and it scarcely thinks
of the strain upon the cars and eyes;
most of all, upon the nerves.
But crossness? The public alone holds
the key to that. And II the public is
satisfied with the verdict OF the one
person who soon learns its numorS
its temper and itself, then the hapless
operator viii have to accept crossness
as part Of the work Of the day.
If the Public Knew.
But she registers a protest and be-
Iieves that if the public, in a big body,
would visit the exchange, sit in her
chair and follow all the calls that comes
ringing in, not one at a time, but in
punches, it would go out chastened and
sweetened.
For it would know that while the para
mount duty of the telephone operator
IS courteous consideration, that is one
of the hardest requirements to remember
IL, IL. t. .a-l md gaTV~-
charged with Impatient complaint and
haste.
For it must be remembered that the
telephone is now an accepted institu-
ton, just as much a part Of the home
as of business, and that while the ma
jority sof subscribers remain calm and
unperturbed when replies are bit de-
layed and when mistakes creep in, ii is
the cross, intolerant minority, with its
complaints and. alas, sometimes in I'll
rades, that keeps the operators nerves
on the jump. her equanimity sorely tried.
And IL there is hurry at one end of
the line, there is strain at the other.
1t is not one, two. three impatient folk.
but hundreds-and, you know, the oper-
ators are just young women trying 10
make each subscriber feel that the serv-
ice is fiawless and that ne is supreme In
importance.
Possibly it is an unfair estimate, but
one always instinctively wonders what
is back Of it when a subscriber finds so
many reasons for complaint, so many
vexatious delays, and so much inatten-
ton. Because there are many others
who say that in all their calls about the
city they are inconvenienced only by the
little breaks that must slip in once in
a while, so long as it is not a mechan-
ical contrivance at the switchboard, in
lieu Of human ears, eyes ana hands.
As it runs, one fancies that a little
patience and a little understanding OF
the exactions at the other end of the
line would be paid in the pleasant coin
of uniform courtesy, even little extra
pains.
Offhand, one would say that nothing
worse. than tired nerves and restless
spirits came to the busy telephone oper-
ator. but as one, in imagination, follows
her work at the board, one is quite GER
tain that there must be some aftermath
to eyes and ears.
But the cross public knows nothing
about that Indeed, the public seldom
thinks just how work is spelled in the
different walks of life Possibly II 1t
did, it might remember that even in the
best running machinery cog slips once
in a while.
And of what avail is crossness, any
way?