The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-27
SWITCHBOARD GIRLS
JUDGE PUBLIC MIND
Telephone Operators Hear
Troubles Galore in At
tending to Duties.

|
There is no one in position to bet
ter judge the condition of the public's
mind as to whether it is out of sorts
or generally tickled, than the tele-
phone operator. Her troubles vary in
direct proportion to the conditions
that go to make the public satisfied or
discontinued. The weather conditions
about which, no matter what they may
be, some one is always complaining,
has a great influence upon what the
telephone operator has to bear from
the public whom she is employed to
serve and from whom it is her great
est pleasure to hear expressions of
satisfaction at the service she is able
to render, and her greatest disappoint-
ment to hear the reverse. Winter
snow storms that tie up street car
traffic, floods, storms of all kinds that
upset travel, all make the telephone
operator more work and because of
the trouble and delay in other lines of
business, the publics mind is general
ly out of sorts and the telephone OPP
orator is talked to as if she were re-
sponsible for all of these unsatisfac-
tory conditions. But the most trying
time at the central office comes dur
ing the hot summer months, and Au-
A man who after vainly trying to
sleep for several hours finally does,
like w. S. Gilbert's "Nightmare:"
Get some respose in the form of
With hot eyeballs and head ever ach-
ing
But his slumbering teams with such
terrible dreams
That he'd very much better be wax
ing"
He has possibly stood about two
hours of this when the alarm clock
rudely brings him back to earth. He
turns it off and forgetting an early ap-
pointment for a moment returns to
this awful doze. Suddenly he realizes
the fact that he has oversight and
he Immediately jumps up and as
More haste makes less speed" he
finds difficulty in completing his tot
let. The day has started all wrong
he's out of sorts. He hasn't time for
breakfast, but feeling that he has a
long day before him, eats a morsel so
hurriedly as to seriously impair his
! digestion. He starts out for his car hot
and sore, a hat breeze removes his hat,
and whlSkS 1t down the street. He re-
gains it with more heat and misses his
regular car. The day hasn't yet goIs,
far, but things are still awry. He final
ly catches the car that follows the one
he usually takes, by making an extra
squirt which makes his temperature
rise still further, and finally lands at
his office. Once there, he endeavors to
prepare for his labors and at once
| finds that the paper upon which he is
| to work are not in his pocket. He
( OF
home or have fallen from his pocket
during the chase for his hat or the
street car. He must call up his home
/ to find out and does so-and thus it is
the telephone operator who gets the
/ first Explosion" from the pentup heat
There are probably many more who
have sought through similar expert
ences during that dreadful night and
who are feeling just as much out of
sorts, and these with the ice merchant,
whose supply is running short and
must be quickly replenished; those
who have to dispose of perishable
goods in a hurry; many others who
find it more convenient and comforta-
BILE to talk on the telephone than to
go out in the burning sun, make the
work of the telephone operator more
burdensome. and perhaps her average
speed or answer TO calls drops TO
seconds instead of seconds, her u.s.
ual speed. Perhaps she is more apt to
err than usual because of the large
increase in the number of calls she has
to handle and the consequent increas-
ed speed at which she has to work.
She is blamed for this, she is re-
ported to the chief operator or the
manager for being slow or asleep at
the switch. or possibly as being imper-
tlnent when reporting that line is
busy. and for many other conditions
that become aggravating to those who
are burdened by the ills that go with
/ the hot weather.
She is answering calls and putting
! up and taking down connections under
the most trying conditions The win
dows are all open. letting in the noise
! from the streets. Electric fans are buzz
zing all around her. And yet it is
rare thing to hear her complain. She
comes and goes in rain and shine, heat
and cold, wet and dry. by some means
or other, whether travel is easy or
difficult and shows the greatest DOS
sible loyalty to the public, whom it is
her pleasure to serve and please.
Her work is most difficult at times
when conditions are the least favora-
BILE for her-she works while all 9TH
ers work-she works while all others