The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-01-04
Reporter Visits Central Office
and Gets New Angle.
Girls Are Awful Busy While at
Switchboard.
PATRONS SHOULD BE PATIENT
Often Central Is Not to Blame
for Mistakes.
Some of the Troubles With
Which Central Contends.
Wait a moment,

Wait a moment.
The next time you feel like abusing
Central take q second thought and
don't do it.
Remember that your telephone oper-
ator has only one ambition in life
while she is working on her board, and
that is to give you the best service she
can. And you might remember also. if
you are given to quarreling with her,
that it is because there are so many
men like you that the service is de-
layed, for while Central is trying to
find out what is the matter with you,
and the others like you, others are
waiting whom she cannot reach until
she is through with you. Perhaps she
was waiting until some 'tSorehead'' got
through scolding the other day when
you had to wait what you considered an
unreasonably long time for her to an
swer.
A prevailing idea that central has an
easy task may easily be removed if
one visits the telephone building Dur
ing her work hours she is as busy as
she can be, and every now and then,
when there are more than the usual
number of calls come in on her board,
she is "swamped" and has to be helped
by supervising operator, five of whom
are watching for difficulties of this
kind during the rush hours, wearing
telephone attachments on their heads,
ready to stop anywhere and help with
rush.
An adequate description of the scene
in the operating room is next to i'm
possible. The first thing a visitor sees
is a long board, occupying three sides
of a big room. Around the board, as
close together as they can work to ad-
vantage. sit the operators, as busy as
bees. Back of them walk the super
visors. In the middle of the room near
the head of the stairs is the 'informa-
ton" desk with three girls at work
Farther back, where she can watch the
whole room sits Chief operator"
hearing complaints, keeping an eye
open for difficulties, and having a gen.
eral supervision of the room.
At one side is another desk where a
girl keeps a tab on every board in the
room. A trunk line from each board
comes to her desk, and she connects
first with one and then another, notes
the length of time after the call comes
in before Central answers, notes what
answer the operator makes, what the
patron says, etc. She is busy with first
one board and then another all day
long, making it practically impossible
for an operator to be offensive or even
discourteous without being caught
Some of Her Troubles.
CentraIs troubles are many. She has
to contend with the people who talk
as though they had their mouths full
of hot mush, and do not talk plainly.
Sometimes she has to ask several times
before she gets the number. Some
times even then she thinks she has 1t
right and gets it wrong. Many people
call numbers from memory and get
them mixed 1t is the easiest matter
in the world, if you want "1324, Tor
example to give Central the NUMBER,
s1234'' and not realize the mistake.
ho
you ever try thinking perhaps II was
Yourself instead of Central who made
the mistake? Ordinarily Central gets
the blame, justly or unjustly..
She has also to contend WIN ne InT
will talk straight into the transrnitter.
The proper way to talk over a tele-
phone is directly into the transmltter'
with the lips just outside OF the NOUN
of the transmitter. The person VINO
talks at an angie, or at distance
from the transmitter, never is dis
tinctly heard.
From Shout to a Whisper
Then she has the people who think
people who insist upon whispering 10
her and those who never talk plainly
anyway and make it difficult to un-
derstand. 1t all adds to the danger
of making mistakes
of course there always is more or
less danger of trouble with the deli
cate mechanism connected with each
telephone. The very necessary dell
cacy of the mechanism itself makes it
impossible to avoid complications at
times, and for this also central is like
| " to stand the blame
One of the operators on the big
board is known as the special opera
| tor and to her calls for people whose
numbers have been listed wrong, or
whose numbers recently have been
changed, are referred. She has per-
haps the hardest task of all.
AS an example, the McCleery Lum-
Der company was listed in the last di-