Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1914-03-01
(By A. H. HARBIsONJ


We're you ever IN q telephone ok
change? How would you IKE 10 eN-
change places with the telephone
girl2 what would you do II you wero
suddenly condemned to handle tho
business Of taking care ot one OF the
large sections Of the Tulsa exchange
for only a quarter VI an hour2 What
would be the state OF your solf-esteom
whom at the expiration of eight short
minutes, you found it necessary 10
beg for a speedy suspension " the
sentence? All this has been the fate
OF a Tulsa woman, who used to lmag-
Inc herself fairly considerable, lutoilI-
gent, patient and just, She learned
some discouragtng facts TO tho CON
trary, rs u result Of a story she
CHANGED to hear concerning one Of
the wealthiost men Of 81. Louis. she
had scarcely finished n stern arraign-
ment Of the careless, stupid, lndolrnt,
Incompetent and lnsolcnt operator
who was iu the habit of answering
or failing to ansWer-her telephone
calls, when the man TO whom she
made complaint remarked;
Were you ever in a telephone ex-
change DO you know how 1t Is
done Have you any idea how largely
you contribute to the biunders'? Be-
fore sho had time to answer all in
the negative, the man went on:
'Tll never forget the little jolt We
got in 81. Louis a few years ago. |
was confidential clerk TO Mr., A. and
there were no less than a hundred
men in our Offices. We had a big
branch exchange and some OF them
We're using the phone all Of the time.
The service was rotten, absolutely,
rotten and getting worse all Of the
time. It was so bad hat the whole
city was sore on the telephone com
panies, and one day my boss came
on. in one of the daily papers with a
statement that he was going TO fight
for better service. He proposed to
do this by making life 50 miserable
for the girls hat they would simply
be compelled to jump into the river
or pay attention to their work.
"He heard from several OF the
prominent business men Of the city,
and they, with one accord, agreed to
assist us with their influence and CO.
operation, and We We're beginning to
taste the sweets Of revenge, and Just
at this moment the porter came into
the office with the caro- Of the big
eest man in the telephone company,
and the man right at tho porter's
heels. He went straight at my boss
and told him that any man that would
not Investigate both sides OF a prOpo-
sition was a kuocker and a ~sorehead,
and not entitled to any sort of con
sidcration, and that before anything
further was done, he wanted the boss
and me to so with him to the eX-
change that handled u calls, ana
help hin to find out h was wrong,
to the end that the company might
right whatever was wrong. Well, we
went. ! won't tell you exactly what
happened, but ! VIII confess that after
/ had 'listened-in' with three or four
operators. | admitted, to myself, that
I had been the worst sort Of a brute.
But the fun came when they made
the boss put on the h%eadgear and
work the Plugs lot MS own oiliNC lol
five minutes. He was like a crazy
man. getting everything mixed, max
ing all sorts Of connections, when he
finally jerked the transmitter off and
threw II on the floor, held his hands
on his mead and gasped for breath.
As soon as he got himself together a
little, he grabbed his hat. and said
that he was going right back to the
office and discharge a clerk who had
been insolent and sarcastic. | re-
minded him hat the clerk was fol-
lowing the orders Of the firm that
he had given him. and his example.
and he went over and begged the
operators pardon and apologized for
a lot of very unkind things he had
said to her in the past, and he came
out in the next mornings paper with
another statement to the effect that
his crusade was called off, and that
the service, considering the things the
operators had to put up with, was
very good"
The woman who listened to this
story, a story that had much TO do