Connecticut western news., 1914-02-19
THE MAN ON THE POLE
The Delicate Duties of the Telephone Systems " Trouble Hunter"

The Delicate Duties of the Telephone
 Systems Trouble Hunter"
 Have you ever stopped to stare up at a man squatted on a seat fifteen feet up pole, a receiver clapped to one ear. ap- parently talking to an open box that, from where you stand, looks like the keys and hammers inside of your piano stood on end? We'll that man is a "trouble hunter" and It is his particular obligation to see that the trouble, or as the layman might term It the disorder, on telephone lines is cleared as prompt ly as possible. He is the watchdog and the relief corps of the telephone company rolled into one.
 His is not the easiest work in the world. you may rest assured of that. He knows but one thing, that someone's line has been reported out of order and that his job is to find what is wroug, remedy it and get the line back into ser vice as quickly as possible. The heat, the cold. the storm. none of these pre-. vent his part ill his game. though they, OA NooiSCB E16 IlhS things to do and he does them.
 Arduous as his task is, however, it IS the freak troubles he has to face that make It doubly trying. For instance a put of order. The "test" indicates that this is at the subscribers telephone, that someone has left receiver off the hook or something of the sort.
 The line is tested to be certain no one is trying to use it. Then signal is sent out over it. If this ills to produce the subscriber man has to be dispatched to the house for that trouble must be cleared. What does he discover? Someone went away aud forgot to hang up the receiver a book has been pushed under the receiver just far enough to raise the hook and signal the operator. There was an actual case recently in New Haven where 8 dog got playing with the cord from the bell box to the telephone and pulled the instrument off the desk. The test man heard the dog barking when he went Ill on the line to find the trouble. The people were not in when the trouble man reached the house with the result that the line was out of order for hours,
 Remember the day you came home and leaned your dripping. rain soaked umbrella up against the window sill, in- cidently just where the water soaked in- to your telephone cord? That was what put your line out of order. Telephone men chuokle over & story that is told of one telephone test man in this state. He was given a trouble ticket on 8 cer. tain business line. He had tested that same line but two days before. He also knew that there was second wire into the same office. He called up the sub. scriber, explained who he was and said, Twill you please pull the cord on your other telephone out of the cuspidor?"
 The subscriber did so and his line was in service again.
 The boy often fixes things for the trouble man out where there is open wire. He gets bit of wire and fasteus stones or piece of lead on either eud. Then, after he has obtained the desired momentum, he let's his sling go. His target has been the telephone line above him. The wire with its weighted ends shoots true and winds lovingly about two telephone wires. Short circuit Somebody's line is out of commission and trouble hunter has to go out and clear the trouble.
 But first, last aud always it is the re- ceiver off the hook chat is the bane of the telephone man. During the year 1913. fifty per cent of the total listed troubles of The Southern New England Telephone Company were due to receiv- CTS being left off the hook That may souDd like fairy story but the Tele- phone Company youches for its accuracy.