Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-10
New England Building.
(The F. W. Dodge Company
Contracts awarded to date Feb.
SUGGESTIONS FOR
TELEPHONE COURTESY

less patient when using the telephone
than men are is something that any
telephone operator will tell you, if you
ask. And if the telephone operator is
inclined to expand on this truism, and
you are inclined to listen to the expan-
sion. she will go on to say that bust
ness women are more courteous than
women Of leisure.
She will continue, it is usually the
woman with nothing to do and all day
to do it in who raises a row II she has
to waste one minute while the operator
makes her connection. And that's prob
ably because" the operator will tell
you, "just because she has never had
anything to do and hasn't enough i'm
agination to know that the hello girls
job has its difficulties just like any
other sort Of business"
sTrue, the woman of business usually
has Imagination enough to make allow
ances for bitches and halts in the tele-
phone service, but the woman of breed
ing, whether she be of the leisure or
the industrious class, takes time to be
polite over the wire. OF course. there
always will be women who. just be-
cause they are not seen. forget to mind
their manners when talking through
the telephone. For them 1t might be
we'll If q visual impression went with
the sound Of the voice. 50 that with the
words Of the speaker we could catch a
glimpse of the face as we'll.
When telephones were a novelty
there was some excuse for display of
confusion and at times irritation when
talking over the wire. Some women,
several years ago, used even to refuse
to use the phone at all, so uncertain
were they of the mode of procedure,
but now one might as well refuse to
talk over the phone as to refuse to
ride in an automobile.
And with the acceptance Of the tele-
phone as part of the social and business
life around us we have had to formu-
late certain definite rules Of procedure
-hello-hello etiquette, If you will.
Telephone companies have come to
the conclusion that politeness pays
There was an effort to save time, not
long ago, by eliminating please, but be-
fore the experiment had gone far It
was found that the time saved was not
worth the good spirit that was lost. So
now it Is part of every hello girls duty
to add the magic word Of politeness.
Surely the woman who uses the phone
socially or in her business duties can
be as polite as the operator. So when
you call your number to central or
your own local operator. say please
It's a good sendoff.
II you can't get the number, II you
feel that you have waited an unneces-
sarily long time, and you want to ex-
press your Impotence tell the operator
you wish to speak with the chief OPP
orator, and even when you make this
request, remember the please. You
know there is a rule that no regular
operator may enter into q discussion
about bitches on the line. She is
forced by strict rule to confine herself
to certain phrases.
If you begin to argue all she can do
Is to refer you to the chief operator or
to the manager. What q very mean ad-
vantage you are taking when you
choose to argue with or give vent to
your anger to some one who can't
sass back! It's like wanting to run
q race with a man who has no legs.
Wuoi yO0 SAN0 yOuL SOAllPiolhI W LILO
one whose business It is to receive
some hundred such complaints every
few hours. DO It briefly. For your own
sake restrain your eloquence. The
ears that are listening have grown ac-
customed to even more brilliant rhet-
oric than yours. And you merely ir-
ritate yourself by showing much vexa-
ton. OF course, II the error is a seri-
Gus one you should make the complaint
II 1t is very serious you may even
make a written report to the mana
ger. But the chances are that by the
time you have thought It over you
will have decided that 1t isn't worth
while.
Once tho connection is made nine
women out Of ten start off thus: Hello,
who is this?" or Hello, is this Broad
way 1000?" and, when the local oper-
ator says It Is. "Give me Miss Brown"
and then, when Miss Browns voice Is
heard, 20, hello Annabel! How are
you? I've had a perfectly awful time
getting you. etc, etc" And never once
does this kind Of telephone bungler
take time to mention her own name.
Bear this one thing in mind: Never
ask a person over the wire who is
this?" It is not bit Of your business