The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-23
Girl at "Other End of Line" Busy
Soluer of Other Peoples Trouble

At the trouble desk the ills and all
ings of the phone are discovered and
remedied. For instance, the subscrib-
er calls one number and gets another,
entirely different. In some cases it +
may be that in calling he has gotten
in on selector that is busy. A wire
may be down, or the line may be
grounded.
The girl on the trouble desk has a
series of test keys in front of her and
when trouble call comes in, she tests
the phone herself and is able to de-
termine the cause, whether in the ex-
change or a sub-station. If this be
the case when the trouble man calls |
| in she tells him of the case and he |
Immediately goes out on it. A chart !
| and dial are place on the trouble
! desk and when a subscriber reports a
! phone out of order or number that
he cannot get she calls the number on
! the dial above her desk and at the
same time watches the chart, which
| shows whether the line is clear and
open, busy, volt meter shows short, or
ground trouble.
Test Your Own Phone.
! In many instances, however, the
trouble is not with the telephone, but
with the subscriber himself
/ Rather than subject himself to
little brainwork he Immediately calls
UP trouble. A subscriber can test his
own telephone by calling. his number
and if the busy-busy does not sound
he knows there is trouble on his own
phone. Many people do not stand
near enough to the transmitter to
make themselves understood at the
. other end of the line Talk on the
telephone is entirely under the con-
troll of the subscriber. The employees
:. in the Office at the exchange have
nothing to do with it.
!, A rule which all telephone subscrib-
: ers should abide by is to address one
on the telephone as you would address
him to his face. Telephone courte-
sizes are just as important as any other
? kind. The subscriber with the pleas
: ant agreeable voice will be served
;, with more willingness on the part of
: the operators than the one who is
/ short and rude.
= Another interesting feature of the
|. service is the fact that the history of
. every telephone is kept from the time
it is installed until the time it is re-
LdONCQ' Lively time Iudt SuDSCIIUSu
!, calls Trouble a record is made of
> the number, time of the call and
: trouble on the phone. A record book
is kept to which one may refer and
= find record of the trouble calls made
Subscribers Don't Help.
9 The subscribers want efficient serv
= ice, yet often when the telephones are
a being tested, no cooperation is re
- ceived from the subscriber. A routine
i test is made of every telephone. One
- of the toll operators is assigned to the
= position of service inspector. She
calls the subscriber and asks how the
telephone is working and the report is
: registered. The entire system is test
ed in this way four times each year.
Often the switch supervisor sees c
line open, and in order to see whether
or not the persons are talking, says
This is central. Are you waiting?'
If this person is calling another per
son and the unexpected voice come!
to his ears, rather than say yes b,
says wrong number" which causes
great deal of confusion in the ex
change. The tester attempts to flint
the trouble and the recipient of tn,
call, when he answers the phone, find
no one and calls trouble.
But the employees believe that pee
pie are becoming more educated eacl
day in the use of the telephone. On
instance will show that there are still
some people who could know NOR
about it. A subscriber repeatedly
called trouble one morning, but in
sisted that she wanted SO. The mai
on the trouble desk kindly told he
that there was no such number. Sh
Indignantly remarked that, cit wa
written in black and white in the d
rectory." He reiterated that it coul
not be. A second later she said
Here it is in your directory, 81
North F street.