The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-04-29
GREAT NEED FOR
PHONE PATIENCE


pany were aired Monday afternoon in
the meeting of Manager Fred G. Bor-
den of the Kenosha office of the Wis
! consin Telephone company with Secre-
tary Conrad Shearer of the Kenosha
Manufacturers association, who on
Monday morning filed a vigorous COM
plant with the company because of
the alleged poor service here. Man
ager Borden and the traffic manager of
the company met with Secretary Shear
E rand took up the various complaints
of the industries of Kenosha.
They expressed their willingness to
cooperate with the factories in estab-
fishing better telephone service for
Kenosha and declared that they would
look up each complaint and if the peo-
pie of Kenosha would only use patience
better service would be established.
Borden Explains Trouble.
In his conference with Secretary
Shearer and in subsequent interview
Manager Borden explained some Of the
causes of the present difficulty.
Perhaps there is no greater target
| in Kenosha at the present time for
hard knocks than the telephone com
pany," he said. "All city subscrib-
ers all over the city are irritated
by brief delays and wrong num-
bers; SO they let fly volley of
complaints directed toward the fair
"hello girls" and the executive
staff. But there are two sides to the
question; neither the "hello girls" nor
the staff officials are entirely to blame.
The reason for the rather inferior
service now is due to conditions that
are the same throughout the United
States. Practically every exchange in
the country is up against the same diff
fcult problems of high cost of equip
ment and operation, inability to OBJ
tain adequate help, and enormous
growth Of the business. In fact, the
growth is beyond all expectations and
the officials are wholly unable to cope
with it,"
Fred G. Borden, manager of the Wis
consin Telephone company here, &C
knowledges that the service now is
not what it was three years ago, but
adds, eve are doing everything pos
sible to return to the old standard Of
deficient service. 1t will be just a
question Of time before we will have
as good service as ever"
Want More Operators.
If the telephone users who do the
most complaining will send some of
their young lady friends to apply for
jobs as operators, they will virtually
improve the service in their own
homes. Persons who care to investi-
gate may visit the switchboard
When they see the eleven girls hand
ling the work of fourteen or fifteen
girls and answering the calls of $4,000
subscribers, they will be amazed to
see how hard the girls work, and will
be surprised that there are not more
delays and wrong numbers. One young
woman who is obliged to handle zoe
| phones, does her work with unusual
speed and accuracy.
The telephone girls finds switch
board operating fascinating and inter
esting work. inexperienced girls re-
fceive training and at the same time
are paid salary. The proficient OPP
orators are earning good money and
the new ones receive raises as they
become more experienced. In eight
months student may become very
good operator, and after only two
months training can take place al
the board.
Only One Per Cent Errors.
"At the present time we are averag.
ing only one per cent of calls affected
by errors" states Mr.. Borden, "anc
this means that there is only one
mistake in every hundred calls. Con
sidering that we handle about 10000
calls per day, this is not such baG
average, and it compares favorably
with other cities in the state. Chica.
go, for instance, is said to average
approximately five per cent in errors
Duruing this month there has been
an average of over 90 calls per hun
dred answered within ten seconds.
These figures are obtained by ser
vice observer who listens in on thirty
lines each day to check up on the
efficiency Of the operators, unbeknown
to the operators themselves, and who
makes out the averages which are
sent to the Milwaukee headquarters
In this way the efficiency of the Ke-
nosha exchange is compared with the
efficiency of ten exchanges in the
state. Last month the local exchange
ranked second.
Asks for Patience.
The company here is unable to ac-
cept new subscribers owing to the
inability to obtain an extension for
the switchboard which was ordered
several months ago. When this comes
and when the increase of rates to
subscribers takes effect, the service
will be greatly improved. Until then
the Kenosha manager asks subscribers
to have patience and realize that the
/ delays and wrong numbers are largely
due to general unsettled business con-
ditions over which we have no control
Unkind words to the hard working
/ "hello girls" and complaints to the
manager cannot help the critical
condition in which the telephone com
panies of the nation find themselves
State University
/ we KT