The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1920-12-29
TELEPHONE SERVICE
NOW BACK TO NORMAL
SAYS COMPANY HEAD
President Sunny Gives Facts
to Show Phone
Comeback"

Telephone service in Chicago has come
back.
Prom now on, any bad service need
not be ascribed TO war conditions and
not reported. We should be promptly
advised when things go wrong.
B. +. Sunny, president of the Chicago
Telephone Company, now the Illinois Bell
Telephone Company, gave the details OF
the company's struggle to improve service
conditions at his annual luncheon 70 the
company's supervising forces.
Mr.. Sunny said;
We started 1920 with a shortage of
1881 operators. We should have had 1886
on the payroll and we had zoos. Heavy
traffic and the Flu " made matters worse
in the spring months, so that the compaigu
to secure additional help was pushed
vigorously. During May and June Inten-
sive recruiting brought a large number OF
new people, so that the capacity OF the
Operators Training Department was
overtaxed. 1877 new people were employed
in one week alone, and it became neces-
ssry to tram many of them at the Central
Offices. Conditions were bad all through
the summer, nor did they improve greatly
until September and October, since when
the change has been marked and most
favorable.
I'm metropolitan exchange like
Chicago, for the purpose Of comparison,
an arbitrary figure known as Traffic
rating" IS compiled from the various
important service items. The ideal rating
is 70. This figure is technical ard should
not be confused with percentages. With
regard TO this traffic rating in june,
Chicago was n: in July %; August and
September 81; October 40; November 4,
while in the early part of December, for
the first time in thirty-six months, We
reached II.
The requirements Of good service are
that "a per cent Of the calls be answered
in less than ten seconds. As matter Of
fact, at the time This report was written,
952 Of all of the calls we're within ten
seconds.
" Another requirement is that 95.4 per
cent of the calls he free from operating
errors, while We reached a percentage Of
$50 per cent. In the two DAYS before
Christmas We slipped back somewhat
below 70 in traffic rating, and it may be
that between now and New Years VIC
shall not be able to keep up to this figure
on account Of the holiday rush OF traffic,
but NC should 60 into January with 20 or
better and hold it indefinitely.
Some idea Of the struggle thar the
Traffic Department has been through, is
contained in the following figures:
As | explained, we started out with
shortage Of 1881 operators on January lst.
From that time 10 December 18th, the
designations, disnissals, etc, amounted
to $50, or the equivalent Of more than
| 90 per cent of the available operators on
the payroll January lst. During the year
$500 ex-opcrators were re-emploved, and
4OqS new operators were trained and put
on the switchboards, making total Of
/ 1897.
"On December IS, ne required 1904
| operators and we had available SO82-
! 278 more than was necessary. The
! average number of operators IN the school
each week was 37S and the average time
| spent in school three weeks.
Good equipment and plenty o. opcr-
{ ators does not mean good service. he
( combination, If you have ir, Is merely
/ good start in the right direction. Good
! service Is a matter Of eternal vigilance and
( everlastingly keeping at Il. The training
= IS never over.
( at is matter Of congratulation thar
/ VIC have at last come back, and that We
can announce 10 tflc SUBSIDIES tHat We
( have overcome the conditions that for
( so many months prevented us from giving
Z the kind OF service that Chicago for years
! had been accustomed TO.
The Traffic Department IS entitled to
/ great credit for the perseverng, coura-
geous and persistent effort that it has
made against odds for so many months.
I The subscribers are entitled to our sincere
/ thanks for their patience while being
I served so unsatisfactory at times.
The number Of complaints about the
( service were not greatly more IN the past
two or three wears than they were before
the war, indicating that the subscribers
understood and appreciated the plight Of
! The Telephone Company and were salts
ed that all was being done thar could be
Seae."