Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-08
DOROTHY. DIX TALKS
THE TELEPHONE
BY DOROTHY DIX
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler Syndi-
cate, Inc.
BY DOROTHY DIX


us thousand steps, when it enables US t
accomplish big business swiftly, when it cut
short what would be endless hours o.
anxiety and waiting, when we arise and
bless it's inventor and all of its manipulation
from the president of the company down tt
it's humblest "hello" girl.
And there are other days when the tele2
phone jangles necessarily, when we are call
ed away from important work by idle peo'
pie who have nothing to do but chattet
about trifles; when the bore against whom
you have shut your door crawls into II
through a wire hole; when central gtveE
the wrong number at your busiest houI
and you are necessarily told to ring off, i
as if you were the aggressor instead of thS
victim; when you hate and loathe the teleI
phone and wish that Mr.. Bell had bee
strangled at BIRTH before he ever conceiv
ed the malevolent idea of talking over !
wire, and when you arise and curse tn
whole telephone system, root and branch.
But blessing and curse that it is, tn 4
telephone is with us to stay; and just al
present wherever two or three are gathers 4
together the chief topic of conversation
how rotten the service is. ''I say, Jones, hav
you taken your phone out? / was trying
get your office all day to talk about tina
steel deal but central always reported tina
nobody answered"
my dear, l called you up six times yes
terday, and central said your line was al
ways busy" So runs the lamentation endin +
in the chorus, Did you ever see such pool
service as we get now?"
Now l hold no brief for the telephonR
company. Personally, l am convinced tina
| they put every girl who is an applicant fol
a position operator, through the thir
degree, and lily hire those who have prov
en- that they are stone deaf and don't I'm
| derstand the English language, and to whor
all numbers look and sound alike,
| But be that as it may, while we are cor
demning the telephone company for its ba
service, it is we'll to reflect upon how niue {
we do to help make it bad, and how niue
we could do to improve it if only we woul
do a little team work with the company
instead of standing apart and anathematizin
| it.
And especially women could help, if onl
they could De got to have conscience II
| the matter, and realize that the TELEPHONY
| is for use and not abuse.
For it is not to be denied that vas
number of women are afflicted with the
| telephone vice. They can no more pass
telephone without an irresistible impulse Il
use it, than :. starving man Guild pass foo
without eating it.
| Teephoning is with them an obsession,
habit, a fixed idea. 1t doesn't make any dill
ference whether they have anything to sal
or not, they have just got to ring somebod
up, and lay one more burden on the tele
| phone company, and their long-sufferink
| acquaintance.
Then there is the woman afflicted wit
acute telephonitis who uses the telephone Il
gossip over because it is nice, sloppy, cas-
way to visit, as it does not require her t.
make the effort of dressing up and gon
out the street.
No, in curl papers, and wrappers, an
corsetless, she can flop in an easy chair bS
her telephone desk, and call up first on
| 4I1A.N nvNI nhoya Hrrif
them the tid-bits of scandal that she so col
| lects. 1t is incredible, but tr.e, that herr
are women who habitually do this thing
and who think nothing of monopolizing
| telephone wire for two or three hours ever
day in this way, and it never occurs to ther:
what a selfsl thing they are doing, or hoy
much they are doing to demoralize grea.
public service.
Of course women have a perfect right u
make their engagements over the phone, AMI
| to use it for every legitimate purpose, bu
among these are not social calls. If womef
would develop a civic consciousness in thf
matter, and make their yea, yea, and the1
nay, nay, over the phone, it would do NOR
than any other one thing to help out ba
situation.
And it would save a vast amount of va
liable time, and much wear and tear on tn
tempers and dispositions of their friends, fol
there is no greater pest than the female te
ephone fiend. Having nothing to do but II
kill time herself, she forgets that the vas
majority of other women do not lead sue
useless lives.
They have t--eir houseworK TO do, thei
children to attend to million duties clam
oring for instant attention, ard there 1.
nothing else in the world that makes
woman feel more murderous than to hav
to leave the baby in it's bath, or the brea !
half mixed, to answer the telephone anS
find on the other end of the wire q maunderA
ing bore VIII rambles on, and on, and or
Girls could not only help the telephons
service, but boost their own matrimonia
chances by taking vow never to use tn I
phone except when it il absolutely neces
sary. Girls think they make hit with youn
men when they call them up, and have Ion
jollying conversations over the wire. NeveE
was a greater mistake made. man inter
rrpted in business hours is about a
aniable as sore-headed bear and no mat
ter how Ae camouflages his feelings, he n
hoping and praying that the girl at tn Z
other end will choke, or fall dead before hill
boss catches him.
Many promising young chap has beef
telephoned out OF a good position by sill
girls, and the nuisance has become so grea
that now in most business houses tn
switchboard operator has orders to censoN +
all calls for employees, and hold the senti
mental ones over until after office hours.
It is an old charge that women talk to-
much. They certainly do over the telephone
Here's hoping that they will do their par
ing about :.illion unnecessary words
day.
Copyright, 1921, by the Wheeler syndi
cate, Inc)
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