Pueblo chieftain., 1922-02-05
WILLIAM QUANDT
Superintendent of the Service Dept.

Nav, the lights are out No one
can work. Singing. whistling, laugh
ing. and all happiness, stops. The
strongest man feels powerless. But no
need to get excited. Just call the SER
vice man. Simple when you think of
1t. Just call the service mani, The
wind might he whipping snow thru
the freezing air. or lightning flashing
its danger signal thru black wet skies.
but thefscrvice man will be there. His
jobs are various. one hour n door bell.
the next an elevator. He works on
the small house wires. or repairs the
dangerous large ones. He is the man
tory again when 1t stops He liz the
man who Is first on the scene when
there is- a flood or hurricane. He
Comes tmm { diateiy after tho fircmen
at Il big fire. His hardest work comes
In tho most disa9reenble weather. The
same wind that blows people off the
streets. blows the wires down. The
lightning that burns the poles. spark
les around the service mans head
when he Is repairing its destruction.
Some people call him rightly. the
trouble man. Ilf
Has Pueblo got any? Look at the
photographs and you will find the
electric light company men who are
always at the end of your telephone.
al any time Of day or night. in any
weather or in any danger. They arc
ilfc .nen who make one say. "Oh
gocdy. the lights are on
More than any others. :i,ey must
know their business; their lives de-
pend upon it. The modern high ten
sion wires carrying upward to $4,000
volts that go down the Arkansas val
ley. are not playthings for the novice.
The voltage is too powerful for In
sula:ion TO do any good. The current
is strong enough to jump six inches;
and whom once started can make an
arc Of roaring electricity six or seven
feet long and jump into another wire.
However. most OF their work is on
small things. Tho greatest number OF
calls are for burned out fuses. They
are caused from either overlooking tho
wire with too many appliances or by a
short. or short circuit as It Is more
properly called. Shorts are generally
made by wires wearing in two and
coming together. This produces the
same kind of an effect. n service. man
explained. that plugging up A steam
pipe would have. Tho electricity has
no outlet and keeps. piling up till
something happens-usualiy a fuse
burns out. ~ slit
Tho hardest task OF a service man Is
in locating the cxact source of trou-
IN great excitement and tell tho office
that her lights arc out. then hang
up before her address can be taken,
She will wait patiently for the service
man to come, and wonder why she
has such poor service. Even. after
tho house is located. he has difficulty
in getting. people to tell the truth. The
practice of concealin- the fruth IS
moro general than one would Imagine.
Many people think the repair OK
pensas will be less II. the service man
is led to believe the fault was not
theits. AS a consequent the man has
to hunt the whole house over. while
his time goes mcrrily ont is like
saving money by hiring taxi and
idea prevalent seems TO be
that If an electric appliance is dis
covered the light bill will immed!ateW
jump out Of proportion. OF course.
many rooming house proprir.crs will
not allow electric irous. and this OK
plains some eases S'-
Hero are some of .he things .hc SER
vice man has 10 contend wifi from
all classes of pncblnaus--meu. woni-
en and children. Out of Ealiontry.
the women's faults will he shown
first o..
A great niiiMber OF Pueblo women
white ironing will burn out the fuses
by wearing short in their extension
cord. some of them VIII swear that
they have nat been using tho iro,, and
were itst sitting down peacefully
when the lights went out. Then the
service man has to he u detective. Ho
asks Just what light was used last.
This cnnfuscs most of them. and they
usually reply hat they tried them
all. That is Impossible: SO he gen.
orally gets confession out of Them
one service man found socket In
q house SO badly melted that he had
20 put in new Que. Tho woman
hero declared that she did not know
just how the accident came about