TELEPHONE GIRLS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 14, 16 July 1931, Page 24

TELEPHONE GIRLS

"This-is the type of conversation which will take place. shortly between examiners of.'-'the'-Pqst Office and girls who apply; for- -work- as -telephone operators (says'.rthe. "Sunday Express"). The Postmaster-General has written to the trade' union concerned foreshadowing an important change in the methods of selecting ■appjic'an.ts.. In ' future tl?e «gi(is will ;b'e.tested for- tjieir 'speech, and. the examiner will decide whether their spoken English is likely to'be -intelligible' to telephone subscribers.' ' They ; will be tested also to determine whether they possesa the qualties of "manual, dexterity, alert-nes,;-memory, and hearing." Previous examinations of applicants have been restricted.mainly to their knowledge of-datesiin English history. The. authorities considered it to be far. uiore important .that the. girls ■ should■kn6w,.;>vheh Qufeeh Anne" died than that they should know how1 to, speak properly. No doubt' there ivas a reason for this. If a weary subscriber, stung to' sarcasm by a-succession of wrong numbers, said; _"I say,; miss, do 'you know that Queen Anne id dead?" the sill could answer-brightly, "Queen Enn? Eau, yck. August, onp-sev-ing-one-four.