Christmas Respite Sought For Telephone Operators

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28157, 21 December 1956, Page 14

Christmas Respite Sought For Telephone Operators

“When you sit down to your Christmas dinner, please spare a thought for the toll operators. They want their Christmas dinner, too, and to let as many as possible get it. toll exchanges will be working with reduced staff between noon and 2 p.m on Christmas Day. Will vou please help by postponing your toll calls till after that time, unless it is a matter of urgency.” In these words the Chief Postmaster 'Mr H. R. Pool) has appealed to the public of Christchurch on behalf of operators in the toll room at the Chief Post Office. On Christmas Day at dinner time, the toll exchange will be run bv only a skeleton staff, because duties are arranged so that everyone possible can be off. The suhervisor of the toll room (Mr C J. C. Simpson) yesterday supported Mr Pool’s appeal, asking that only tolls of an urgent nature be lodged By Christmas Day, the operators will certainly deserve to enjoy a dinner with relaxation, for this week they have been handling record traffic successively bigger day by day On Monday. 5000 calls were dealt with, on Tuesday 5200. and on Wednesday 5300. Yesterday a hew record was expected—many more than the average of about 4000. Million Calls in Year Another record will also be set. for by December 31 it is thought that more than 1,000.000 calls will have been put through for the year, compared with 995.000 last year, the previous biggest figure. By the end of November this year, that figure had been exceeded, with 9 n 6.0G0 calls Also, these figures are for paid calls only, and do not take into account the large number of no-reply an 1 cancelled calls which take iusf as much time arid work. Toll traffic depends on many things, including the weather, but most calls are put through between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Peak periods are from 9 a.m. to noon, 2 p.m. to 4 p m., and 6 p.m to 9 p.m. Meal periods, and even morning tea and afternoon tea times bring a slackening off. Mr Simpson said staffing was always arranged in the of knowledge of the peaks. They maintained a fairly regular pattern, but in fine summer weather the evening calls were likely to be rnade later, because persons spent time out in the open and at the beaches. Trends of Traffic In the day time, calls come mainly from business firms, but in the evening the traffic changes to calls from houses, many of them possibly business calls. On wet days, the traffic more intense. ‘‘And if it is wet on a holiday, we get it.” said Mr Simpson. During power cuts, persons

would make calls because there was little else they could do, he said. 1 On Christmas Eve, the toll traffic is likelv to ease, for then many are out shopping. Mr Simpson has a staff of about 100 j toll operators, of whom 80 per cent. 1 are girls But because the girls cannot be employed before 7 a.m. or after 10.30 p m., it is also necessary to have male operators. Eight men come on ; the staff after 10.30 p.m. to continue til] 1 a.m.. and after that there is only cne man until 5.30 a.m., when traffic increases again. An arrangement to allow the girls to take part in social life is that the two shifts of about 40 each which work during the main period have : one week of the early shift, and then have the late shift the next week. Training of Operators It takes about 13 weeks to train an operator fully for this essential seri vice, but the first day a girl is taken on the staff she begins connecting toll calls under the direct control of an instructor, who gives his whole attention to the new recruit. Yesterday afternoon’s shift certainly looked to be well-trained and efficient, and there was a singular lack of noise in the toll room as plugs were pushed in and pulled out, and slips made out with a quiet efficiency. The biggest percentage of outward calls from Christchurch go to Wellington but, surprisingly enough. Rangiora was next on the list in the last returns. The figures were: Wellington, 13 per cent.; Rangiora, 9; Timaru and Ashburton, 8; Dunedin. 6’; Kaiapoi. s|, Lincoln. 4; and Greymputh. 4. Both Auckland and Invercargill were fairly well down the list In many ways, the toll operators nrovide an excellent service for callers. Person-to-person calls can cause a lot of trouble, and as Mr Simpson explained. when Mr Jones is available in Christchurch. Mr Smith in Wellington is not. but some ti me later, when Mr Smith is ready for the call, Mr Jones cannot be found. The room receives about 300 person-to-person calls a day. On Wednesday, there were also 313 no-reply calls and 145 calls cancelled. The “no reply received” service means that operators try to gain a reply every 20 minutes, and report to the caller about every hour. Urgent calls have become gradually fewer, mainly because it has become i easier to connect calls on demand—about 90 per cent, are so treated. This in turn is because more toll circuits ; have been installed; there are 35 to Wellington which are ‘‘going full bore” i all day.