HE-LO!

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 131, 1 December 1930, Page 7

HE-LO!

MISS AMERICA AT THE 'PHONE

(By "X.Y.Z.") "He-10. Yes? Photographer? Wait a minute, please. Hel-lo? Hel-lo!" Can you guess who said this? Sure! A 'phone girl. But -where ? Dunno. Well, I'll "let you in. on it." On the •Malolo. She sat in a little cubby-hole behind ■the purser's office, and as the little globes flashed lighted signals to her, her nimble, pinldy-inanicured fingers "put through" the calls from cabin to cabin, from cabin to office, from . . . but why enumerate*? The Malolo has a regular hotel switchboard with 'phones to suit, and so the board operator has plenty to do. "No, I can't talk to you now," she s.iid. "I'll be no bother. .. . He-lo? Yes? Yes; I will. . ." A flick with her finger, a scribble on her pad. . . . "My name's Anna Eiekard. There are two other operators, Dorothy Robinson and Patricia O'Brien. Oh, yes, I started as an operator ashore first. What made me go to sea? Oh, I thought I'd like to travel. My . . . He-lo? Boy wanted in the radio-room. ... My regular run is from 'Frisco to Honolulu. We work in four-hour shifts, and so have plenty of time to, go ashore and see things. This trip has just been a regular vacation for us. We're not generally quite bo rushed as this. Having just reached port makes us busier." .. . She pressed a bell in answer to one of those blinking little lights. A boy came running. the chief steward wants you." . . . "On the regular run at ports we have four lines directly connected with the city exchange, and passengers can get straight through. On this cruise 'we have only one. Yes, there is a beauty parlour on board, with one attendant and also a manicurist- Combine any other work with our operator's ,-job? Nothing at all. We get back on .-19 th; no, I don't think that's right"— she rummaged out an itinerary—"on the 20th December. And the trip?" She ■waxed enthusiastic. "The trip's been —oh, simply wonderful! . . . He-lo? Just wait a minute, please. Yes I ... Yes. . . ." She smiled and nodded over her ear phone as I slipped away—pleasant, smart, assured, and nattily efficient, the Malolo's "hullo girl."