THE WORK OF THE TELEPHONE GIRL.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 947, 19 September 1901, Page 4

THE WORK OF THE TELEPHONE GIRL.

An apparently innocent little paragraph that went the rounds of the Press a few months ago probably caused greater consternaiion in the feminine world than any other bit of newspaper gossip tbat had been disesminated for years—although, to be sure there was scant evidence of perturbation. The disquieting rumour chronicled the invention of a novel machine designed to dispense with the telephone girl. As events turned out, however, the new labour-saving device proved to be far from a formidable competitor, and authorities in the telephone lipid are now pretty well agreed that the '• Exchange " operators of the gentler Bex, are pretty certain to be fixtures in their pr< sont spliere for many years to come. Nevertheless, the circumstance served to call attention to the wonderful field of activity for women which has quietly grown op until it bogins to rival school teaching as nccngi-nial and high-class occupation. To estimate the aggregate of the toll-keepers of quick communication, whose " Are you there ?" resounds from ocean to ocean, would obviously be difficult, but it is safe to 6.1,' that it totals up to as many thousands as it diil hundreds a decade or bo ago. KXAOTING KEQUIREMENTS.

Unless it bo under exceptional circuraHnircos tho telephone subscriber never comes in cc ntaet with any officer of the company; his dealings are entirely with the girl operaUtx, and us an increasing realisation has come of tho great extent to which these yi ung ladies must represent the company in all it* dealings with its customers, managers lave placed moie aud more stress upon the demand that the feminine operators shall at nil times be alert, intelligent, agieeableand courtwuf. As a natural result of the greater enactions made—and which in any other line of rnduavour has been accompanied by better piy—there have been attracted to the telephone eeivico of lato years a class of yooog wiiim-n vastly superior mentally aud in point ( f ability to those who originally took up the «oik. Indeed, the manager of one of our largest exchanges recently made the assertii ii lhat tho young women under his employ ii'i'ieseuted tho most efficient, trustworthy and woll-bohavtd employees in the metropolis.

There can be no disputation of the fact that llie work of Ihe telephone gill is in many rebl/ccts extremely difficult—much more, difficull, indeed, than it would appear to the wdiuary observer ; but tho young ladies who aru doomed to listen to tho plaints of all the world and his wife throughout the livelong day in;iy at least have tbo satisfaction of koowiug that they aro doing something that thoir bruthriss could no more do than they could crochet a piece of fancy woik. \V| len the telephone was yot a novelty the experiment of entrusting the work of the exchanges to men was tried, but tho strain proved greater than masculine nerves could endure. It was found that the young men at tho " Exchange " lost their tempera.with increasing frequency, and not only were they rapidly degenerating into tho crossest aDd crankiest specimens of humanity extant, but they bade fair to drive all custom from the infant industry. REGULAR HOUKS AND CONSIDER* ATE TREATMENT. For all that the work is so trying, it is very seldom that a girl's health gives way an a result of it. Doubtless this is due in a considerable measure to the fact that the houre are regular. The working day is of only moderate length, and in almost all exchanges, particularly in the largor cities, the operators are allowed a relief period in the morning and another in the afternoon. Some emplciying companies even provide lounging rooms where the girls may read or sleep during the little vacation interval. In many exchanges an hour is now allowed for lunch, and in few indeed is the interval less than forty minutes. A force of reliefoperators ia constantly kept on duty at the die exchanges to provide for cases of sudden Bickness and other emergencies. There is ever pr« Bent in tile telephone girl'B work that tiny element of danger which is wholly abBent from so few occupations. It is seldom that an operator receives a shock, yet it is liable to come almost at any time, and after Buch an experience the joung lady may require several days' rest before she is enabled to resume her duties,

WORKING AT LIGHNING SPEED. Almost sb much of a nerve-destroyer as the electric Bhock is tho expeiience which must be undergone by one or two of (he girl oiieiators during a period of exceptional busi noss excitement in a gieat city. For instance, there are times upon the night after an election or during the flurry on the Stock Maikets when the girls work in rolays, and ashpeertily as thoy are tcmpoiarily relieved from July huiry off to the rest room to lie upon couches in absolute quiet until they must again take their places in the treadmill. It is at seasons such ;ib this that the ability of those lightning-like operators, who can connect and disconnect from three hundred to six hundred telephones per hour, is tested tci its utmOßt. To answer from Bve to ten culls every minute, make the explanations that are so often necessary, and connect the Bubscribeiß with tliuee other subscribers to whom thoy wisli to talk, necessitates an activity of mind and dexteiity of motion wholly incomprehensible to any person who has not visi*.cd a telephone exchange and felt tiro fascination af the picture presented by Jcug rows of girls poking the telephone plugs Into small holes much more lapidly than any girl ever lingered, the kevboard of a piann. THE TRAINING OF NEW-COMERS.

Each year finds the new recruits who step into the ranks of the telephone brigade representative of a higher training, just as is the case with trained nurses orany other workers who are the products of specialisation. The big telephone companies like best these applicants who come to them directly after the completion of their public school course. Under such circumstances the girl is particularly receptive to instruction, and this is an important point; fur connected with every large telephone exchange there is now a regular school for employees. The schoolrooms are fitted with dummy switchboards and imitation apparatus corresponding to all the other paraphernalia of a regular exchange, and »o the beginner in the field is given an opportunity to try her hand at trie practical work: of the vocation as well as being afforded an insight into the technical terms and theory. Following the plan now in force in many of the best schools of all kinds, a girl, if she does not learn readily under one teacher, is transferred to the care of another instructor, so that an aspirant is never dismissed as unfitted for work until she has had a very fair trial. After her period of probation in the schoolroom proper, the newcomer is detailed day after day to sit beside an expert, watch her work, and hear her explanations under all circumstances until she gets a good idea of thesyßtem.lt is weeks before she is entrusted with any definite responsibility, and even theo she is usually on duty only during the slack hours, when one of the old employees tan keep an eyo on all Bhe does. Under the system, whereby a tiny electric light Hashes up when a subscriber desii in to communicate with someone, there is far less strain upon the operator's nerves than under the old plan, wherein the blare of the bells was constantly in her ears. Inasmuch as the light is extinguished the moment the subscriber has finished talking and hung up the receiver, the telephone girl need Dot cootiuuully bother to inquire " A e you through?" and inasmuch as she is required to make fewer motions and ask fewer questions,she naturally accomplishes more in aoy given Bpace of time. WELL SUPERVISED. The teU phone girl has small opportunity to neglect herjlulies, even should she desire to do so. Wumeii supervisors, us slmrpeyed as school trachers, are stationed beUad every grouu of girls, and can readily

detect ir any operator is neglecting her duties, As an extra precaution, there is a ihead supervisor at a cential desk, who can at any moment, " out in " upon the line of any girl without l\er knowledgo and lißten lo all that is passing on the wire between operator and subscriber—a circustance which ia decidedly dicouraging to anv tendency to gossip on the part of any young woman in the institution. If the new conditions induced by fresh inventions have lightened iu some directions the duties of the devotees of Eclison'B (neatest invention, they have imposed additional obligations in others.