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/m w~ ' "■* < H* >■■£. 1 The subscriber. after looking up in the directory the desired number, takes the telephone off the hook, which causes a tiny electric light to glow in front of the operator assigned to answer his calls, tin some exchanges equipped -with a magneto system, a drop is released bv the turning of a crank.) How Is Your Temper in the Summertime? Imagine Yourself at a Telephone Switchboard By EDITH M. SPENCER YES, it is warm, and with the rising temperature our irritations seem to increase. We laid all our troubles to the rainy weather, but now we are forced to admit that the troubles are still pre dominant and our mode of acceptance just as disagreeable. Evidently this irritabil ity is a symptom of summer and has no definite cause. How well we govern our tempers is often illustrated. No one would imagine that the imp of ill nature had any resi dence with many of us, so serene and courteous do we appear in our face-to faces dealings with our fellow men. We successfully- hide our keen disap pointment in not being able to take a vacation on which we had planned for months, and say with nonchalance: “Xo, I have decided that I will not go away this year.” We disguise the fact that the vacation of wife and children is making a tremendous difference in the bank ac count and speak cheerfully of the period of restaurant meals and lonesome home. The business man speaks without rancor when his stenographer hands him her daily quota of badly typed, misspelt let ters. He accepts wita grim humor the mistake s of his hirelings and would ap pear without fault to the casual ob server. Are we then a superior lot of beings, who display no temper? Xo, decidedly, no. Let the vacationless man receive a call from the telephone on his desk. "What do you want? I can't hear you. Central, have I a connection or not? Bang' bang!” Then, with muttered vituperations he turns to the work at hand and resolves that the telephone is the invention of some evil spirit. Perhaps the man whose bank account is decreasing tries to telephone about an important business matter. He thinks he knows the number, is almost positive :hat he does. At any rate, he is within two or three figures of the exact number. Why, in the name of intelligence, is he not given the number at once instead of be ing exasperated by the sound of feminine voices? The lovely- society lady, who dons a negligee to answer the insistent ring of the telephone extension in her room, shows an unpretty temper when, instead of the invitation she expected, she hears "Number, please?” She tells Central, with no mistake in insinuation, that she was called and that she wishes to speak to the orson who called her. The calm voice of the operator as she replies, "There is no one on your line now, thank you," seems to add to her irritation. Why should Central be polite when the sub scriber, a lady, has been guilty of unlady like vexation? We regard the telephone as an indis pensable necessity, but wholly as a re- Dr. E. G. Griffin’s kS'i« Over BROWN & ALLEN'S DRUG STORE, 24 lz 2 WHITEHALL ST. $5 Set of Teeth $5 COMPLETED DAY ORDERED 22k Gold Crowns, S 3 Special Bridge Work, $4 fk 1Y (\ I ibO'** AII Dental Work Lowest Prices. PHONE 1708.” Hours—B Ip_L__ nomniii y fellr L W-fl S W' The arrow indicates the light as it ap pears on the switchboard. Each opera tor can connect a called with any sub scriber in the exchange, but she Is as signed to answer the calls of only «i lim ited number of subscribers whose signals are these lights showing at her particu lar position. markable invention, inanimate and mar velous. We seldom pause to think of the skillful operators who sit with every nerve and muscle acute to the tax of an swering, connecting and disconnecting the subscribers. We rarely ever consider a telephone operator anything but stupid, malicious or plainly unaccommodating. And. all the time, I fear it is the sub scriber who is largely at fault and who, like the ostrich, is burying his head in the sand of blindness'to his fault. Do you know what has happened when your telephone rings loudly and you fail to answer promptly? You arrive at the instrument ready to answer pleasantly, if the message is to your liking. Perhaps vou instantly hear the voice of some friend or business acquaintance in re sponse to your "Hello.” Perhaps you hear the familiar "Xumber. please?" and then exhibit what ninety-nine hundredths of telephone subscribers display—tele phonic ill-temper. You mentally call the operator many unpleasant names, which had better been unthought. This simply means that your friend got tired and hung up before you answered, and when you do answer, nine times out of ten. an other operator answers you. and thinking you are seeking her attention, says, "Xumber. please?” Thus you fret. Yet you admit that you know nothing of the process by which in the first case you received your telephone call, or, in the second case, failed to re ceive it. You candidly admit ignorance of the telephonic law and yet expect to escape the penalty, payable in irritation, which endangers your comfort. Will you persist’in remaining ignorant? You would consider a child stupid who failed to realize that a hand plunged in the fire would burn. Every day we older children allow our brains to burn with irritation and "grow' hot under the collar” simply because we have not learned what every little telephone operator learns in the first few minutes of her telephonic education. We remain ignorant, most of us, and daily vent our displeasure, born of ignorance, upon the intelligent, skill ful telephone operator who can not es cape from our disagreeable words. H is because 1 have been so often and flagrantly guilty of all telephone crimes that 1 speak so strongly to others. But I did finally seek to know the reason why. i determined to know why I was irritated by the telephone and. if the cause was with me, to find means of its removal. It was my fault in almost every instance, though It may not be in all cases. I have overcome that fault, for I visited the tel ephone exchange, saw the operators at work and received an explanation of the traffic features, which, fortunately, is all that we outsiders need to know. A telephone, exchange is the best order ed office possible. Each operator performs her duty with a dexterity, precision and intelligence which seems marvelous to the observer who notes the maze of cords and the multitude of metal-rimmed “jacks." It is at the switchboard that all calls and received and sent. This is a long, pianolike structure, erected perpendicu larly to the floor, before which the op- IHE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS, SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1912. Hr ■ I f 'W wi 3 Fv tj W - ■< 1 She .takes up a bi ass-tipped cord, in serts the 'ip. or plug,” into the hole, or “jack,” just above the light, at the same time throwing a key with the other hand in order to switch her transmitter line into direction rommunicatton with the caller, and says: “Number, please?” erators sit. The upper part of the switch board is arranged with rows of metal rimmed holes in groups of one hundred each, and each hole in every group or “bank” is numbered from "0” to “99." The' groups are divided by perpendicular strips numbered from "0" up. For in stance, one “bank" is numbered ”0" and the holes in this "bank" correspond to the telephones numbered from “0” to "99.” The holes in “bank” numbered “1” correspond to the telephones hearing numbers from “100” to "199." These holes are known as “multiple jacks" be cause each section of the switchboard is complete in itself and contains “mul tiple jacks” to correspond to all the tel ephones in use in the exchange. Below the "multiple jacks" is another series of metal-rimmed holes, or "an swering jacks.” While the “multiple jacks,” as has been explained, are ar ranged in multiple, there is but one "an swering jack" to each telephone. Below each “answering jack" is a small elec tric light which glows to give the sig nal when a receiver is taken from a subscriber’s hook. A shelf or table is constructed at right angles to the switchboard proper and at a height of about four feet. This ex tends along the entire board just below the “answering jacks." Each section of the switchboard is divided into three "po sitions,” to each of which an operator is assigned. On the desk, at the rear of each "position," close to the switch board. the connecting cords are arranged. Each cord terminates in two plugs ar ranged in pairs. In front of each pair of cords are two corresponding rows of lights, known as cord signals. The tips of these lights showing above the surface of the "position,” like the line signals, are about a quarter-inch in diameter. Each operator is connected to the switchboard by her 'phone set. A "breast transmitter” is suspended around her neck and the mouth of it is on a level with her lips. A flat receiver is fastened over one ear by a band pass ing over her head. Both hands are free for the dexterous precision necessary. This is the scene of action, and here it is that the quiet heroine of modern life serves the often unappreciative public. When a subscriber removes a receiver from his telephone hook, the hook flies up and establishes a contact which sends a current through the wire and lights the line signal corresponding to the answer ing jack bearing his telephone number. The operator picks up the rear, or an swering, cord, inserts the plug in the jack above and repeats the familiar phrase, “Number, please?” At the same instant, she picks up the front, or calling, cord, and inserts the plug in the multiple jack bearing the number desired by the subscriber. While doing this she has thrown her listening key. If the line is busy, her test pro duces a decided and continued click, and she immediately informs the subscriber, "The line is busy." If a low humming sound is heard in making her test, she knows at once that the line is out of order and makes her report If neither an out of order or busy test Is received, the operator closes the listening key and rings the line she is calling. The line signal automatically goes out when the answering cord is inserted in the jack. After the insertion of the call ing cord in the multiple jack, the cor responding cord signal burns until the subscriber called -removes his receiver from the hook. When both cord signals are out, the operator knows that the con nection is completed and that the sub scribers are talking. When either of the signals glow again, she knows that the call is terminated. Should the calling subscriber desire another number, he raises his hook up and down slowly. The caller replies by giving the name of the exchange and tin number he wants, as. for example: "Main 1268." The oper ator repeats the number, "Main one-two six-eight, ’ pronouncing each digit with clear articulation, to insure its correct ness, and, if it be a subscriber in the Main Exchange, she This flashes the cord signal and calls the attention of the operator who goes in on the line with the answer "operator.” In cities, such as Atlanta and Birming ham, where there is more than one cen tral office, calls are "trunked" from one exchange to another. The operation of completing these calls is intricate, and they are handled in a very different man ner. When a subscriber in the Main ex change calls an Ivy number, the oper ator in the Main exchange communicates with an Ivy operator by a “call circuit.” The Ivy operator assigns a trunk, in serts the plug in the jack of the number desired and rings the subscriber's tele phone. These operations occur almost simultaneously in the two exchanges. In telephone work seconds are counted instead of minutes, and an operator han dles many hundreds of calls a day. Ever, then the number of errors in the Main exchange is but one per cent of the total of calls handled. The operator is under the strictest discipline and observation so that, the highest efficiency may be pro duced. Each group of nine operators has a su pervisor who keeps a close, intelligent watch on the switchboard to see that calls are answered promptly and prop erly. Each supervisor is responsible to the chief operator, who is responsible for the whole room. An operator’s conversation is limited to certain set phrases, beyond which she is not allowed to go. Any question con cerning subscribers’ numbers, change of location and of similar nature are instant ly referred to the information operator. Complaints are referred to the complaint operator, who makes a record of the com plaint and files it for investigation and action. Though while under the observation of the uninitiated the precision and dex terity of the operators seems nothing short of superhuman, mistakes are some times made. An operator can answer as many as five calls a minute during a rush period, and all without an error. The twinkling lights appear without a pause — sometimes twelve are glowing at the same moment before her eyes. In front of her is a maze of twisting cords which make a confusion not unlike that of a lady’s work basket when the silks are tangled. It is small wonder that some times the wrong cord is pulled down, and a disconnection is made where it was not desired. Sometimes the wrong number is rung in her anxiety to handle the many calls her signals indicate. These mistakes could well be under stood and forgiven after a view of the efficient service the operators give and the rapidity with which they handle calls. Nevertheless it is the desire of the Bell Telephone Company to eliminate even the one per cent of mistakes made in their operating service. To secure this wonderful accuracy the service observa tion room is maintained. Different lines are brought in from the switchboard and the closest details of connection, time and errors are noted with stop watches and records are made without the knowledge of the operators or their su pervisors. No operator knows when she is under observation and new lines and operators are put under observation ev ery day. The dong distance calls are received through the long distance operator, who records the name and number of the call ing subscriber, and the name and loca tion of the person being called. She is the “recording operator," and her record is taken by a messenger to the “line operator" to whom it belongs. The line operator "orders up" the num ber of the calling subscriber. That is, she has the local operator plug up in the <JS* ah ;•RHHKI Takes up the cord which is the team mate, or “pair." of the one with which she answered the caller, locates the jack numbered 1268. ami “tests” the line by tanping the tip of the plug for a moment on the sleeve of the “jack" to ascertain if the line is “busy.” It no click sounds in her ear she - multiple the calling number and retain it there for ten minutes, so that it is readily available when the call is com pleted. Here the messages are timed and the utmost care is shown in every de tail of the call. The economic value of women is gen erally conceded by the thinkers and busi ness men of today. Probably no woman worker is as indispensable and so little appreciated as the telephone operator. In no other field is a woman’s keen in tuition, dexterity, nervous energy and en durance so valuable and so clearly ex hibited. A modern writer, known as Fra El bertus, lists the telephone at the head of the seven modern wonders. We use a telephone each day, and so simple is its operation that we never consider the complex construction. Were we to en deavor to consider it seriously, we would find it a lifelong study, yet it is our duty to learn enough about this most wonder ful instrument and system to appreciate its benefit. Were I to name the greatest of mod ern wonders, I would agree with Fra Elbertus. Were I to name the greatest of modern heroines, I would unhesitat ingly name the telephone operator. The telephone operator meets an emer gency every second in establishing con nections at her switchboard. When a crisis occurs she is doubly fitted to face it with calm pluck and keen wit. She has added to her natural ability to meet a crisis with feminine courage an abil ity to act with intelligence. This in telligence and intuition is shown every day, but we note only remarkable in stances, such as sending relief when the only signal has been a faint “Help” or staying at her post when flames threat ened destruction. We bow our heads in appreciative silence when we hear of the telephone operator who lost her life at her switchboard while serving others, but seldom realize the quiet, unlauded heroism of "Central,” who uses every nerve for our dally benefit. It is not that we are lacking in sym pathy on the whole, but simply that, we do not understand. And it is so that you may understand, and, understanding, grow in telephonic grace that I have made a Fra Elbertus journey to the Bell Telephone Company’s Main exchange and given you this little report. Perhaps next time you go to your ringing telephone and hear "Number, please?” you will remember this little story and answer kindly the operator who receives your calls, but had nothing to do with the calling subscriber. Perhaps the operator twenty feet from her put in this call and the subscriber, tiring or having to leave the telephone, hung up her receiver. This was a signal for a disconnection and the operator made it. Your operator had no knowledge of this call, and her first intimation will be yoty peevish voice, if it is peevish. Let us hope it will not be next time. If you ever grow dubious about your telephone service, and this seeming lack of efficiency appears to you to rest with the operators, please visit one of the Bell Telephone exchanges and be con vinced. If you could do better, even after months of practice, then be as hasty and as disagreeable as you like —hut you will not wish to be hasty or disagree able after you have been there. You may think I exaggerate when I place at the head of the list of the world's mpdern heroines the telephone operator—but I do not. She is a heroine whose strength, patience, endurance and w are taxed every day, ayd many times a day. Then here’s to her the telephone op erator. PAGE FIVE I—MAGAZINE SECTION I g r W««gt It : |< Pushes In the plug and with her other hand o|crates a key "n the desk. The first action connects the line of the sub scriber railed; the second rings his bell. When e’thp»- nar'y hangs up his receiver, a. light glows on the switchboard desk, showing the rpetator that the conversa tion is ended. ar ' I When the call is to be trunked to an other exchange. us for example, from a Main subscriber for “Ivy 1942,” the first steps are similar to those of a local call. When the subscriber removes the receiver of his telephone, a light glows on the switchboard. BgSr ' i i W ■■ a v’rHHMHbHmI The Main operator connects with the calling subscriber as in a local call. In response to her inquiry, "Number, please?” he gives the other exchange and number wanted. She repeats “Ivy One nine-four-two,” pronouncing each digit distinctly. She then— communicates wttn tne ivy operator uy a "call circuit” which the main operator connects with her transmitter by press ing a button with het left hand. She then repeats the number desired, “One nine-four-two,” meanwhile holding the plug opposite the jacks connecting the Iw trunk«J • W it - x *'WsSsS»' *. ?>k-> I The Tvy opc'afrr instantly assigns to the Main eperajer a disengaged trunk line bv calling its number, as, for exam ple, "Five,” whereupon the Main opera tor at once completes her part of the operation bv inserting the plug in Trunk 5, as indicated in this picture. MP* - r : ■q< U slWllyjW The Ivy "J 3 operator, at the same time she assigns Trunk 5, picks up the plug of the cord connecting with that trunk and tests, as before described, to ascertain whether the line is busy. If the “busy click” does not sound in her ear, sh« then I Inserts the plug In the jack of Ivy 1942 and rings the Ivy subscriber by depress ing a kev with her thumb. It should be remembered that the actions represented by the lasi four pictures on this panel are occurring poetically simultaneously in two different offices.