Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: csense!root@uunet.uu.net (Frank Haynes) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: BOC Strike - One Good Side-Effect Message-ID:Date: 15 Aug 89 23:36:15 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Lines: 24 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 303, message 5 of 12 From article , by RS%AI.AI.MIT.EDU@ mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Robert E. Seastrom): > ...Maybe we should just flush the current employees and let the > supervisors man the phones. It took a little extra time, but the > operator's pleasantness made the wait worthwhile. > [Moderator's Note: If the make-do operator sits there much longer, her > pleasant disposition will begin to erode, believe me you. Operators take > a tremendous amount of abuse at times from customers, ... If you only knew! [Moderator's Note: Believe me, I do know. I was a switchboard operator from 1958 - 62 for the University of Chicago. I got the job when I was a junior in high school (working part time of course, and full time in the summer), and full time when I graduated from high school. In those days the phone setup was an *eighteen position* cord board. All manual service inbound and outbound. As I recall, 135 trunks to the CO; a couple dozen tie-lines direct to Long Distance; about 3000 internal extensions. On the sixth floor of the building at 5801 South Ellis Avenue. During the summer when school was not in session, I was *the* overnight operator. Fifty dollars a week and all the fools I could talk to at night. My employment there is another story for another time. My ears soon lost their virginity! PT]