The Canadian Girl at Work: A Book of Vocational GuidanceWillison, Marjory MacMurchy, Lady
History
The Canadian Girl at Work: A Book of Vocational Guidance
Willison, Marjory MacMurchy, Lady
Women -- Employment -- Canada; Women -- Vocational guidance -- Canada
Telephone exchanges in cities are large airy rooms, well lighted, well kept
and ventilated. These rooms are pleasant places in which to work, and the
telephone company provides lunch and rest rooms for its staff. A matron
takes general charge of the girls, and a dietitian looks after the food
provided and advises the girl employees with regard to their health.
In the rest room are comfortable chairs and a lounge. The management
provides tea, sugar and milk and the dishes in the lunch room. The girls
may buy cold meat, bread and butter, biscuits and other food for a small
charge. The hours are eight in the daytime and seven for night operators;
this length of working day is regarded as the utmost which can be required
from girls in telephone work. There are two rest periods in the day,
besides time for lunch.
In the school the young operator is trained to answer requests for numbers,
to make and break connections, and to keep account of calls. She is taught
to enunciate clearly and to speak courteously and agreeably. She learns to
know the board and its numbering. The board is divided into sections and
each section comprises a complete multiple. Each multiple consists of eight
panels, the panels being divided into "banks." Each bank contains a hundred
"jacks," every one of which represents a customer. When a connection is
made, the telephone operator connects one jack with another by means of a
cord and two plugs. By the time the girl is an experienced operator, she
has become accustomed to the little flashing lights constantly appearing
in front of her, which mean that a connection is asked for.
The operator in a city begins with ten or eleven dollars a week. In two
or three years if she is a satisfactory operator she should be earning
fifteen. A supervisor receives from sixteen to eighteen or twenty.
The duties of the supervisor are to walk up and down behind the girls at
the board so that she may be certain they are giving satisfactory service,
to check delays, and to help in difficulties. For instance, if a call comes
through from a fire or accident, the operator will often give it in charge
of the supervisor immediately so that there may be no delay. The chief
operator who is responsible for the whole service and who has the
management of the working force is paid from twenty-four to thirty
dollars a week, according to the size of the exchange and the amount
of work involved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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