I
graduated from high school and came to the telephone company in Iowa
City looking for a job; my sisters were already working there, and
Hattie Goody - the chief operator then - hired me. The year was
1920.
As
was usual in those days I started out on the manual board; after a time
I learned rural, and finally I learned long distance and information.
I do remember that it was very noisy on the rural lines during
lightning storms; many cracking sounds and occasionally some rather
loud bangs bombarded your ears. Anna Dvorsky was on the rural
board most of the time and she was very competent indeed.
If
your work was not satisfactory, you did not stay with the company; the
chief operator would suggest that you would be happier in some other
line of work. We did have good supervisors, and good management
people. Hattie was strict, but fair; quite a few of the women she
hired as operators stayed with the company for many years.
When
I started, I worked one to ten p.m for several years. then twelve to
nine p.m. then split hours and finally day hours - even seven a.m. to
four p.m. You went through the progression of hours on local
first, and then on toll; you did seem to have lots of late hours in
your working life. Seniority governed every aspect of scheduling,
from hours to vacations.
Many
operators began at a wage of nine dollars a week, and this was for a
six-day week. But remember that you could buy a dinner, including
a dessert, for a quarter; and you could buy a good dress for a couple
of dollars.
Some
of those among others, with whom I worked were Helen and Frances
Gaulocher, Elsie Glick, Margie Goody, Catherine Hogan, LaVae Huffman,
Blanche and Alice Lukosky, Laura Peet and Clara Young. I enjoyed
telephone work and through the years I made lots of lasting friendships.
Conditions
were strict at the switchboard; there was to be no talking, no playing
around; you were to keep your attention fixed on your own position.
I recall having to work overtime quite a lot, and I remember
homecoming game days as being very busy times.
Tony
Marlas' store in the Englert building was popular with the telephone
girls, and we used to go there often for sandwiches and malts. I
usually had one of his salmon sandwiches with lettuce and mayonnaise;
he did have good ice cream too. I recall that even on our reliefs
we would go down to Tony's and get treats to carry back to the lounge.
I
remember that Lagomarcino's sent a big bunch of bananas at Christmas
time for the telephone girls; and other merchants would send candy -
lots of it. But the telephone company discouraged the practice,
and it soon came to an end. Some operators would get boxes of
candy from customers now and then and I got a box once.
I
was off work on the Saturday of the Englert Theater fire; this was in
February of 1926. One of my sisters, however, was at work that
day and of course, remained at the board throughout the fire.
Quite a crowd had gathered on Washington Street to watch the
fire, and I was among the watchers.
Barn
dances were held in a large remodeled barn near Lone Tree, and I did go
there; also, Danceland in Cedar Rapids had big orchestras on Saturday
nights, and I went rather frequently. The interurban from Iowa
City stopped right at the door of Danceland, so that was very
convenient for the telephone girls.
We could not forget the
parties at Youde's and the other parties in the third-floor lounge at
the old telephone building. One costume party I'll not forget was
the "hard-times" party; I won the five dollar gold piece which
was first prize. My costume consisted of old overalls, a dark
blue work shirt, men's shoes, a tramp hat, and a large fake mustache.
We
had lots of parties as a group, and I think that Hattie was responsible
for planning most of them. On occasion a few of us who chummed
together would go horseback riding.
We had a real pest in the
manual office; he was a character, a chronic complainer, who tried to
catch the operators in mistakes. I think he did this just as a
pastime or a hobby; however, operators did not like to sit at the
position where his light came in. He would complain to the
supervisors, to the chief operator, and even to the manager; he would
rattle on at great length to whomever had the misfortune to answer his
complaint call. As far as I remember, listening to his complaints
was all that was ever done about them. After the conversion to
dial service, we heard no more from this particular subscriber.
At
the end of July, 1932, Iowa City changed to dial service, and we moved
from our old building at 227 East Washington to the new building at 302
South Linn Street. All the operators had previously been over to
the new building learning how to be dial long distance and dial
assistance operators; three or four of us, including me, had been
holding classes of two girls at a time to train them for the new dial
boars. Of course, we three or four had been to earlier training
sessions so that we could teach the other operators.
I recall
when the switchboard at the new building was extended; and I remember
well the university switchboard while it was at the new building.
I often sat on those high stools, and worked at the university
board; of course, early on Sunday mornings there was nothing to do!
You could easily have napped right along with the students on
most Sunday mornings.
One time during World War II - when nylon
stockings were vvery hard to get - I went to Strub's Department Store
and picked up a pair of hose for each operator. As I remember,
the store gave us the stocking as a gift. The girls were, of
course, very pleased; they even composed a poem of thanks, and gave me
a box of candy for my part in "operation nylons".
I worked on
information quite a lot at the new building, and I occasionally
instructed on the information board. I did supervise for a while,
but most of my working career was spent as an operator, first on local,
then on long distance, and finally on information and rate and route.
The small print in the rate and route books made it difficult to
work that position, especially since the lighting provided was not
adequate.
In 1962, I retired after some forty-two plus years of
service with Northwestern Bell; they had been enjoyable years and I had
found many friends among the telephone girls.