Just
before I graduated from St. Patrick's High School in Iowa City, I
applied for work at the telephone company. This was, of course,
at the old building located at 227 East Washington Street. Mis
Hattie Goody was then the chief operator. She interviewed me, and
told me to report to work on the day after my graduation ceremonies
were held. My first day with the company was June 9, 1928.
I
do remember that my first check was just seven dollars, for I had
worked only three days of the week. When the clerk handed me the
check, she remarked almost apologetically that it would be more next
payday.
By the time I began as an operator, training was more
formalized. You had an instructor to teach you and a dummy
position to learn on. You even had a control operator oat the
dummy board. The training took about a month, as I remember, and
then you were a full-fledged operator.
The clerk used to put the
names of new operators on the schedule in pencil. After you were
there a month or so, and they knew you were staying your name would go
on the schedule in ink. When you saw your name in ink, then y you
were sure you would be with the telephone company for a time anyway.
Many
of the operators who were on duty the day of the fire at the Englert
Theatre - in 1926 - were still working for the company when I started.
I remember Esther Bouquot, Frances and Helen Gaulocher, Elsie
Glick, Nelle Hartsock, Catherine Hogan, LaVae Huffman, Lillian Vrana,
Shirley Wharton and Clara Young, among those with whom I worked over
the years; of course there were others, too many to name here.
Like
everyone else, I first learned the local board, and then the rural
board - though training for the rural board was rather informal.
Then I progressed on to the long distance board, and finally to
information.
Christmas parties were held at Youde's, but there
were Halloween parties - and other parties too - held in the lounge at
the old building. Hattie oversaw all the preparations, and the
girls helped with the cleanup after parties so that the housekeeper
would not be left with the extra work. Bessie Chambers was our
housekeeper for many years until her retirement.
I will say that
all of us enjoyed the parties. It was fun being a telephone girl
and I found the work interesting. You felt secure working for the
company and you felt you were set for life. In those days we
thought there would always be operators in Iowa City.
Of course,
if you married, you had to resign from the company. As I recall,
the company's rationale for this policy was that telephone operators
were always on duty, and if you were called at home - on your day off -
to come to work, a married woman with home and child responsibilities
would not be able to respond immediately to the call as would an
unmarried woman. You were expected always to come to work if you
were needed. No excuse would serve.
I remember that every
Tuesday night, I think, there was a big orchestra at Danceland in Cedar
Rapids, or at Wellman. The girls would trade days and/or hours so
they could attend the dances. Since I did not dance, I was always
asked to trade days or hours so others could go.
None of us will
forget Tony Marlas and his store in the Englert building. He had
delicious salted peanuts, great ice cream, and good sandwiches. I would
often take treats from Tony's up to the operators for their reliefs
when they could no longer leave the telephone building to get their own
treats during relief time.
Who could forget our constantly
complaining customer1 No one liked to take calls from hi.
If by mistake you rang a wrong number for him, and I did one
time, he immediately called the chief operator to complain. One
problem he did have; his number in the multiple was right next to the
fire departments and he would occasionally get a call intended for the
fire department. His next act would then be to call for the chief
operator. He also called her with strings of petty complaints.
He also called the supervisors with his endless complaints.
I am sure that nowadays such a complainer would get short shrift
indeed.
Hatty Goody was the chief operator for many years and I
will say that she was very strict, but fair. When dealing with
the manager or the general public, she would stand up for "her girls"
though afterwards she might have to scold them for something which had
happened. She could be cross at times and "tick you off" for the
least little thing, but most people liked Hattie. She was very
businesslike, but she had an interest in the personal lives of "her
girls". And I remember that when my mother was ill, Hattie made
sure my hours of work were such that I could fulfill my
responsibilities at home.
I do recall Hattie pacing up and down
behind the operators, keeping her eye on how the work was being done.
In the early years of my career with the company, if Hattie saw
an operator handling equipment improperly, she would come over and take
the plug out of the girl's hand, scold her, and demonstrate the proper
way. Later on, Hattie would not talk with her privately. I
believe this came about after a union was formed and the operators
pressed for the change.
Hattie dressed well - always the latest
style, and the best quality. When she was downtown, she was never
without a hat and gloves. She was ever the picture of how a
well-dressed lady should appear in public.
Like all operators I
began with late hours, and worked my way up to early hours; in
fact, several times. Eventually I settled for a nine to six trick, even
when I could have had much earlier hours. Such a shift fitted in
best with my home responsibilities. I was certainly not taking
anything away from anyone, for most operators hated that shift.
But with such hours I was able to take care of my mother in the
morning. I was home for lunch with her and I got off in time to
get the evening meal.
The merchants used to send good things to
the operators at Christmas time. I remember that Lagomarcino's
always sent a bushel of apples and another bushel of oranges. And
other stores would send big boxes of candy. But after a few years
of this - at the old building - the company discouraged the practice.
Perhaps the company felt that those merchants who sent gifts
might end up getting better service than those who did not send gifts!
An
individual operator might still get a box of candy fro ma happy
customer, but she was expected to share the candy with the other
operators. I remember on one Sunday getting a big box of candy
from a subscriber whom I had helped in locating his eyeglasses. I
ended up with about three pieces of candy and shared out the rest.
When
Iowa City converted to dial service at the end of July in 1932, we all
moved to our new building at 302 South Linn Street. By then I was
a fully-trained operator, but before the move we had all gone for
training sessions at the new building to learn how to handle calls on
the dial boards.
I remember that one day in 1933 our board lit
up with inquiries from anxious customers asking what they should do
since the banks were closed. Of course we did not know what to
tell them. They did not now where to turn so they called the
operators,seeking some sort of assurances.
During World War II,
cadets at the university had a special set-up on university premises
from which to make their long distance calls. Telephone company
operators worked there, took the calls, and passed them to other
operators at the main switchboard who tried to complete the calls.
After the calls were completed, the operators called back with
the charges and the amounts were collected from the callers right then.
At
the old building, football days had been busy, but the busiest days I
can recall at the switchboard were at the new building. One terribly
busy day occurred at the surrender of Germany, and another such day at
the surrender of Japan. On those two occasions every operator who
was not on duty beat it to the office to help out with the load of
calls.
I remember the strike in 9147, and also the meetings at
the community building which preceded the strike. One day Art
Pudil called on all those on strike to gather at 302 South Linn at
noon. We did, and we formed a line four abreast which slowly
marched around the telephone building for about an hour and a half.
Passers-by who knew you would call out greetings and drivers
going by in their cars would honk their hellos.
After this show
of unanimity, picketing dropped back to reasonable levels of six people
at each location, usually four women and two men. I remember
Vivian Kershner stopping by at mid-mornings with a large pot of coffee,
and rolls fresh from the bakery. She would park her car by the curb,
just in front of the main building, and pass out coffee and rolls.
This was indeed a welcome break in the routine of picketing
The strike lasted much longer than anyone ever thought it would
and I think we were all glad to return to work. There were no
strike benefits paid in those days, and some of us were really feeling
a financial pinch before the work stoppage was over.
In my
telephone career I have been an operator, a supervisor and instructor.
However, I ended my working life as an information operator.
I retired on March 8, 1964, with more than thirty-five and a half
years of service. Mary Kay Huseman was chief operator at the
time. The work had suited me in every way. The surroundings
were clean and nice. The company was a good place to work and
there was always a great group of girls around. I can truly say
that I loved telephone work, but I am sorry that the personalized
service we were proud to give is no more.