My
father, Jacob Strasser, was the janitor at the old telephone building
at 227 East Washington Street. Before the furnace was equipped
with a stoker, Dad would often be called in - even on Sundays - to take
care of some problem connected with the heating system. After a stoker
was installed, his life was a lot easier, as those of you who've dealt
with the old coal-burning furnaces will appreciate.
I knew in
high school that I wanted to be an operator. My brother and I
would go to the library and then over to the telephone building to see
Dad. Miss Hattie Goody was the chief operator. She liked
children and was always very nice to my brother and me when we stopped
in to visit Dad at his work.
We ended up being a telephone
family. My older sister, Bessie, worked for the company before I
did. Of course when she married, she had to resign. My
younger brother, Carl, was a cable splicer who moved around Iowa as
part of an un-located crew. He ended up in the engineering
department in Davenport. My oder brother, Otto, also worked for
the company and ended his career in the facilities department here in
Iowa City.
I graduated from City High in June of 1927 and
applied to work for the company. Hattie Goody hired me and I
started on August 15 at a weekly wage of $11.50. This was for a
five-day week. As was usual, I began on the local board. I
listened in with Etta Shulthise - a good operator - who would explain
things as she plugged away. Then I would work at the board while
she listened in and helped as necessary.
I do remember the first
time I worked at the local board. I happened to sit at the
position where the light of a constantly complaining subscriber came
in. Of course he made a call while I was there that first time
and I failed to ring the called number to suit him. He bawled me
out royally, and I ended up in tears. I was nervous anyway
because it was my first day. Even though I was reduced to tears,
I kept right on answering calls. Etta, who was listening in with
me, sympathized and told me not to pay any attention to him. She
said he was that way all the time. That was my introduction to
the subscriber who made of himself the biggest nuisance possible.
After
I learned local, and had some experience, I learned rural, and then
long distance and finally the combination information and rate and
route desk. I will say that Anna Dvorsky - another very good
operator - had the rural board "all sewed up" during the day and sat
there most of the time while she was on duty. Only when she was
gone would you see someone else at the rural board.
Occasionally
I worked the night shift and as I remember, there were just two or
three operators who worked nights then. If we had a lot of
business, nights could be very hectic. The older gals could pick
up numbers in multiple because they knew where most of the night
callers' lights appeared. Of course I had to do lots of running
up and down the length of the board whenever I worked at night.
Rules
were rigid at the company. Hattie was strict but I loved the work
and was probably known as an eager beaver. I can still see Hattie
pacing up and down the room, behind the operators and supervisors.
Many times she would sit in one of the supervisor's chairs and
watch the work going on at the board. Overall, I think that the
supervisors and chief operators did a good job of management.
I
will admit that I was a little in awe of Miss Goody when I began as an
operator. An incident I'll never forget happened on the second
floor of the old building. As I was going up the flight of stairs
one day, I heard Ethel Hills' voice behind me and I knew she was
following me up the steps. So, I thought I'd play a little trick
on her. I quickly slipped behind the door on the second floor and
waited for Ethel to get there. When I heard footsteps
approaching, I jumped out with an exclamation of some sort, intending
to startle her. I came face to face with Hattie! She looked
at me, smiled a bit, said a hello, and passed on up the stairs. I
do not know what she thought, but I felt about three inches high.
The
telephone girls went to Tony's confectionery store often; I can recall
that his salmon sandwiches were good - the bread was so fresh. We
could run up a tab with him, but we always paid our bills in full on
payday. He and his wife were a really wonderful couple. He
had marvelous ice cream, and I ate lots of it topped with syrup and
nuts. After stopping at Tony's for lunch, we would proceed on
downtown and look through the stores. We always had a good time
just window shopping.
The office was terribly busy on university
football game days, even though we had extra help on those days.
Business would always pick up after a game, especially if the
weather was bad. Then it seemed as if all the lights on the board
would come on. Callers would simply have to wait their turn, as
the operators tried to answer calls in the order of appearance.
I
bought a Ford roadster in 1929, on the easy payment plan of course.
As I recall, Blanche Lukosky and Ethel Hills were two of my
friends from the office who often went on trips with me in the little
Ford. Later on, we'd make a foursome with Esther Bouquot and go
out in the evenings for a little fun after working hours.
Occasionally I would go to Danceland in Cedar Rapids with
friends, but I wasn't too crazy about dancing. However, I did go to
Wellman several times to see and hear some of the big bands.
The
telephone girls had lots of parties, both at Youde's and in the
third-floor lounge. We had costume parties, and we had some
memorable times in the old building. The merchants were still
sending fruit and candy to the operators at Christmas time when I
started work but this fell off after a few years. But if an
operator helped with some emergency, she would occasionally receive a
box of candy from the customer. I remember that I once got a box
of candy, and I was pleased.
When you worked long distance in a
manual office, you might route through quite a number of towns to
complete a call. Sometimes, as many as five or six towns, and
transmission wold consequently be rather poor. You would have to
raise your voice, even end up shouting at times.
I think that we
had twenty-two positions in the old office, not including the
information and rate desk. The positions were not always all
manned. They might be during the busiest part of the day but as
evening came, positions would be vacated as operators went off duty.
The board would then have more and more empty spaces between
operators as the evening wore on.
Lloyd Memler, Art Pudil and
Warren Norris worked on the second floor of the old building. All
the telephone girls knew them and I also knew most of the fellows who
worked outside. There was a feeling of "family" among all those
who worked for the telephone company then.
During the depression
we operators went on short weeks in order to spread out the work.
In other words, each of us worked fewer hours so that more of us
could continue to work. Jobs were something to hold onto. I
do not remember if anyone was actually laid off, but I was able to keep
working all through the great depression.
On the lat day of
July, 1932, Iowa City converted to dial service, one of the first four
cities in Iowa to do so. We moved to 302 South Linn and I can
remember helping to carry information and rate books, and other
records, over to the new building. A number of management people
were present to watch the cut over. Hattie, of course, was there.
When
I married Bert Hughes in 1938, that was my resignation. For in
those days married women could not have steady employment at the
telephone company. I could still work as "occasional" though, and
Hattie would call me in whenever extra help was needed.
Since we lived downtown so that I could get to the office
quickly, I was called frequently. We could use the money, and I
was glad to help out whenever I was needed.
During World War II,
the "no married women" rule was dropped and I went back to work
full-time. My husband went overseas in 1943 and I continued
working until he came home in 1946. I then resigned and stayed at
home for just nine months. When I had quite this time, I thought
it would be forever but I was wrong. So I had to work my way up
in hours yet once more.
Just after the start of the war, the
windows of the telephone company were blacked out as a precaution.
But after a time, the blackout blinds came down and things were
back to normal. That is, as normal as things could be during
wartime, with business booming and the long distance circuits kept busy
most of the time. Of course the number of operators employed kept
rising steadily to keep pace with the increasing work load.
For
a while I was a supervisor, but I did not care for the responsibility
and returned to the board as an operator. Hattie retired in 1962
and was succeeded as chief operator by Mary Kay Huseman. I will
say that Hattie was all business and she expected her people to do a
good job. I recall one tale involving Hattie which made the rounds of
the office: Some of the married women who had children would at
times have difficulties with their baby-sitters and would be unable to
either get to work on time for their shift or to get to work at all
that day. One woman noted for having such problems called in one
day on the chief operator's line. Hattie happened to answer the
phone. The gal said, "I have a problem." Hattie responded
by saying "When you solve it, call me back." and promptly hung up the
receiver. This story was told and retold by the operators and we
appreciated the humor.
Occasionally I instructed on the
university board, on toll and on information and the rate desk.
As I saw retirement drawing near, I decided to take a trick at
the university board. I had the seniority and I liked working
there so I spent the last few years of my telephone career as a
university operator.
The university board was very busy for most
of the day, except on Sunday mornings, that is. At busy times,
the operators had trouble keeping up with the flow of calls and the
positions would be all tied up. All the incoming trunks would be
in use.
I worked until July 4, 1965, when I retired with over
thirty-six years of service with Northwestern Bell. I had enjoyed
working for the company. I liked the job and the people with whom
I worked and I also enjoyed adapting to the many changes which took
place as the office progressed with the times.