Even
before I graduated from St. Mary's High School in 1931, I was working
part-time as an operator at the telephone company in the narrow,
three-story building located at 227 East Washington Street. This
was the building later occupied by Larew Plumbing and currently housing
the downtown Goodwill Store. The story of how I became a
part-time operator may be of interest.
In those days you could
go into the business office on the first floor and ask to watch the
operators at work; you would be waved on up to the third floor so that
you could see the operators working at the board. A friend of
mine suggested to me one day in 1938, I believe, that the two of us
should go watch the operators at work, and we did.
That day, as
we left the telephone building, I knew that I wanted to be a telephone
operator. Things continued on in my lie as usual though until one
day in 1929, when I was in my junior year of high school; I called the
chief operator to inquire about applying for a job and I as told to
come in and see her.
Miss Hattie Goody was then chief operator
and remained so for many years. She talked with me when I came in
after school, and I may even have filled out a short application form.
Amazing as it seems in the light of today's employment practices,
Miss Goody hired me on the spot, and sent me to the switchboard right
then!
So I joined the ranks of the telephone operators in Iowa
City, working part-time through the balance of my high school years,
and full-time after my graduation in 1931. Incidentally, I was
the last operator to be hired for a while - this was the time of
economic depression - and my hours reflected my position at the near
bottom of the seniority list.
In those days, your marriage was
your resignation from the telephone company, that is, if you were a
woman employee. When I married Louis Loria in 1937, that marked
the end of the first part of my telephone career after some eight years
with Northwestern Bell. By then I was working in the new
telephone building located at 302 South Linn Street; the operators had
moved to the new building in late July of 1932 when Iowa City converted
to dial service.
I do remember the old Englert Theatre, which
was close to the old telephone building. However, this was in
1926, before I was myself an operator. On the day of the fire -
which happened to be a Saturday - I was helping a lady with housework;
her home was near downtown. We heard the sirens of the fire
trucks, and rushed out into the street, looking down Washington Street.
We saw the thick, black clouds of smoke rolling out of the
theater, and I was concerned about the operators who were on duty that
day.
Working conditions were very strict in those early days at
the switchboard; operators were not to talk with each other while at
the board; all attention was to be on your work - no glancing around
the room. The supervisors as they watched the operators were
ready to pounce at the slightest deviation from the expected standard
of conduct.
The old switchboard had keys between positions which
cut you into the next position so that you could use the cords there
without having to move your headset plug to that position. Of course
this feature was sometimes used for purposes other than those intended.
I
recall one day when the operator next to me and I were enjoying a chat
at the board with the help of the cut-in key; however, unknown to us,
the supervisor had noticed our lips moving when were were not answering
calls. Suddenly , in the midst of our conversation, came astern
warning from the supervisor telling us there'll be no more of that
talking at the board! Miss Catherine Hogan had cut in on us and
was letting us know that we were not going to get away with a thing
while she was on duty.
An older sister of mine, Helen Gaulocher,
had worked as an operator for about a year. When she had been
looking for work, a neighbor of ours had suggested to her that she try
the telephone company. She did so, and was hired.
After my
two older children were in school, I returned to work for Northwestern
Bell. By then the "no married women" rule had been swept away,
and I was happy to be back as an operator.
I have held a number
of different jobs with the telephone company; I began as an operator,
as almost every woman did at the time. Then I became a service
assistant, and finally transferred to the plant department where I
worked with key sheets and helped with repair calls and records.
Then I moved into assignments and facilities where I worked with
Alice Bennett,George Lockhart and Franklin "Kewpie" Owen.
At
last EEO - equal employment opportunity - opened up to women the jobs
previously reserved for men and I closed my telephone career on the
frames, from which I retired in 1973; I had over twenty-seven and a
half years of service.
On the whole I enjoyed working for the
telephone company and I have been so glad that friend of mine suggested
on a day more than fifty years ago now that we go watch the operators
at work.