My
family and I were neighbors of Hattie Goody's; she was then chief
operator at the telephone company. One day when she and I met on
the street, she inquired if I would like to come o work for the
telephone company even while I was still in school. This sounded
like a good idea to me, and I asked my mother; I think this was during
the summer just before my junior year in high school.
Mother
approved, and I went to work for Northwestern Bell in 1921; I worked
four hours a day, and the hours were flexible. If some sort of
conflict arose, say between school and work, Hattie would see that my
hours were changed; she took good care of her student part-time
employees.
After my graduation from City High School with the
class of 1923, I kept on working for the company. I had started
on local - number please, and all that - and then had learned toll; I
also worked on information once in a while. In those days you
learned to e an operator by listening in with other operators as they
worked at the board; I recall listening in with Etta Shulthise - a very
good operator - and also with others, of course. I remember that
Anna Dvorsky always worked at the rural board, and she was good at it!
It seems t me that long distance operators looked up their own
routings; sometimes we would go through several towns to complete
calls. I enjoyed talking to the distant operators, and found toll
very interesting.
Talking was not allowed at the board, but we
operators would do that once in a while anyway. We enjoyed our
work, and we could have fun as we worked. There was something
fascinating about the work; I couldn't wait to get to the office!
I worked evenings, and I liked those hours; in fact, that is how
I got to know the man I later married. As a part-time employee I
had worked shifts like four to eight, five to nine, and even six to ten
p.m.; when I became full-time, I did not mind working until ten p.m.
I
hadn't been with the company even a year when Hattie Goody asked me if
my sister would like to work for the company too. Carrie worked
there for several years, along with me. The telephone company
seemed a grand place to work; I had worked at the five and ten on
Saturdays before going to Northwestern Bell. I always liked
Hattie, and we got along well. She expected you to do a good job,
she was all business at work, believe me.
We had a subscriber
who made a terrible nuisance of himself; we really dreaded seeing his
light come on, and each girl tried to get another girl to answer his
signal! He was never satisfied with the service, and often called
the chief operator with complaints. Hattie would answer the
phone, find him on the line, and while he raved on and on, she would
lay the phone down and take are of her work. When she again
picked up the receiver, he would still be raving! As you see from
this, the management did not pay too much attention or our constant
complainer.
The Englert Theatre fire occurred in February of
1926; I happened to be on duty that Saturday. We were anxious
about staying at the board while the fire was raging so close to the
office, but we remained at our posts; the local paper called us
heroines, as I remember. Later, all of us who worked during the
fire gathered for a picture - at the company's wish; I do not recall
when the picture was taken but I still have my print.
In those
bygone days merchants of the town would send candy and fruit to the
operators around Christmas; however, the company frowned on the
practice and tried to discourage the gift-giving. We enjoyed the
bounty while it lasted, though eventually it ended.
I met lots
of nice people at the telephone company. Mabel Rabas was a
supervisor for a while, and I liked her very much, as we all did.
Among those with whom I worked were Dot Boone, Esther Bouquot,
Anna Dvorsky, Anna Miller, Laura Peet, Elsie Schreiber, Ferndell Sims,
Clara Young, and others too numerous to mention. You could fill
pages with the names of those who worked for the company through the
years.
You really had your finger on the town's pulse when you
worked at the switchboard in the old, manual days. Whenever
anything special happened, the whole board would light up, and you
hardly knew where to begin answering the signals. Football game
days were always busy times, especially after the game was over; bad
weather also would keep the switchboard busy.
We telephone girls
had fun outside the office too. There were two good places in
Iowa City for dancing; one place was above the old light and power, and
the other was on Dubuque Street. When I was a little older, I
would go to country dances in Bayertown and Solon; while my mother did
not disapprove of dancing, she did not like me to stay out late at a
dance. I enjoyed dancing and thought it a great way to have a
very pleasant time on an evening out.
On our lunch hours, we
would go to Tony's confectionery, which was very near the office.
We would just sit and enjoy ourselves as we ate Tony's great ice
cream, or some of his famous sandwiches. We would even go down on
our reliefs!
I had known Arthur Pudil before I went to work at
the telephone company because as I passed though his neighborhood on
the way to high school, I'd meet him going the opposite way en route to
his classes at the university. We started going together when we
were both working for the company. We got to know each other at the
office really. When I would come in for my shift, I might meet
him as he was going upstairs to work at the rear of the switchboard;or
I would see him in the operating room as he was taking care of a case
of trouble. At first, we would just flirt a little, but things
soon moved to a more serious level, and we were married in 1926.
That
marked the end of my telephone career, after some five years of working
for Northwestern Bell; for in those days your marriage - if you were a
female employee - was your resignation. I did h help out in the
business office,on an occasional basis, but not for very long.
Art, of course, continued working for the company, and ultimately
retired in 1961 from the toll test board.
When our son was about
thirteen years old, I returned to the work force, though not to the
telephone company. I went to work for the Bureau of Educational
Research at the university and stayed for twenty-seven years.
Even after I retired, I would help out in various departments as
needed from time to time.
Art's hobby was upholstering
furniture, and he really enjoyed doing that sort of work in his
retirement years. Once he even made the comment that he wished
he'd started out in that line of work! Art passed away in 1972.
I
go to all the Pioneer events, and I do enjoy being with the group.
It has been more than fifty years since I sat at the manual
switchboard, but I will never forget the pleasant times at the old
office, and the friends I made there.