Guy
THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome. Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.
8 comments:
When I started with our local phone company in 1976, there were still information operatots and long distance operators. Some of the billing was handled by hand. Amazing how strict the phone company was on operators. While they sat in chairs, they needed to raise their hands to have permission to stand up. And only one person at a time was allowed to stand. Even to go to the bathroom required permission... I was not an operator, (except in the biblical sense), and was very surprised at the treatment of these people...Have since retired from Qwest.....
Winnie,
I was an outside Bell manager for most of my career and agree that operators were treated rather shabbily in those days. The operator managers were called Chief Operators (Co's) and most of them were real bitches. It seemed to be a job requirement.
We outside management people had to fill in for operators during several strikes and we drove the Chief Operators nuts. We were higher than them in the pecking order and did what we wanted when we wanted.
In those days Bell advertised operators as "The Girls with the Smile". During one of those strikes someone made up this little ditty:
The Girls with the Smile are gone for a while
And the Boys with the Balls are taking the calls.
Guess the CO's reaction to that.
Regards from Florida.
Matt
number please
Good one Matt. I worked outside almost the whole time as a installer/repairman. Good paying job, but we did earn our money.....most days!!!!
one ringy dingy
Another Video from You Tube, re: Bell's Operator's & history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XsY-w4Y9yE
I will also add this video to the Video section too............HF&RV
As a Bell Telco employee in the '50's, 60's, 70's and 80's, in most phases of Telephony, I was able to see how most operations were run.(more in my days of Central Office work) I agree with Winnie, for some unknown reason the supervisors in charge of the Toll Boards and all the way back to the Manual Systems, were 'bitches' and treated the ladies as prisoners in detention, badgering them, instead of treating them with appreciation that most of them deserved and being appreciative for keeping them in a job as Supervisor. The lousy hour and wages paid, deserved better. The clerks in Telephone Business Offices, got the same treatment. Some of their Male counterparts in charge of Installers and Repairmen, also had the same dictatorial approach to their staffs and crews. My move to the California
Telco's had me meet many supervisors with the same attitudes. However in the '80's attitudes changed. Slogans like " Our employees are our best Assets," along with training classes for Management, seemed to make the workplace more tolerable for the Hourly. Some supervisors just were never meant to be Supervisors. It is a fact that some telephone employees did not turn in a good days work and many had bad attitudes.(known as SLUGS by the more knowledgeable and those who carried their workload.) Just my opinion, but backed by 36 years in the BIZ.
Vic. You are right on the money with those "SLUGS". I called them the same thing here. I was a craftsman. I also was an "in charge" person for many of the years that I worked at Pacific Northwest Bell/US West/Qwest. I would not take a management job, because I am sure I would have gotten into fights with those slugs. I also let them know they were slugs...and without hesitation. Thank heaven those days are over.... My wife made me quit because she said that I was either going to kill somebody, or drop over from a heart attack.. So I quit early, and got out while the getting was good. OH, how I miss those days......Ya right!! I do have good memories of the majority of the people that I did work with, and still see them now and then, and appreciate their contribution...
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