Back in the 1960s, the Bell System employed a great many telephone
operators in different roles. Some of the jobs looked very
interesting, such as overseas or toll operator on a cord switchboard.
Others looked extremely boring, such as directory assistance or ONI
(caller's number entry). I was wondering how an operator got assigned
to the different roles and if pay scales differed for the different
roles.
To me, Directory Assistance and Intercept seem awfully boring. It's
just looking up numbers in the various phone books.
The worst would be ONI. Before ANI (automatic number identification
became common) an operator had to come on line and ask their caller
for their number. She would key it into the system which would use it
for AMA billing. Her console for that did nothing else.
The most exciting, and available only in a few places, would be an
overseas operator. The technical handling of different countries
would be a challenge as well as speaking to overseas parties. Now
it's no big deal but back then it was.
The middle of the road would be toll and assistance on a cord
switchboard. These operators would handle trouble with local calls,
coin collection from all payphone calls, and operator handled toll
calls (collect, time & charges, person-to-person, 3rd billing, etc.)
While most toll calls were directly dialed and no big deal to set up,
occassionally a call would have to be specially built-up the old
fashioned way.
As the 1960s went into the 1970s operator jobs were reduced. Bell
charged for directory assistance and operator handled toll calls,
reducing the volume. Computerized switchboards such as TSP/TSPS
streamlined the function and "took the fun out of it".
Our retired small town telephone operator started as a teenager during
WW II. She enjoyed working the town's local manual switchboard and it
was just like in the movies -- calls handled by name and keeping track of
where the doctor and policeman were in town. When the town went dial
in 1954, she was transferred to a nearby city where it was a completely
different atmosphere -- very structured and disciplined. When I toured
some Bell central offices in the 1970s the operator's areas didn't seem
quite as 'tight' as the 1950s is described.
The last manual boards in my area -- in suburban towns -- were retired
around 1962. One area was fairly built up and would've had a lot of
traffic, enough to justify the "A" and "B" boards (calls received by
an "A" board, then passed to the appropriate "B" board for final
connection). I wonder if those locations were disciplined.
I also wonder what city switchboards (not tiny towns) were like under
General Telephone and other independent companies. Did their city
switchboards have the same discipline as the Bell System have the same
strictness? [In the computer world, IBM was very formal while its
competitors were not.]
Historically, there wasn't much of a career path for a telephone
operator. Often young women took the job for a few years until they
got married or had kids, and then they quit. Some returned after the
kids were grown. A few would get promoted to be supervisors. Others
would leave and get jobs as PBX operators -- almost all large PBX
installations required an operator to be "Bell trained" and have Bell
Telephone experience to get hired. As a PBX operator, one might have
career advancement within the particular company depending on her
skills and the attitude of the company (ie going from operator to
office secretary).
