Vintage Telephone Operator Intercept Messages

[launderess]

Blast from past!

Boomer generations and previous will appreciate these telephone recordings. Landline use by younger persons is so low don't think they would understand.

https://www.101soundboards.com/boards/10459-vintage-intercept-operator-sounds

 

[ea56]

When I was a Directory Assistance Operator in 1976-77 we were also Intercept Operator’s. The Intercept directory pages were on green paper. We sat at a position with the 707 area code directory which also had the intercept pages in the center of the directory. The calls came in with a beep for intercept and we’d answer, “Intercept Operator, what number are you calling please”, then we’d look up the number after saying, “one moment please, the tell the customer that number has been changed to whatever new number was and conclude with, “please make a note of it”

An intercept operator could be expected to handle at least two of these calls per minute, every position was on a counter that timed the duration of each call. If you were too slow you got called into your managers office and told to snap it up, or else.

Eddie

 

[rp2813]

Eddie, as you are certainly aware, the time counter system applied to any employee on the front lines who fielded incoming calls, and by far and away the title for most brutal environment went to Operator Services.  In the business office call centers this was referred to as "average hold time," which wasn't about how long subscribers were placed on hold, but instead how long it took the rep to handle the sub's issue and take the next call.

 

Bottom line is that employees working the phones within the Bell System were constantly pushed to do their job faster.  To paraphrase Susan Sarandon, fast enough wasn't.

 

When we were kids, we had fun trying to produce various intercepts by doing nonsense dialing, and felt like we hit the jackpot when we got a "reorder" signal, which sounded like a wildly warped siren and always elicited fits of laughter and high-fives.

 

[launderess]

Forgot there was a time 911 existed all over. One knew from watching old movies or cartoons that people called "operator" and said things like "get me the police".







Pat Fleet, Joyce Gordon and the other women who made these recordings have a following. Who knew?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter...message is a,network trouble along the route.

 

[launderess]

Eddie et al I give you lot credit. Couldn't possibly have coped much less sat still for 8 hours.

 

[ea56]

Re:#3 and #2

Yes Laundress I remember well the time before 911. I worked for PT&T from July ‘76 until Oct. ‘78, which was just before the advent of 911 in the 707 area code. I began in DA (Directory Assistance) and eventually moved to the Toll Office (where the switchboards were) and Toll was considered to be the top of operator services, the “0” operator who handled all operated connected calls, overseas, mobile, marine, person to person, collect, coin telephone, calls from the hotels and motels, The Bohemian Grove and emergency calls from an 8 cord pair switchboard.

When a customer called the “0”operator with an emergency we connected the party and remained on the line until the emergency help arrived. It could be very upsetting at times to be a witness to personal tragedy's.

And Ralph, you are so correct! Time was money to Ma Bell and EVERYTHING that we did while working for Ma was timed, monitored and analyzed for accuracy and” tone of service”. In operator services our time usage was referred to as “AWT”, average work time per call. There was a huge board of counting devices that was at the front of the room and each operator position was connected to a counter that recorded the time of each and every call. This board made loud clicking sounds as it registered the AWT for each operator on duty at the time.

Being called into the ATOM’s office (Assistant Traffic Office Manager) was like being called into the wardens office. Everyone smoked then and the first thing most of us would do was light up a cigarette for the potentially unpleasant visit with your ATOM.

Those were the days!

Eddie

 

[rinso]

Eddie, I remember the timing device used by toll switchboard operators. It was called a "Calculagraph." When the call was connected, the operator would put a ticket in it and pull the left handle and remove the ticket. The machine would print a little clock on the ticket with the start time. When the call was completed, the ticket would go back in and the right handle was pulled. The ticket then displayed little, hard to read, clocks which showed the stop time and elapsed time.

 

[ea56]

Eugene, I remember the Calculagraph very well too! Your description is spot on. There was only one calculagraph between every two switchboard positions and both operators used the same one. The mark sense tickets were marked with a soft graphite pencil to record the number the call originated from and the number called and there was a slot in front each card pair that the operator place the ticket after the first pass through the calculagraph. You had to be very alert as to when each call disconnected and quickly place the ticket back into th calculagraph and slam the handle to super impose the face of the clock to record the time the call ended and also when the call began. And yes, sometimes those clock face imprints were hard to read.

Then if the call was from a coin phone you rang back the phone and told the customer what the additional charges were and collected them. If the call was from a hotel or motel the operator computed the charges and called back the PBX operator at the hotel with the charges so they could bill the guest for the call.

The rest of the mark sense tickets were collected during the day by the supervisors, batched and sent to the billing office for charging to the customers phone bill.

From your description it sounds like you may have also worked for Ma Bell too..

Eddie

 

[mattl]

Long Distance

I recall when we had to worry about LD charges. At some point calling to the other side of the county incurred LD charges.  We live west of Flint MI and a close cousin lived in Detroit, I recall waiting for the rates to drop at 7PM or what ever before making a brief call. Years later we would talk for an hour or two weekly without concern about the cost. How things change over time, I never give a thought to calling anywhere at anytime now.

 

I also recall how winning the exchange lottery was a big deal.  If you were lucky enough to have a "big city" exchange, you could call a much larger area without extra charges.  My relatives a mile or so away had a small town exchange and pretty much everything was long distance.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

electronic switchboards

So when did they move to electronic switchboards?

 

[launderess]

"So when did they move to electronic switchboards"

Traffic Service Position System (TSPS) was developed by Bell Labs in Columbus, Ohio to replace traditional cord switchboards. The first TSPS was deployed in 1969.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_Service_Position_System

https://etler.com/docs/WECo/Fundamentals/files/13-TSPS.pdf

https://ia600503.us.archive.org/2/items/TELNewsletterV1N1/tel-01.pdf

https://www.jrsnyderjr.com/2008/02/unexpected-health-problem.html

T.S.P.S was big. It was beginning of fully automating telephone system so that less frequent operator assistance was required if at all. Gradually need for operator assistance would vanish for say things like international, toll, and some other calls.

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/09/29/archives/technology-savings-for-bell-in-new-techniques.html



Some telephone offices had both cord boards and new T.S.P.S boards existing in same building until former was fully phased out.

From operators point of view not everyone was thrilled with T.S.P.S. For one thing they no longer "answered" a call by plugging into a lit jack. Once they logged in calls came automatically. When finished with one call another came right after and so forth.

 

[launderess]

More memories from someone who was there:

https://troutdale.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-became-bell-system-operator-35-years.html

 

[ea56]

Re:#11

That is EXACTLY what working for Ma Bell was like during the time I worked there. This woman started a year after I did so her recollection is representative of the mid 70’s. Her explanation of the scheduling of work shifts based upon seniority is just the way it was in the Santa Rosa, Calif. traffic office. Actually, the work was interesting and fast paced so the time went by quickly. It was the scheduling that was hard for me to adjust to. Being a very regimented person I never could adjust to never knowing from week to week what days or shifts I’d be working. This is what ultimately made me decide to leave PT&T.

Thanks for posting this Launderess.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

@ Reply #9

Long story short was movement from corded boards to T.S.P.S began shortly after invention (late 1960's to early 1970's) and progressed through 1980's.

You can see in YT video and other links posted by 1977 and certainly 1979 many AT&T telephone company offices had switched over to T.S.P.S for some or all of their operator assisted calls.

Supervisor in YT clip (great gal with a NYC accent you just don't hear much any longer), says the TSPS was a "fairly new concept". Film was made in 1979 and she likely began her career with telephone company decades before when cord boards ruled. You can also tell by her attitude (she refers to operators as "girls") things were different on other fronts in her day.

All above being said there were still places in Bell Telephone system during 1970's that still had cord board operators and were not fully automated. That slowly but surely came to an end with arrival of direct dial service and rest.



You can see from this video again some offices still had cord boards for some functions, but others used different set up.



Interesting tidbit:

While AT&T and it's regional Bell telephone branches long had hired males as telephone operators by 1960's, female employees often were outright barred from moving up to positions such as linemen, installation, etc.. Those positions paid good money (compared to being an operator anyway) but largely were restricted to men. It wasn't until various anti-discrimination laws passed in 1960's and 1970's (along with legal proceedings that followed) that Bell telephone offices stopped discrimination and allowed women access to those jobs.

 

[circlew]

My mom worked for AT&T two times. In 1944 & 1945 she worked as an operator for Southern Bell Telephone in the Hattiesburg, MS central office. She started as local (no dial service until 1953), then moved to long distance. She mentioned the LD operators had tone key units, and some areas could be reached by keying in a three digit code for the city, then the local number. However, this was only for calling very large cities, and most LD calls required going through one or two more operators. In 1952 & 1953, she again lived in Mississippi while my dad was in the Army for the Korean War. This time she worked as a secretary for Western Electric, who was replacing the Hattiesburg exchange with a dial system. At this time DDD was instituted, allowing customers to dial LD calls to certain areas. She always talked favorably of working for the Bell System, and could easily have had an excellent job at Cincinnati Bell. I arrived in 1955, and she wanted to stay home with me, and my sister that was born in 1958.

 

[ea56]

Re: #13

I worked in the Santa Rosa, California office until late ‘78 and we still had cord switchboards for our Toll office. TSPS was being used South of us in the 415 area code since about the mid 70’s.

In Sonoma county the customer could direct dial LD with 1+Area code. In most of the county except Santa Rosa the customer reached a CAMA (Centralized Automated Message Accounting) operator for DD LD and the operator answered “Your number please”, keyed in the 7 digit number, said “thank you” and the next call came in immediately. We worked this board in the DA office and an operator working CAMA keyed in 600 calls an hour.

All overseas, South America, Canada, marine, mobile, Person to Person calls went through the Toll office on a cord switchboard.

Eddie

 

[launderess]

Calculagraph!

For you all!

https://etler.com/docs/BSP/030/030-101-101_I1.pdf

It's that thing with two levers to right or left of each operator in video.

 

[launderess]

While on subject of AT&T and job discrimination, it was an agreement between telephone company and federal government that got former to hire more males as telephone operators.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

tsps

Thank you for the info about tsps. So I guess from the 80s onward everything changed. When did they connect to the internet?

 

[ea56]

Re:#16 and 17

The video in #16 shows operators sharing duties between switchboards.  In the Toll office I worked in this wasn’t done much, only to the extent that if you still had calls up when it was your break time you’d ask the operator next to you to watch them for you and take care of their completion.  We for the most part took care of our own board and calls.

 

The videos in #17 about male operators and Mothers Day elicited memories about my time with Ma Bell.  The percentage of male operators in our office was approx.20%.  And Mothers Day was the busiest day of the year!  We got lots of maudlin drunks on Mothers Day too. Calls like, “I wanna talk to my mother in Santa Rosa”,” Well whats her number?”, “I don’t know”, “Well whats her name?”,  “Mabel”, “Whats her last name?”, “I don’t know, but he lives on King St. there can’t be many Mabel’s that live on King St”, you get the picture!

 

When we had particularly bad drunks we plugged them into a trunk called “milliwatts”that gave them a high pitched screaming tone and that got rid of them for a while.

 

And you could always tell when there was a Full Moon because that really got the crazies out from under their rocks.  Being a operator in the old days could be very interesting.

 

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 6/15/2023-10:52]

 

[rp2813]

Eddie, it's no secret that the entire AT&T enterprise was based on a military model.  Business office employees were considered the "force," and Force Management would regularly contact the "In Charge" desk to basically say, "Faster, faster!" when we were getting slammed (the Monday after Thanksgiving was notorious for being the busiest day of the year).  It was like we worked in a war room and were the armed (with headsets) force fighting the enemy, AKA the subscribers.   And just like those who served in the military during a war, we all have stories to tell, most of which only others who also worked for Ma Bell can truly relate to.  Tell these stories to anyone who hasn't experienced "being on the inside" and either their jaw will drop or they'll just be completely baffled even if you explain the terms and acronyms to them.

 

One inside story about Operator Services I heard shortly after being hired was told by our Universal Service Rep training leader.  A few in our class were current employees so there was no shortage of experiences to share.  The male operator involved in the story asked for a "health break" and was told he was not allowed to leave his position.  When the situation became dire and he still wasn't allowed to step away, he stood up and relieved himself all over the switchboard, no doubt elevating himself to hero status among his peers.  This is just one example of the inhumane treatment of those on the front lines, and it dates back to the very early days of the Bell System.  As far as I know, it wasn't any better at the "lesser" telcos like GTE, Continental, et al.  They all took their cues from Ma Bell.  If ever there was a workplace environment where unionization was essential, it was The Phone Company.

 

Also, thanks for mentioning "tone of service."  In the business offices, managers would enter a small room surrounded by glass whenever they were monitoring calls.  This was known as the "tone room" and I never knew why until I read your post.

 

And speaking of smoking, Ma Bell was quite accommodating in that regard, at least for "outside plant" workers, judging from the wording on this ashtray that my sister found and gave me.  It must surely date back to the heyday of the model 500 telephone set.

 

 

 

[ea56]

Ralph,

Calls of Nature in Ma Bell parlance at the Santa Rosa Traffic office were known as “Specials”.  At the front of the room was a sign that was either  “green” for go, meaning no other operator was taking a special, or “red” meaning someone was on a special and no one else could take a special.  If you were working CAMA you had to also put up a green flag in front of you and wait for a DA operator to relieve you so you could turn the sign to red and then sign out with your operator number and the time you left, then upon returning you signed back in noting the time.

 

Once when I was working CAMA and all four lights were lit, meaning that there were over 1000 calls waiting to be keyed in, I put up  my green flag.  A supervisor came by, took down my flag and told me that I didn’t need to go.  A union steward, Ruth E. was sitting next to me,  She asked me if I really needed to go,  I said yes, so she put my flag back up, stood up and told Agnes the supv that she was gonna relieve me, and then EVERYONE else at the 20 position CAMA board, because they all needed a special too!  And then one by one every other operator at that board put up their special flags too.  Made me feel like Norma Ray, LOL.  But by God Ruth meant business and we ALL got a special, all four lights standing be damned.

 

Yes Ma Bell ran a military like office.  BTW, if your ATOM deemed that you were taking too many specials, he or she would call you into their office for consoling, reminding the errant operator that “the company” gave you two 15 min breaks and a lunch break to take care of your biological needs, and perhaps your work schedule needed to be changed to coincide with these functions better, I kid you not!

 

Once a fellow operator, about 60 years old that had worked for Ma since she graduated from HS literally had a heart attack at the board, and ambulance was called and Lillian was in the hospital for two weeks.  When she returned from sick leave she was summoned into the ATOM’s office and told that she had to sign a statement that she was aware that her attendance was unacceptable and if she had another occurrence of absence in the next 6 months she could be terminated.  Ruth the union steward had accompanied Lilian into the meeting.  Lillian asked Ruth if she had to sign this statement?  Ruth told her yes, if she wanted to keep working for the unmotherly Ma.  Lillian said, “then you’re telling me that we are working for heartless assholes”, to which Ruth replied, “ yes I’m afraid so Lillian”.  So needing a job at age 60 Lillian signed and plugged back into  the switchboard.

 

There are a million stories like this in the Ma Bell Story.

 

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 6/15/2023-23:59]

 

[rinso]

"The number you have dialed has been changed, the new number has been disconnected."

 

[kenwashesmonday]

The one I remember is rather long.  This would have been New Jersey Bell in the 1970s.  I will try my best to quote it from memory:

 

"The number you have dialed is either disconnected or is not assigned.  If you think you may have dialed incorrectly, please try again.  If you need help, please hang up and dial the operator.  Thank you, my voice has been recorded"

 

[jamiel]

These are fun. Thanks.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Wish this one was on there:

I listened to all of them too!

 

One time when using a pay phone, which I had difficulty of it taking my dimes, a man's voice was actually used, which said:

THE CALL YOU'RE MAKING REQUIRES A DEPOSIT OF TEN-CENTS!

 

 

 

-- Dave