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.

💬 Vintage Intercept Operator Sounds

Play sounds from the vintage telephone operator who speaks intercept messages like "Reached a Disconnected Number", "Your call did not go through", "Please...

www.101soundboards.com

 

[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?

Intercept message - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[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:

I Became A Bell System Operator 35 Years Ago Today.

Political commentary blog about Troutdale, the Columbia River Gorge, and Multnomah County, Oregon.

troutdale.blogspot.com

 

[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?