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Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 16 THE TOILEB SATUBDAY, OCT. 23rd, 19i0. My Own Shop A "Close-up" of The Frisco Telephone Exchange By Mercedes Mercier. Flash, flash flash! Quickly I plug-in. "Asleep at tie switch again, Central", booms the angry subscriber in my ear, "Gimme 875 Main, and make it snappy for a change!" I hasten to give him his number. Flash, flash, flash, flash! Twelve more lights appear on my board. I rush to plug-in one, and others take its place! "Miss Mercier, a little more pep there, yells the supervisor (oh, god, how I hate that woman's voice!), always at my back, always urging me to be quicker, quicker, and stiil quicker! Such is the life of a hello-girl! She first starts in at a school, where she is trained ii. the operation of a switch board, and to learn parrot-like (mechanically if you prefer) the fixed sentences that you hear her greet you with whenever you have an occasion to use the telephone. This takes about two weeks to a month, according to the ape-ing ability of the slave-girl, as I insist she never has to use her head, but to follow directions which she has learned mechanically! Next she is taken to the exchange to "listen-in" and to practically learn the ropes, so to speak, and to wear off nervousness. The "Regular Operators" Then she graduates proudly to the position of a "regular operator." (Time was when tliere were "regular operators" and "substitut es", but that time has past, but the former name still lingers and retains that "superior" sound.) An operator must sit at the edge of her chair and there plug-in, plug-out, and listen, plug-in, plug-out, and L-T-S-T-E-N all day long! How monotonous! How nerve wracking! How borosome! Coupled within this continuous strain, they have the watchful eye of the super visor on them all day, reproving them for thh and that, nagging at them to speed-up, and continually listening-in to hear if the slaves parrot their sentences correctly, if not they lose demerits and a chance for advancement, to where, I know not! Maybe they will have a chance to marry the president's weak chinned son, as per the movies, who knows? The life of a telephone operator at her trade is not long. Her nerves soon give out and she must go! A common sight is to see girls fainting at their work, and also seeing thorn crying hysterically in their reliefs. Only a strong girl can stand the grind, then only to her sorrow. A Strike That Failed A steady flow of girls come and go. A standing ad. is in the Oakland and San Fran cisco papers asking for help, but tlnpe are few takers, as the slaves can find more lucrative wages, and easier work elsewhere and as a result the telephone company is always short handed. A year ago the girls struck for higher wages and bettor working conditions. Male and female workers were out a 100 strong, but they lost and went back to worse condi tions, thanks to the A. F. of L. and craft union ism. If the girls want to get better conditions on the job mid to better their wages of $16.50 20.00 dollars per week they will have to organ ize as a CLASS in a ONE BIG UNION OF WORKERS, and then to show a little mass solidarity in their fight against their masters as a claas. Then and only then oan wc, the telephone .girls and the rest of our fellow wage slaves get what we want, loss work, more liesure, foci and clothing and still better life, life, and still more life that is free!