nPostednon September 1, 2016
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nSonmany jobs used to be segregated – only particular ages, sexes, and races worked in various positions.nBeing a telephone operator was one of them.
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nBacknin the day before there were telephones, there were telegraphs, andnbeing a telegraph operator was one of the first “high tech” jobsnof the modern era. Then as now, high-tech, cutting-edge jobs appealnmore to young people, and young men and boys especially were hired tonbecome telegraph operators. They tapped out people’s messages on thenkey, using Morse Code, and converted arriving Morse Code messages tonunderstandable English telegraphs. n
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nWhenntelephones largely replaced telegraphs, companies hired young men andnboys to be operators – just had been done with thenearlier technology. But – according to Wikipedia – malentelephone operators tended to be impatient, to have bad attitudes,neven to curse or play pranks on callers!
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Onnthis date in 1878, Emma Nutt became the first female telephonenoperator. She was hired for a Boston telephone dispatch company bynAlexander Graham Bell (inventor of the world’s first practicalntelephone) himself!
Onnthis date in 1878, Emma Nutt became the first female telephonenoperator. She was hired for a Boston telephone dispatch company bynAlexander Graham Bell (inventor of the world’s first practicalntelephone) himself! n
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nCustomers apparently loved her soothing voice andnher patience. The response was so overwhelmingly positive, womenntelephone operators became the standard!
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Notice that, in the early days of telephones, telephone operators had to stand rather than sit. They had to be tall enough — or long-armed enough — to reach the top of the telephone exchange! |
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nBynthe way, Emma Nutt loved the job and ended up working as a telephonenoperator more than 30 years. n
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nHerenare some oddities about the whole Emma Nutt story:
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nAn few hours after she became the first-ever female telephone operator,n Emma’s sister Stella Nutt was hired by the same company and thusn became the second female telephone operator! – Notice that Stellan didn’t get a holiday named after her!
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nWomenn who worked as operators had to be unmarried. To start with, atn least, they had to be proper young ladies between the ages of 17 andn 26. African American and Jewish women apparently were not hired asn telephone operators.
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n It was said that Emman Nutt could remember every telephone number in the telephone directorn of the New England Telephone Company!
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nAn synthesized speech program has been named EMMA in Nutt’s honor.
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nHere is a quick history of telephone operators:
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| Call centers or telephone exchanges or switchboards… |
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| …Whatever they call it, is’s a rather low paying job… |
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| Modern operators need access to computers, of course. |
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| In some cases, calls are sent to far-away nations; operators study popular culture in an attempt to fit in! |
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nAlsonon this date:
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Writer Edgar Rice Burroughs’s birthday
Writer Edgar Rice Burroughs’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the Start of the Armed Struggles in Eritrea
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nProtestsnover Taiji’s dolphin hunt
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nSelf-UniversitynWeek Begins
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nAnniversarynof the extinction of the passenger pigeon
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nIndependencenDay in Uzbekistan
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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n Septembern holidays
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n Septembern birthdays
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n n Historicaln anniversaries in September
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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- Octobernholidays
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