My mom was a 19 year old AT&T telephone operator in New York City in 1971. My father was an AT&T technician same place, same time. They met and married. 50 years of marriage and still going strong....
In 1980 I was one of the first male operators for the New York Telephone company. At the time it was one of the most demanding and stressful jobs in the company. They monitored every move you made. I eventually moved on to becoming a technician. Looking back being an operator taught me to be disciplined and able to handle anything. I stayed for 30 years.
So did they not listen in on calls? I looked online and it said they had the ability to hear your calls. I'm not sure if that makes sense though because if you are answering multiple calls then that would be like a thousand voices at once.
@@4agony777 In the 1970's and 1980's it was the TSPS console telephone operators used. Supervisors, on and off throughout the day, would sit at a console in the corner of the office, listen in and see what an operator was doing (mainly pressing buttons and completing calls) on the console. Operators were graded on speed and accuracy. If an operator had too many mistakes (they were called either irregulars or errors) bad things can happen to them from a poor evaluation to termination. It was also possible to be immediately terminated if the error/violation was considered serious. Attendance was also looked at closely. You better have a good car or not miss the bus or you also could be shown the door. This, and other things, made the environment very stressful. I was one of these operators in California. While I won't go into detail here why I no longer worked there (I lasted close to three years), afterwards I eventually completed my college degree and went into the I.T. field. I've been successful since. AT&T's loss.
@@4agony777 Our GCOs (Group Chief Operators) listened into our calls. One could tell when they were listening in because the sound in the earpiece changed. The statements made by another person is true. It was stressful at times, especially when assisting new operators whose customers were having emergencies.
I didn't know long distance was so expensive back then!!! $12 for the first 3 minutes and $4 for each additional minute after that!?! That's a lot, especially for 1969!
MrJavaman5 That's because long distance subsidized local service. Local companies had to provide dial tone no matter where. Run 10 miles of line out to some farm house? They had to do it.
I was looking for this comment. That was a very expensive call 50 years ago. The inflation calculator shows $4 in 1969 is equivalent to $28.05 in 2019. Imagine paying $28 a minute for a long distance call now. No wonder Ma Bell's monopoly was eventually broken. On another note this film was done a couple of years before Esquire magazine published a story about the phone phreakers called 'The Secrets of the Little Blue Box'. I heard one of the operators key in a 2600 Hertz pulse to control the line.
I was a tltephone operater in sherman oaks calif in 1962-1963-it was a hoot all kninds of crazy people, you were watched all the time you had to be quick it was fun and yes i was one of the pretty girls back in the day!! i am now 79 years old.
I was born in 1969 and growing up I felt a deep attraction to Telecom and the history of the telephone & telegraph. I went to work for an Interconnect Co. in 1991 and never looked back. Today I’m 53 and the Telecommunications Engineer for my County Government although Ive never set foot on a college campus in my life. I could write 20 books on all the different kinds of equipment I’ve worked on over the years. I feel like I’ve just about done it all in the Telecom world. I’ve truly been very blessed. There’s just no better business to work in 😊
Same here, as a child I was always attracted and interested in telephones and telephone equipment growing up in the'70s, as I progressed into the mid 80s I started my own electronics company and started installing business telephone systems, here we are now with a large successful commercial electronics company here in the upstate New York area doing all types of electronic systems and again so thankful that I had the telephony experience from the past that brought me to where I am now! Also never set foot in college or Technical Training, all self-taught and doing quite well we are all blessed!
@@westwasbest That’s a great story my friend. I also had my own company (Avalon Teleworks Inc) for about 14 years before going into Gov IT. Those were truly the best days of my life but as my marriage disintegrated I unfortunately lost my company in the divorce. I’m truly blessed and thankful for my job but Gov work is very different.
I was not looking for this. I was in tears the whole time. My mother Pauline Walker started working for AT&T in 1969 because my grand-mother saw an ad in the news paper. She drove my mother to downtown St.Louis. At the time my mother was 19 years old , widow ,and she had her first of four children. She retired in 1993 . Passed away in 2011.
In the 1960’s my aunt was an operator in upstate New York. As a young child, I remember picking up the phone and pushing the receiver button a couple of times (a shortcut for dialing zero) and having my favorite aunt on the other end. She retired with more than 40 years on the job.
I work over the phone as a tech support advisor, and watching these videos make me feel good and reassured about some of the struggles of working and talking over the phone with certain customers. But it's also good to see how far we've come for helping others!
After seeing this, I am NEVER going to be rude to anyone on the phone again. I must remember that there's a real person with real feelings on the other end.
Dealing with rudeness on the phone probably isn't what's lowering morale at your company. If that *really* is the case I would say you people need to grow a thicker skin.
The loser I was talking to +qco6281 deleted his comments because I put him in his place so badly. He's being a drama queen, the morale is probably low because of how the real estate market has been since the recession. The fact he deleted his comments though... this is exactly what I meant about getting a thicker skin.
Love the video! I was a toll operator in the 70's as well as directory assistance, rate and route and CAMA. Such a fun job until TOPS came around. Being one of the first male operators I remember everything was geared towards women, I even had to go to the bathroom in a different building (which was connected to the toll building) because there were only women's bathrooms close by. Ahhhh those were the days.
During my era, they were balancing male to female and ethnicity ratios. I was fortunate to have worked with the first male directory assistance operator. We remained acquaintances until the end.
Around 1974 or 75, I was 8 years old and would make prank calls to the operator. She would call my phone back and I hung up. Finally, I took the phone off the hook. She could still ring the phone! That scared me so I stopped making prank calls from that point forward.
Nothing like being polite on the phone to someone you cant see. When I started working at the company an old timer told me to always be polite to the person on the other end you never know who you are talking to. And yes a thank you goes along way sometimes.
My mom did this in the late 70’s. She was a late night operator working alone in a small community. Some times she took me with her and would let me plug the cables in.
Amazing, we've done that for 3 generations. What wasn't mentioned was if I got annoyed I'd just "cord them down". In other terms; I pulled the cord from the board and they were cut off. In those days the calls weren't monitored so there was no way of telling who the snotty operator was. Well, unless you knew me, that is.
Sandy Petersen I was the only operator, but if they ever got on my case, I would "accidentally" hang up, and when they would call back, I would just act all apologetic. This was during the early part of the century so the calls weren't monitored yet.
I did the same if they were jerks. There was a jack at the top of the cord board for testing. I think it was called a MW1 jack. It had a loud screeching noise of you plugged in. I would plug all the jerks into the jack, after checking to make sure no one was observing. Great times as an operator!!
@@ltate4434 I wonder if that was the same circuit that produced the howler/siren tone when you left your phone off hook too long without dialing a number. I remember in the 70's dialling a ring back test number 1099 on a rotary phone hanging up and the phone would ring. I would get my brothers to answer the phone.
March 1969 was when I started working as a frame man for South Central Bell in the downtown Nashville, TN office. We had an MDF that was about 12 feet tall and a half city block long. There were 5 exchanges of step-by-step equipment, two exchanges of cross-bar switches and Nashville’s first electronic exchange, the 259. It was a busy and noisy place. Unknown to me at the time, my future sister-in-law worked in the same building at that time as an operator.
You can see films of Step by Step, Panel, Crossbar switching on TH-cam. There is a working switching equipment museum in Seattle Washington. C.O.Tech starting pay in Cleveland, Ohio 1969....$87
Fab memories ❤ i started 1975 with the old GPO🇬🇧, i loved being an Operator, still friends with my fave telephone engineer 50 years later ❤😉 ty for sharing
The female operators from 1920's to late 1950's were much more beautiful than these late 1960's ladies. Late 1960's in America, hippies culture and sexual revolution were at their peaks. These late 1960's looked like they were on ganja and hashish the night before. They looked like bargain hookers.
I worked at 430 Bush St. in the early 1960s. The lunch room was filled with the long distance and information operators. It was the best place for a guy to meet girls. Unfortunately I was engaged at the time.
Seems like yesterday! This brings back so many fond memories of my first job, while in high school, as a Long Distance Operator. Oh the funny stories!! And the really cool ones, like taking a call from Chief Justice Earl Warren. I can honestly say that I loved my job and was hesitant to leave when asked if I wanted a promotion to a different department. I miss the cord board and helping people with their calls. Those were the good ol’ days for sure! ❤️
My sister-in-law was an operator in Hollywood, Florida, during this time frame. She was on duty the night an airliner went down in the Everglades. She said the lines went crazy as she and the other operators helped loved ones connect for information about the tragedy. Operators had (actually, still have) very interesting stories to tell.
I was born in 1969 -- my mother was an 18-year-old switchboard operator at Southern Bell in Greensboro NC. It was her first and only job. In 1983 she did a 911 presentation to the Greensboro City Council and it worked. They loved the idea and couldn't stop talking about how beautiful she was. I was there and remember it so well. It was AT&T by the time she retired.
I worked in the Far Rockaway office, of AT&T as an operator, during the late 1960's.One of the more pleasant although, a bit strange experiences were, that every so often, when you plugged into a certain trunk, Donovan's Atlantis would play. I would always listen for as long as I could, and hope that I wouldn't get caught, (because the supervisors were always listening in).
I saw a pay phone on a wall in a corner behind a large floor plant at my Hospital. I couldn't believe it. It was so hidden, I almost missed it. I wanted to sneak behind the plant,..pick up the receiver and see if it had a dial tone.
my mother worked for southwestern bell telephone in amarillo texas for almost 40 years i loved going to her office and see all the people working there miss that so much
I met a college professor whose last name was Horney who said that in the operator-placed call days it was difficult for anyone to make a person-to-person call to him, because when they'd tell the operator the name of the person they wanted to call, the operator would sometimes hang up.
I worked as a switchboard operator once. It was great because my calls weren't monitored, and I got to listen to a bunch of crazies that somehow got our number. It was so entertaining that I could write a book about it!
I was a phone company employee in the 90's and used to work with women like this. The lady who trained me was an operator then and what shocked me was this. If you were and operator and female, if you got married, it was grounds for you to get fired. The reason why is that the company didn't want to pay for maternity leave and to insure children under the company health plan. A lot has changed since then. I don't know about you but I found it harder to understand the older technology versus today. I have seen the old chordboards up close and was shown by an older operator how to run one. It looks as hard as it is to operate
My mom and aunt worked for New England Telephone’s repair department. They were dispatchers and worked in the office and filed repair orders and were friends with all the linemen and others in the field. They both have said it was some of the best times in their lives.
...wow! That's amazing! Thanks so much for sharing. On Tuesday, May 16, 1972, Mike Dorsey and I made history with Southwestern Bell in Little Rock, Arkansas when we began our new careers as the first male DA oprs in Arkansas since 1922. I find it interesting that DA is now just a simple Google command. :)
My great-aunt -in-law was one of the original operators and worked until her retirement sometime during the early 1960's. When she died at almost 100 years of age she left behind a portfolio of Bell Telephone stock which made her retirement years very comfortable.
My first job was a switchboard operator at New York Telephone Company in 1959. This video bring back lots of memory. I saw lots of changes, I was a long distance, route and rate, and directory assistance operator. I was there for the break-up, retired in 1991, then NYNEX took the buy-out.
Tell me about it ... I stood in a queue for a super market today in London (Corona virus) and listened to a woman behind me on her mobile phone trying to get money back from a cancelled holiday calling them 'mother f ..kers '
@@jeaniechowdhury6739 What A Dumb Comment You Do Realize That This AT&T/Bell Telephone Company Promotional Film Was Made In 1969 Right?? The 1964 Civil Rights Act And The 1965 Voting Rights And Immigration Act We're Both Passed By Congress Segregation Officially Ended In 1964, With The Passing Of The Civil Rights Act In 1964, And It Also Put An End To Harassment & Discrimination Against Minorities & Women In The Workplace, Even Though Segregation Still Existed In Public Schools In The South After These Two Bills We're Passed, The Desegregation Of Public Schools In The South Wouldn't Happen Until Richard Nixon Became President Of The United States In 1969.
So fascinating how far we’ve come with technology. Makes me appreciate what we have today even more. Side note: you can clearly see that brief moment of anger by the operator at 11:37. Customer is difficult to understand and expects the operator to write down that long name quickly.
at 7:43 it sounds like the man making a credit card call Says "Ah f**k its the wrong card or somthin?" I'm surprised they kept that in, if I heard right LOL
love the kind of comments evoked by this video - very cool to hear from people who were actually there. I was born in 1989. I remember going from a corded to cordless phone, that was cool. Also getting caller ID! :-)
AT&T wanted to hire me as an operator but I said no, later hired on as a mail clerk and then became a tech. I worked in 7 different dept. was a tester on both 2-wire (dial tone) and 4-wire (digital lines). Also worked outside testing cable pairs & installing phone equuipment at cust prems. helped install the very first fiber optic lines in 1982.
This brings back memories. I get home from work and answer my phone saying " operator " of "directory assistant ". Everything is true on this film. What a time!
Naw...In the 80's, I once phoned a friend to ask if it was AM or PM because I had gone down for a nap and when I woke up, it was dark out. It was the time of the year when it was just as dark at 6PM as it was at 6AM. I felt as though I had slept the whole night away and missed my late night shift at work. Of course, there was confusion and panic, because I was still trying to wake up. My buddy laughed at me over the phone. Thankfully, I had only been asleep for a few hours. There were absolutely no drugs involved...lol.
$12 for the first 3 minutes plus $4 for each additional minute NOW 2020 that is $86.86 for three minutes and $28.95 for each extra minute 1 hour of talk time would = $1,737.00 plus tax
My mom had twin infants and was raising them with the help of her mother-in-law in L.A after my father left with the 2nd U.S Marine Division for Guadalcanal at the end of July 1942. Mom worked for Pacific Bell Telegraph & Telephone while my dad was gone. There were hundreds of women working there then. Mom was a Lineman until they found out she was pregnant and put her at a switchboard. Last year after my 98-year-old mom passed I spent an entire two days reading the old letters from L.A to the South Pacific and those that pop sent back. In one my mom wrote from her lunch break at the phone company were the lines that finally stopped me and had me pack the letters back up .... "Nearly every day the small group shows, and even though many are in uniform, all the girls know what's happening ... that's because an officer who is also a chaplain is along. I've discovered that if I stop working and shut my eyes that they won't come to me. I know you'll think me silly but I do believe it works. But the other day when my eyes were shut someone laid a hand on my shoulder .... I could have died .... but it was only Kati Oneal to ask about lunch. I had wet myself. I was so humiliated, can you imagine? I will never forget those lines that my mom wrote from Pacific Bell some 78 years ago. My dad came home full of piss and vinegar. Mom quit the Job in 45 and raised a family from then on.
I went to work as a long distance operator on 3/3/69. This is really a good video. I enjoyed the job for 7 years before I went to work in another department.
My Grandma did that job for a while, she loved doing it. Then my Grandpa insisted it was embarrassing to have a wife that worked so she ended up reluctantly quitting. The family would have been much better off had she kept the job, my Grandpa barely made any money at all doing odd jobs around town.
LOL, back in the day when you had to dial long distance calls and pay by the MINUTE! When I was a teen I used to call my sister in Vermont long distance person to person to get hold of her, and she'd tell the operator that Sandy was not there, and we'd hang up and she'd call me back as it was cheaper that way LOL. My friend Mario and I used to dial foreign countries' directory assistance operators and ask for the number of some fictitious person we made up, just so we could say we talked to someone in a foreign country and for free, as directory assistance was free in the 70s, so we called France and Sweden, Denmark and all over LOL That was back when you had to rent your telephone from Bell telephone as the units were not for sale, and actually marked on the bottom "Bell Telephone property, not for sale" as I remember.
@@kimberlywentworth9160 Why wouldn't they? yes they do. MCI even still uses American directory assistance operators. Most of everything is consolidated to India though. But not all operators.
Daniel Pettis My Grandma was a switchboard operator in the 60's until she retired. She just turned 84. It's amazing to see how far technology has come ☎ ➡📱
And sure they are still just as beautiful on the inside and out. Don’t underestimate your elder okay? Lol just a little silly humor. But really, for example Jennifer was in her 20s in the 70s. So she just turned 61 and she looks DAMN GOOD
I was a telephone operator in 1981. I still remember some of the very strange requests I received. What they don't show you here is that there were incredibly boring stretches when you'd just have to sit there and receive no calls at all.
"What they don't show you here is that there were incredibly boring stretches when you'd just have to sit there and receive no calls at all." Why, that sounds great - couldn't you just do something else then, like read a book or something? 🙂
I started working for AT&T in January, 1976 and stayed there for 21 years then retired. Genuinely enjoyed the experience and opportunities. It was a very good company to work for then.
In 1974 I had to make a similar polite but firm comment to a boy who asked to speak with Joe Namath. I think I was able to get the number of the NY Jets publicity office for him, but I couldn't let him make the call without approval from a parent. Although nothing like overseas satellite rates, a person to person long distance call from Nebraska to New York would have been expensive. In 1975 my job was eliminated because of technological advances, or disco music, I forget which. Ah, ah, ah, ah, standing in line...
telephones come a long way since then its so awesome that i can sit and watch this video from my phone why im in the bathroom and have my tv and phone together on one device! Cell phones are so awesome!
I was making those old fashioned operator desks in early 70’s when I was in the Finnish Telecommunication Government. Those were still used in some remote rural areas.
great that this clip existed, its important especially for this generation to know and see how hard it was before with calls, and how much evolved its been 1969 to 1978, 9 long years of this struggle to be born and living in those years must been so difficult when need to call some
Indeed. I visited a Telephone-museum in Denmark in 1998 or so if I remember it right, I was 10 back then. Instead of the usual 'just look and read' museums you'll usually find, this museum had all kinds of telephones in working condition, allowed to be operated by the visitors, connected to REAL systems they used back then. You started with the very basic hand-crank telephone that would flip a label at the operator, and made your way through history. The 'rotation-pickers' (sorry, don't know the real name for them in English) were just stunning to watch. Even better was that using those phones meant that somewhere else in the museum a phone would start ringing for you, a family member or whatever to pick up. And when I saw a motor turning a disk with notches to open and close contacts at set intervals for the dial tone, 'not available' tone (sorry, again don't know the English name for that) or information tone, I just thought like 'Why the hell didn't I think of that?' . It just showed how much I'm used to transistors and circuitry to handle the stuff they do today. I stumbled across this video from the Netherlands couple of years ago, showing a mechanical telephone exchange from the Dutch town of Wormerveer, back in 1975. Skip to 2:30 for a nice sequence of shots set to Vangelis' 'Himalaya'.a EDIT: I see I forgot to put the link in my comment: th-cam.com/video/KlaWNLXJwIQ/w-d-xo.html
Look at videos of the technology used in telephone central offices. Panel, Step by Step, Crossbar. In many big cities 1920’s technology hobbled along into the 70s before replacement with Electronic Switching.
Crazy how we forget how things were......I’m 53 and this video reminded me about calling the operator for long distance or calling and asking for “information”, they could give you names, numbers, addresses and they were always so sweet !!! This video also reminds me of when people were kind, patient, respectful and knew how to communicate !!! Who would have thought that I would get this lovely reminder sitting here watching something called TH-cam on my CELL PHONE !!! I miss those days 😏
This was back when The Bell System was the envy of the world. They really did have unmatched technology, professionalism, and top notch customer service...EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE STRICTLY REGULATED BY THE FTC and FCC. You paid quite a bit for the service but you actually received first class service. That is NOT the case today! Which we could have the telcos heavily regulated again.
My Mom was an operator with Southwestern Bell (aka SBC), located in Dallas (White Rock location). 1974. She left the company in 1989 to become a nurse. I started as a CSR with SBC Wireless in 1999, later transferring to landline as service representative in 2001! As soon as the merge to AT&T came about around 2006, I was forced to become a treasury clerk. I miss those old SBC days! ♥️♥️😭
I was a long distance operator in 1970 at the Southern Bell Phone Company for one year. They paid for a semester of my college. It was a very interesting yet monotonous job.
I was a directory assistance operator beginning in 1979 and people thought we were the Google of that time. They would ask what time it was, what day it was, what temperature to roast a turkey, whether indoor Christmas lights could be used outside, whether indoor paint could be used outside, driving directions, what the temperature was, how to reach the doctor (but didn’t know the doctor’s name) and on and on. Some people were very mean and sometimes the men would be very flirty. It wasn’t a fun job but it got me through college.
This is a real time capsule glimpse into our world back in the day; though I wish they would have included 60's Rock and role in the background! In Miami, Florida 1968 I was an "intercept operator" sitting on a long line of the same within small carols...we worked for 8 hours with a 30 minute lunch break and 10 minute break every 2 hours; if you had a split shift, you worked say from 8am to noon, then your were off 4 hours and came back from 4 to 8 pm ; or a worse scenario was split from 8-noon: 6-10pm. In downtown Miami we parked in a public lot several long city block away from Mother Bell so we were on our own going to and from the parking areas...pretty safe in those times. I met several other gals of course - some who worked at a department store called Jordan Marsh who were models for the teen section: hot pants, short skirts, go-go boots ...danced in the hot plate glass windows in the noon hour to bring in customers with maybe a small floor fan! Really, just happy for a job!
I'm 22 and I just learned what telephone operators used to do. I'd heard of operators, but knew almost nothing about how any of that worked. Very interesting! I couldn't imagine going to call a friend and having to have a middle man connect me.
Wow, gives you a real appreciation for their positions and the kind of personal service we had at one time. It's pretty much do it yourself now most of the time. I guess we do still have operators when you push 0......I'll have to try it! :-)
I had operators call me in the morning to wake me up for work, my alarm clocks. If I said, ''can you snooze me back in ten minutes?'', they said!, ''NO''. lol.
My Mom was an operator with Southern Bell in Charlotte, NC from 1967-1972, & a tech dispatcher in '73. She went on maternity leave & never returned, becoming a school teacher for a few years once my twin & I began Kindergarten, then again teaching once we reached college age & after she & Dad divorced. She loved the work & still speaks fondly of it at age 75 although teaching was her first love. Incidentally, she said the New York operators she interacted with when placing calls were quite rude. By Southern standards of the time, they probably were. Today, everyone is rude & she'd likely not know the difference.🤭. Mom always emphasized phone courtesy to us kids: "Who's Calling Please?" & "I'm Sorry You Have the Wrong Number." I'm sure this was a carry-over from her days as an operator. 👍🏽💯😊📞☎️
Wow, 51 Years ago in 2019. These people are so young and sweet here. Hard to get over that most of them (if still alive) are in their 80's now. Time goes by so fast.
My mom was a 19 year old AT&T telephone operator in New York City in 1971. My father was an AT&T technician same place, same time. They met and married. 50 years of marriage and still going strong....
what about their pensions?
@@nomadcowatbk Retired AT&T Operators still receive their pensions,
Same Place Same Time Kiss The Sky!!!!🌃🌉🌠🎆
Ok, but what does that have to do with the video?
@@medalgearsalad1419 Not much, just my comment.
“Operator, can you tell me where the nearest telephone is?” “Sir, you’re talking from the nearest telephone.” Priceless.
I was just about to comment on that XD
I think he meant someone else's phone number 😂
he did a little trolling
My wife, on the phone for Amtrak, once asked, "Where are you calling from, Ma'am?". She answered, "From my kitchen table".
@@themagus5906bahahahaha 😂😂😂 your wife is a legend
In 1980 I was one of the first male operators for the New York Telephone company. At the time it was one of the most demanding and stressful jobs in the company. They monitored every move you made. I eventually moved on to becoming a technician. Looking back being an operator taught me to be disciplined and able to handle anything. I stayed for 30 years.
So did they not listen in on calls? I looked online and it said they had the ability to hear your calls. I'm not sure if that makes sense though because if you are answering multiple calls then that would be like a thousand voices at once.
@@4agony777 In the 1970's and 1980's it was the TSPS console telephone operators used. Supervisors, on and off throughout the day, would sit at a console in the corner of the office, listen in and see what an operator was doing (mainly pressing buttons and completing calls) on the console. Operators were graded on speed and accuracy. If an operator had too many mistakes (they were called either irregulars or errors) bad things can happen to them from a poor evaluation to termination. It was also possible to be immediately terminated if the error/violation was considered serious. Attendance was also looked at closely. You better have a good car or not miss the bus or you also could be shown the door. This, and other things, made the environment very stressful. I was one of these operators in California. While I won't go into detail here why I no longer worked there (I lasted close to three years), afterwards I eventually completed my college degree and went into the I.T. field. I've been successful since. AT&T's loss.
@@4agony777 Our GCOs (Group Chief Operators) listened into our calls. One could tell when they were listening in because the sound in the earpiece changed.
The statements made by another person is true.
It was stressful at times, especially when assisting new operators whose customers were having emergencies.
Thank you for your service, Sir
My mom was a long distance operator for 40 years in St. Louis. They say she was a great one ! she later retired ,and lived to 102.
John McCorkle Rest In Peace!
lol
That's awesome, John. She milked every penny of her retirement....good for her!
Much love and respect for your late mother.
John my mother was one too, in the fifties.
I didn't know long distance was so expensive back then!!! $12 for the first 3 minutes and $4 for each additional minute after that!?! That's a lot, especially for 1969!
MrJavaman5 That's because long distance subsidized local service. Local companies had to provide dial tone no matter where. Run 10 miles of line out to some farm house? They had to do it.
Yeah, that was NYC to Taiwan - serious overseas long distance!
I was looking for this comment. That was a very expensive call 50 years ago. The inflation calculator shows $4 in 1969 is equivalent to $28.05 in 2019. Imagine paying $28 a minute for a long distance call now. No wonder Ma Bell's monopoly was eventually broken. On another note this film was done a couple of years before Esquire magazine published a story about the phone phreakers called 'The Secrets of the Little Blue Box'. I heard one of the operators key in a 2600 Hertz pulse to control the line.
$12 for 3 minutes.
$4 for each additional minute.
Eh, who's the maths genius there? Why not just say $4 per minute?
@@Jungleland33 because you were billed the full $ 12 even if your call was only 10 seconds.
I was a tltephone operater in sherman oaks calif in 1962-1963-it was a hoot all kninds of crazy people, you were watched all the time you had to be quick it was fun and yes i was one of the pretty girls back in the day!! i am now 79 years old.
I bet you’re STILL one of the prettiest girls. 😊
I was born in 1969 and growing up I felt a deep attraction to Telecom and the history of the telephone & telegraph. I went to work for an Interconnect Co. in 1991 and never looked back. Today I’m 53 and the Telecommunications Engineer for my County Government although Ive never set foot on a college campus in my life. I could write 20 books on all the different kinds of equipment I’ve worked on over the years. I feel like I’ve just about done it all in the Telecom world. I’ve truly been very blessed. There’s just no better business to work in 😊
Same here, as a child I was always attracted and interested in telephones and telephone equipment growing up in the'70s, as I progressed into the mid 80s I started my own electronics company and started installing business telephone systems, here we are now with a large successful commercial electronics company here in the upstate New York area doing all types of electronic systems and again so thankful that I had the telephony experience from the past that brought me to where I am now! Also never set foot in college or Technical Training, all self-taught and doing quite well we are all blessed!
@@westwasbest That’s a great story my friend. I also had my own company (Avalon Teleworks Inc) for about 14 years before going into Gov IT. Those were truly the best days of my life but as my marriage disintegrated I unfortunately lost my company in the divorce. I’m truly blessed and thankful for my job but Gov work is very different.
I was not looking for this. I was in tears the whole time. My mother Pauline Walker started working for AT&T in 1969 because my grand-mother saw an ad in the news paper. She drove my mother to downtown St.Louis. At the time my mother was 19 years old , widow ,and she had her first of four children. She retired in 1993 . Passed away in 2011.
Very cool story George. Thanks for sharing. And our condolences to you sir.
In the 1960’s my aunt was an operator in upstate New York. As a young child, I remember picking up the phone and pushing the receiver button a couple of times (a shortcut for dialing zero) and having my favorite aunt on the other end. She retired with more than 40 years on the job.
I bet she called you a little rascal.
Too cute
Watched this several times. People were so nice back then.
I work over the phone as a tech support advisor, and watching these videos make me feel good and reassured about some of the struggles of working and talking over the phone with certain customers. But it's also good to see how far we've come for helping others!
Awesome! I was a long distance operator in ‘71. Best job I ever had. I loved it!
I remember, you kept hanging up on me.
@@coloradostrong They wouldn't' do that weirdo, They have to keep you on the line to see if it was a emergency you had.
This stuff is great, its like a digital time capsule.
After seeing this, I am NEVER going to be rude to anyone on the phone again. I must remember that there's a real person with real feelings on the other end.
Yes, be polite and ask them what clothes they are wearing. That usually puts them at ease.
Dealing with rudeness on the phone probably isn't what's lowering morale at your company. If that *really* is the case I would say you people need to grow a thicker skin.
***** Aww... did that hurt your feelings? I'm so sorry, you deal with those big meanie "rude people" on the phone. Want a tissue buddy?
" you people " LOL!
The loser I was talking to +qco6281 deleted his comments because I put him in his place so badly. He's being a drama queen, the morale is probably low because of how the real estate market has been since the recession. The fact he deleted his comments though... this is exactly what I meant about getting a thicker skin.
Love the video! I was a toll operator in the 70's as well as directory assistance, rate and route and CAMA. Such a fun job until TOPS came around. Being one of the first male operators I remember everything was geared towards women, I even had to go to the bathroom in a different building (which was connected to the toll building) because there were only women's bathrooms close by. Ahhhh those were the days.
In the 70s traditional male jobs were opened up to women. Installer, Lineman, Central Office Technician. These were the higher paying jobs.
During my era, they were balancing male to female and ethnicity ratios.
I was fortunate to have worked with the first male directory assistance operator. We remained acquaintances until the end.
Wow trip down memory lane - this is exactly what I was doing in 1969!! In Perth, Australia
Around 1974 or 75, I was 8 years old and would make prank calls to the operator. She would call my phone back and I hung up. Finally, I took the phone off the hook. She could still ring the phone! That scared me so I stopped making prank calls from that point forward.
😮😂🤣😂🤣
I did the exactly the same thing.
"Operator, I just woke up and it's 6 o'clock, but I don't know if it's AM or PM". LMAO!
I swear I had those days when I was working night shift, lol
"It's 6PM sir."
My mother was a southwestern bell operator in houston from 1969 to 2002 but she passed in 2005
Jon Mcalexander that’s a lot of years, she must have liked it.
zaftra lol I would not go as far as to say that but they liked her lol
Nothing like being polite on the phone to someone you cant see. When I started working at the company an old timer told me to always be polite to the person on the other end you never know who you are talking to. And yes a thank you goes along way sometimes.
This level of complexity is like Air Traffic Control for your phone.
till fibre optics came along and put them all out of work ..
I worked as a telephone operator back in the day and that’s a great description. TY! 😁 ☎️
My mom did this in the late 70’s. She was a late night operator working alone in a small community. Some times she took me with her and would let me plug the cables in.
And you had to be incredibly fast plugging in those cables, in addition not to plug them in the wrong sockets, right ?
Amazing, we've done that for 3 generations. What wasn't mentioned was if I got annoyed I'd just "cord them down". In other terms; I pulled the cord from the board and they were cut off. In those days the calls weren't monitored so there was no way of telling who the snotty operator was. Well, unless you knew me, that is.
Sandy Petersen I was the only operator, but if they ever got on my case, I would "accidentally" hang up, and when they would call back, I would just act all apologetic. This was during the early part of the century so the calls weren't monitored yet.
Sandy Petersen dang it Sandy! Then it was you who cut me off back in 1973, I remember that call! I demand an apology! ;)
Lol, That's great.
I did the same if they were jerks. There was a jack at the top of the cord board for testing. I think it was called a MW1 jack. It had a loud screeching noise of you plugged in. I would plug all the jerks into the jack, after checking to make sure no one was observing. Great times as an operator!!
@@ltate4434 I wonder if that was the same circuit that produced the howler/siren tone when you left your phone off hook too long without dialing a number. I remember in the 70's dialling a ring back test number 1099 on a rotary phone hanging up and the phone would ring. I would get my brothers to answer the phone.
Lol “hello operator where’s the nearest telephone?” 🤣🤣
you catch that:)
In your hand
I bet they hear that all the time 🙄😂
Lili Tomlin: "Is this the party to whom I am speaking?"
@@cryptobox128
One ringy dingy
March 1969 was when I started working as a frame man for South Central Bell in the downtown Nashville, TN office. We had an MDF that was about 12 feet tall and a half city block long. There were 5 exchanges of step-by-step equipment, two exchanges of cross-bar switches and Nashville’s first electronic exchange, the 259. It was a busy and noisy place. Unknown to me at the time, my future sister-in-law worked in the same building at that time as an operator.
You can see films of Step by Step, Panel, Crossbar switching on TH-cam. There is a working switching equipment museum in Seattle Washington. C.O.Tech starting pay in Cleveland, Ohio 1969....$87
Fab memories ❤ i started 1975 with the old GPO🇬🇧, i loved being an Operator, still friends with my fave telephone engineer 50 years later ❤😉 ty for sharing
OMG, these operators are all beautiful ladies, am I not the only one who thinks so?
no draft for them
The female operators from 1920's to late 1950's were much more beautiful than these late 1960's ladies.
Late 1960's in America, hippies culture and sexual revolution were at their peaks.
These late 1960's looked like they were on ganja and hashish the night before.
They looked like bargain hookers.
havoknightO no you are not the only one..they are stunning
havoknightO yes they are absolutely stunning
I worked at 430 Bush St. in the early 1960s. The lunch room was filled with the long distance and information operators. It was the best place for a guy to meet girls. Unfortunately I was engaged at the time.
Seems like yesterday! This brings back so many fond memories of my first job, while in high school, as a Long Distance Operator. Oh the funny stories!! And the really cool ones, like taking a call from Chief Justice Earl Warren.
I can honestly say that I loved my job and was hesitant to leave when asked if I wanted a promotion to a different department.
I miss the cord board and helping people with their calls. Those were the good ol’ days for sure! ❤️
Even back in 1969, technology was mind boggling!
Absolutely amazing the sheer patience and skill set these folks had to do such a great job!
My sister-in-law was an operator in Hollywood, Florida, during this time frame. She was on duty the night an airliner went down in the Everglades. She said the lines went crazy as she and the other operators helped loved ones connect for information about the tragedy. Operators had (actually, still have) very interesting stories to tell.
I was born in 1969 -- my mother was an 18-year-old switchboard operator at Southern Bell in Greensboro NC. It was her first and only job. In 1983 she did a 911 presentation to the Greensboro City Council and it worked. They loved the idea and couldn't stop talking about how beautiful she was. I was there and remember it so well. It was AT&T by the time she retired.
Sally, please tell all of your former operator friends about this video. We'd love to have their insights here or on the Tech Channel site!
My mom was a 1960’s operator in Spokane WA when she was a single lady. They paid well for those days she said.
@M Redmond San jo for life❤️
I worked in the Far Rockaway office, of AT&T as an operator, during the late 1960's.One of the more pleasant although, a bit strange experiences were, that every so often, when you plugged into a certain trunk, Donovan's Atlantis would play. I would always listen for as long as I could, and hope that I wouldn't get caught, (because the supervisors were always listening in).
I saw a pay phone on a wall in a corner behind a large floor plant at my Hospital. I couldn't believe it. It was so hidden, I almost missed it. I wanted to sneak behind the plant,..pick up the receiver and see if it had a dial tone.
I would have 🤪
@@rnupnorthbrrrsm6123 And put some money to call myself to get the number.
is that so strange?
My favorite operator is 3:30, but wow, they were ALL so patient and professional, be nice to have this level of service again ❤️
my mother worked for southwestern bell telephone in amarillo texas for almost 40 years i loved going to her office and see all the people working there miss that so much
I met a college professor whose last name was Horney who said that in the operator-placed call days it was difficult for anyone to make a person-to-person call to him, because when they'd tell the operator the name of the person they wanted to call, the operator would sometimes hang up.
Hello, I'm horney 💀💀
His first name was Randy.
Hello operator here, how can I help you? I'm Horney and..I.. operator: we don't provide those kind of services here thank you... Hangs up.
I worked as a switchboard operator once. It was great because my calls weren't monitored, and I got to listen to a bunch of crazies that somehow got our number. It was so entertaining that I could write a book about it!
Julie Erin You should make something about it, that sounds interesting.
I seriously should!
Julie Erin I'd get it
I was a phone company employee in the 90's and used to work with women like this. The lady who trained me was an operator then and what shocked me was this. If you were and operator and female, if you got married, it was grounds for you to get fired. The reason why is that the company didn't want to pay for maternity leave and to insure children under the company health plan. A lot has changed since then. I don't know about you but I found it harder to understand the older technology versus today. I have seen the old chordboards up close and was shown by an older operator how to run one. It looks as hard as it is to operate
Julie Erin, was it in those days (late '60s 1970s) just as in the video?
My mom and aunt worked for New England Telephone’s repair department. They were dispatchers and worked in the office and filed repair orders and were friends with all the linemen and others in the field. They both have said it was some of the best times in their lives.
...wow! That's amazing! Thanks so much for sharing. On Tuesday, May 16, 1972, Mike Dorsey and I made history with Southwestern Bell in Little Rock, Arkansas when we began our new careers as the first male DA oprs in Arkansas since 1922. I find it interesting that DA is now just a simple Google command. :)
I seen that same comment, by several men on here, about being the first male operators , like tobs of them!
My great-aunt -in-law was one of the original operators and worked until her retirement sometime during the early 1960's. When she died at almost 100 years of age she left behind a portfolio of Bell Telephone stock which made her retirement years very comfortable.
Yeah, you hang onto stock forever, as Buffet says, and you'll be fine.
My first job was a switchboard operator at New York Telephone Company in 1959. This video bring back lots of memory. I saw lots of changes, I was a long distance, route and rate, and directory assistance operator. I was there for the break-up, retired in 1991, then NYNEX took the buy-out.
What is "route and rate"? Not familiar with that term in Aus
Makes me very nostalgic for a time when people were basically decent to one another and took things in stride.
They were when there were cameras pointed at them.
Rick Usifer except some people were racist and sexist -but not everyone was. Aside from that I agree.
Tell me about it ... I stood in a queue for a super market today in London (Corona virus) and listened to a woman behind me on her mobile phone trying to get money back from a cancelled holiday calling them 'mother f ..kers '
@@jfbeam Oh!!!!!! Be Quiet!!!! People Back Then Had Manners And We're Polite & Respectful To Each Other, When Having A Conversation.
@@jeaniechowdhury6739 What A Dumb Comment You Do Realize That This AT&T/Bell Telephone Company Promotional Film Was Made In 1969 Right?? The 1964 Civil Rights Act And The 1965 Voting Rights And Immigration Act We're Both Passed By Congress Segregation Officially Ended In 1964, With The Passing Of The Civil Rights Act In 1964, And It Also Put An End To Harassment & Discrimination Against Minorities & Women In The Workplace, Even Though Segregation Still Existed In Public Schools In The South After These Two Bills We're Passed, The Desegregation Of Public Schools In The South Wouldn't Happen Until Richard Nixon Became President Of The United States In 1969.
So fascinating how far we’ve come with technology. Makes me appreciate what we have today even more.
Side note: you can clearly see that brief moment of anger by the operator at 11:37. Customer is difficult to understand and expects the operator to write down that long name quickly.
You'll notice that when the technology wasn't as good, people were nicer
at 7:43 it sounds like the man making a credit card call Says "Ah f**k its the wrong card or somthin?" I'm surprised they kept that in, if I heard right LOL
That grifter with the card # 4444-4444-4444.
You mean it’s not the right number????
The "aww Fuck..." @7:43 was correctly heard... pretty funny, the operator didn't bat an eye.....
Yeah I heard that too lol
This is so FANTASTIC! I’m going to have to come back & watch it again and again. 😊
love the kind of comments evoked by this video - very cool to hear from people who were actually there.
I was born in 1989. I remember going from a corded to cordless phone, that was cool. Also getting caller ID! :-)
This was my first job after graduating high school. This brought back so many memories. Simpler times!
AT&T wanted to hire me as an operator but I said no, later hired on as a mail clerk and then became a tech. I worked in 7 different dept. was a tester on both 2-wire (dial tone) and 4-wire (digital lines). Also worked outside testing cable pairs & installing phone equuipment at cust prems. helped install the very first fiber optic lines in 1982.
Thanks for that story Bri!
Bri G. that’s the same job I had 👍🏻
I love this video, thanks so much for posting.
☺️
This brings back memories. I get home from work and answer my phone saying " operator " of "directory assistant ". Everything is true on this film.
What a time!
Me too.😂
Brings back memories. I remember those old switching stations, more noisy than that! The girls that worked there really liked the job. It paid well.
10:20 dials phone operator to find out if it's 6AM or PM bwahahahahaha you know it's the 60's haha
Naw...In the 80's, I once phoned a friend to ask if it was AM or PM because I had gone down for a nap and when I woke up, it was dark out. It was the time of the year when it was just as dark at 6PM as it was at 6AM. I felt as though I had slept the whole night away and missed my late night shift at work. Of course, there was confusion and panic, because I was still trying to wake up. My buddy laughed at me over the phone. Thankfully, I had only been asleep for a few hours. There were absolutely no drugs involved...lol.
We used to call time service. I think it was 411
I was an operator in the 1970’s on those plug switchboards while going to high school. This brought back crazy memories
$12 for the first 3 minutes plus $4 for each additional minute
NOW
2020 that is $86.86 for three minutes and $28.95 for each extra minute
1 hour of talk time would = $1,737.00 plus tax
No just use Skype and it’s free.
@@williamconrad1087 🤦🏼♂️
Still amazing.
My mom had twin infants and was raising them with the help of her mother-in-law in L.A after my father left with the 2nd U.S Marine Division for Guadalcanal at the end of July 1942. Mom worked for Pacific Bell Telegraph & Telephone while my dad was gone. There were hundreds of women working there then. Mom was a Lineman until they found out she was pregnant and put her at a switchboard. Last year after my 98-year-old mom passed I spent an entire two days reading the old letters from L.A to the South Pacific and those that pop sent back. In one my mom wrote from her lunch break at the phone company were the lines that finally stopped me and had me pack the letters back up .... "Nearly every day the small group shows, and even though many are in uniform, all the girls know what's happening ... that's because an officer who is also a chaplain is along. I've discovered that if I stop working and shut my eyes that they won't come to me. I know you'll think me silly but I do believe it works. But the other day when my eyes were shut someone laid a hand on my shoulder .... I could have died .... but it was only Kati Oneal to ask about lunch. I had wet myself. I was so humiliated, can you imagine?
I will never forget those lines that my mom wrote from Pacific Bell some 78 years ago. My dad came home full of piss and vinegar. Mom quit the Job in 45 and raised a family from then on.
I went to work as a long distance operator on 3/3/69. This is really a good video. I enjoyed the job for 7 years before I went to work in another department.
My Grandma did that job for a while, she loved doing it. Then my Grandpa insisted it was embarrassing to have a wife that worked so she ended up reluctantly quitting. The family would have been much better off had she kept the job, my Grandpa barely made any money at all doing odd jobs around town.
This is one of my favorite videos of a bygone era.
LOL, back in the day when you had to dial long distance calls and pay by the MINUTE! When I was a teen I used to call my sister in Vermont long distance person to person to get hold of her, and she'd tell the operator that Sandy was not there, and we'd hang up and she'd call me back as it was cheaper that way LOL.
My friend Mario and I used to dial foreign countries' directory assistance operators and ask for the number of some fictitious person we made up, just so we could say we talked to someone in a foreign country and for free, as directory assistance was free in the 70s, so we called France and Sweden, Denmark and all over LOL
That was back when you had to rent your telephone from Bell telephone as the units were not for sale, and actually marked on the bottom "Bell Telephone property, not for sale" as I remember.
@@tieline1333 Do they still have directory assistance and operators?
@@kimberlywentworth9160 Why wouldn't they? yes they do. MCI even still uses American directory assistance operators. Most of everything is consolidated to India though. But not all operators.
@@tieline1333 you and people like you are letting people get a wage, you are a good man.
My first job in the US Air Force back in 1969 was a base switchboard operator. I enjoyed it!
Wonder how many operators seen themselves in this film, that is, if they're still alive.
I wonder. They would be in their 70s now.
i was born 1970 one of these young ladies prolly my moms age ,,,,=^oo^=,,,,
I would bet that all were paid models and zero operators actually looked like that in 1969
They had BUSH good old days
@@624radicalham Not true, they were all normal operators and they looked like normal women of the day.
12:37 - The Mother Of All Karens. Berating the operator and then refusing to take down the number to make her life faster at the end.
Possibly the mother of one our Karens today.
@@edwardvogel9094 I've love this video and have seen it several times. But yeah; you're right. That woman is a complete B...
@@jholttn, yeah. you're right! She IS a bilaness!
hard to beleive that these beautiful ladies. are now in their late 60s early 70s
Yes, we are that old now. Worked for Bell Tell from 1967 to 1969.
Daniel Pettis
My Grandma was a switchboard operator in the 60's until she retired. She just turned 84. It's amazing to see how far technology has come ☎ ➡📱
And sure they are still just as beautiful on the inside and out. Don’t underestimate your elder okay? Lol just a little silly humor. But really, for example Jennifer was in her 20s in the 70s. So she just turned 61 and she looks DAMN GOOD
Daniel Pettis yep, 65 and still have the voice.! 🌼🌼🌼
I’m sure they’re still hotties.
I was a telephone operator in 1981. I still remember some of the very strange requests I received. What they don't show you here is that there were incredibly boring stretches when you'd just have to sit there and receive no calls at all.
"What they don't show you here is that there were incredibly boring stretches when you'd just have to sit there and receive no calls at all."
Why, that sounds great - couldn't you just do something else then, like read a book or something? 🙂
They put a surprisingly large amount of effort in that film.
I started working for AT&T in January, 1976 and stayed there for 21 years then retired. Genuinely enjoyed the experience and opportunities. It was a very good company to work for then.
"You hang up and have your mother help you" APPLY BURN CREAM... savage
I bet that little boy wasn’t even supposed to be on the phone.
Back when it was okay to reference motherhood
In 1974 I had to make a similar polite but firm comment to a boy who asked to speak with Joe Namath. I think I was able to get the number of the NY Jets publicity office for him, but I couldn't let him make the call without approval from a parent. Although nothing like overseas satellite rates, a person to person long distance call from Nebraska to New York would have been expensive.
In 1975 my job was eliminated because of technological advances, or disco music, I forget which. Ah, ah, ah, ah, standing in line...
" i wanna talk to my grandma"
" im sorry shes dead " ,,,,=^>
😂😂😂😂😂
telephones come a long way since then its so awesome that i can sit and watch this video from my phone why im in the bathroom and have my tv and phone together on one device! Cell phones are so awesome!
I was making those old fashioned operator desks in early 70’s when I was in the Finnish Telecommunication Government. Those were still used in some remote rural areas.
Wow
great that this clip existed, its important especially for this generation to know and see how hard it was before with calls, and how much evolved its been 1969 to 1978, 9 long years of this struggle to be born and living in those years must been so difficult when need to call some
Amazing engineering to build that system!
Indeed. I visited a Telephone-museum in Denmark in 1998 or so if I remember it right, I was 10 back then. Instead of the usual 'just look and read' museums you'll usually find, this museum had all kinds of telephones in working condition, allowed to be operated by the visitors, connected to REAL systems they used back then. You started with the very basic hand-crank telephone that would flip a label at the operator, and made your way through history. The 'rotation-pickers' (sorry, don't know the real name for them in English) were just stunning to watch. Even better was that using those phones meant that somewhere else in the museum a phone would start ringing for you, a family member or whatever to pick up.
And when I saw a motor turning a disk with notches to open and close contacts at set intervals for the dial tone, 'not available' tone (sorry, again don't know the English name for that) or information tone, I just thought like 'Why the hell didn't I think of that?' . It just showed how much I'm used to transistors and circuitry to handle the stuff they do today.
I stumbled across this video from the Netherlands couple of years ago, showing a mechanical telephone exchange from the Dutch town of Wormerveer, back in 1975. Skip to 2:30 for a nice sequence of shots set to Vangelis' 'Himalaya'.a
EDIT: I see I forgot to put the link in my comment: th-cam.com/video/KlaWNLXJwIQ/w-d-xo.html
Look at videos of the technology used in telephone central offices. Panel, Step by Step, Crossbar. In many big cities 1920’s technology hobbled along into the 70s before replacement with Electronic Switching.
@@calbob750 It took a bit shorter in the Netherlands ;) 1962 already marked the end of human operated telephone exhanges.
Crazy how we forget how things were......I’m 53 and this video reminded me about calling the operator for long distance or calling and asking for “information”, they could give you names, numbers, addresses and they were always so sweet !!!
This video also reminds me of when people were kind, patient, respectful and knew how to communicate !!!
Who would have thought that I would get this lovely reminder sitting here watching something called TH-cam on my CELL PHONE !!!
I miss those days 😏
This is brilliant. I guess I’m already that old, to enjoy this type of content a lot more than a guy playing Minecraft for 2 hours.
Operators were so helpful and patient whenever I spoke with one back in the 70s.
This was back when The Bell System was the envy of the world.
They really did have unmatched technology, professionalism, and
top notch customer service...EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE STRICTLY REGULATED BY THE FTC and FCC. You paid quite a bit for the service but you actually received first class service. That is NOT the case today!
Which we could have the telcos heavily regulated again.
*****
Thanks for the support, now if we could only get the deed done.
+Rich
Were there 350 million people in the Unites States in 1969?
No 100 200 million
@@mikemoos the US crossed 200 million people following the 1970 census.
My Mom was an operator with Southwestern Bell (aka SBC), located in Dallas (White Rock location). 1974. She left the company in 1989 to become a nurse.
I started as a CSR with SBC Wireless in 1999, later transferring to landline as service representative in 2001! As soon as the merge to AT&T came about around 2006, I was forced to become a treasury clerk. I miss those old SBC days! ♥️♥️😭
this was me in Australia in 1969. Thanks for the memories.
redher was who in 1969? someone in the video?
I meant this was my job in Australia in 1969.
redher ahhhh I see thanx for your reply:)
fbw71u well I worked a switchboard just like some of those girls. It was my first job in 1969
Thank you for the walk down memory lane.
I don't want to come back to reality now.
10:57 Wish everyone has the same outlook today as this operator had back then
this will be my new mindset when I have to deal with difficult people :)
well it was the company they work for filming the video. So its not like they could say the job sucked.
I was a long distance operator in 1970 at the Southern Bell Phone Company for one year. They paid for a semester of my college. It was a very interesting yet monotonous job.
Human connection we’re missing today.
Yes but the few screw it up for alot
I was a directory assistance operator beginning in 1979 and people thought we were the Google of that time. They would ask what time it was, what day it was, what temperature to roast a turkey, whether indoor Christmas lights could be used outside, whether indoor paint could be used outside, driving directions, what the temperature was, how to reach the doctor (but didn’t know the doctor’s name) and on and on. Some people were very mean and sometimes the men would be very flirty. It wasn’t a fun job but it got me through college.
This is a real time capsule glimpse into our world back in the day; though I wish they would have included 60's Rock and role in the background!
In Miami, Florida 1968 I was an "intercept operator"
sitting on a long line of the same within small carols...we worked for 8 hours with a 30 minute lunch break and 10 minute break every 2 hours; if you had a split shift, you worked say from 8am to noon, then your were off 4 hours and came back from 4 to 8 pm ; or a worse scenario was split from 8-noon: 6-10pm. In downtown Miami we parked in a public lot several long city block away from Mother Bell so we were on our own going to and from the parking areas...pretty safe in those times. I met several other gals of course - some who worked at a department store called Jordan Marsh who were models for the teen section: hot pants, short skirts, go-go boots ...danced in the hot plate glass windows in the noon hour to bring in customers with maybe a small floor fan! Really, just happy for a job!
Things were safe back then? What happened exactly?
I was a long-distance operator for NJ Bell in 1970. I was 18 years old; it was my first full-time job after high school.
Wish I could go back to 1969 as an adult, America was a much nicer place back then.
maybe for some people
I'm 22 and I just learned what telephone operators used to do. I'd heard of operators, but knew almost nothing about how any of that worked. Very interesting! I couldn't imagine going to call a friend and having to have a middle man connect me.
"Hello, operator. Could you trace this call and tell me where I'm calling from?" :)
I'd say I remember days like that, but actually they're just a blur.
Back in the 70s and earlier it would take at least twenty minutes to trace a call through the average central office. Now it’s instantaneous.
Wow, gives you a real appreciation for their positions and the kind of personal service we had at one time. It's pretty much do it yourself now most of the time. I guess we do still have operators when you push 0......I'll have to try it! :-)
I LOVE THIS :D I want it back
Now we’ve got big brother listening to everyone, all the time, all at once and storing all of it.
I had operators call me in the morning to wake me up for work, my alarm clocks. If I said, ''can you snooze me back in ten minutes?'', they said!, ''NO''. lol.
These ladies has been replaced by transistors today. How amazing.
My Mom was an operator with Southern Bell in Charlotte, NC from 1967-1972, & a tech dispatcher in '73. She went on maternity leave & never returned, becoming a school teacher for a few years once my twin & I began Kindergarten, then again teaching once we reached college age & after she & Dad divorced. She loved the work & still speaks fondly of it at age 75 although teaching was her first love.
Incidentally, she said the New York operators she interacted with when placing calls were quite rude. By Southern standards of the time, they probably were. Today, everyone is rude & she'd likely not know the difference.🤭.
Mom always emphasized phone courtesy to us kids: "Who's Calling Please?" & "I'm Sorry You Have the Wrong Number."
I'm sure this was a carry-over from her days as an operator.
👍🏽💯😊📞☎️
They all seem so sweet and innocent. I love people.
This guy must be the only person on earth who would spend his time at a switchboard if sent back to 1969.
You kidding me? I would do the same. Look at all of those beautiful women!
I was an operator in the mid 70’s and it wasn’t bad!
It takes a certain type of person to be a telephone historian, I guess.
My mom retired as an operator from New England telephone in 1994. I'll have to show her this. Cool.
Wow, 51 Years ago in 2019. These people are so young and sweet here. Hard to get over that most of them (if still alive) are in their 80's now. Time goes by so fast.
Brent Audi the ladies were in their 20’s or younger. So probably late 60’s or early 70’s.........
At 4:55 there's something majestic about seeing that analog, mechanical equipment in action.
Yes! I've rewatched that part about 20 times. It absolutely blows my mind!