David, that was my first job, I was a telephone operator for Pacific telephone! It was my dream job at the time! I sat next to ladies who had done that job since the 1930s. I worked at the old corded boards just like the ones in this film. They were just bringing in automated systems, but I loved working on those old boards. When you got rude little kids you could hold their line up and tell them to put their mother on the phone - and they would! I once got a kid to apologize to me for calling and saying dirty words, lol!
I remember calling the operator back in the late 80s when I was a kid and just asking them if they enjoyed being an operator because I wanted to be one when I grew up….. if I only would have known! 😂
My great aunt mary McIntyre worked for Ohio bell for 40 years. Never married, never wore pants. Kept house for her two brothers who were priests as it was her duty till she died 😬. Played piano and fed me pretzels and Shasta and I adored her! Can’t wait to see this!
My friend's grandmother never was married and managed to have a decent life raising her son, having a house and eventually a pension, initially starting out as a switchboard operator. Not sure how her initial employment company continued considering buyouts/merges, etc, but I believe she retired under RCA.
I tried to get a clerical job at Ohio Bell in Cleveland for years in the mid to late 1970s. I couldn't pass their convoluted typing test. Eventually, after I'd been working for a while as a typist, I took the test again and passed, but of course, they had no openings at that time. (Frankly, I needed more on-the-job experience.) Said they would keep me on some list and call if something came up. Well, they actually called me after I'd started another job as a secretary. I didn't feel I'd been at the latter job long enough to change (and I wasn't miserable yet) so I turned down the opportunity. I'd forgotten this until watching this video. My first office job had one of those corded switchboards although I didn't run it. Later, I saw one just like it in a movie made in the 1930s! I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, however. Downside: In 1958 I don't think there were many (if any) African American operators although we did work for the phone company, at least in NE Ohio. Upside: When I started working office jobs in the late 1970s, you could get a job like that, save for a year or two, move to your own apartment and buy a car. I did, but not all at once. I did not have a college degree (never got one) and I did not need roommates. Downside: This type of work was mind-numbingly dreary and boring as hell, even when there was enough work to do. I did "administrative support" or just plain, old, "administration" for almost 43 years. Did I mention that it was frequently underpaid? It took a decade not to be treated in the child-like manner David Hoffman describes. Then you go through the long "tolerated" period. This time was affected mightily by word processing and automation in everything. Eventually, I made it to "old lady privilege." BTW, I kept up and even thrived. It didn't make it any more interesting. Upside: I am retired and I don't have to eat cat food. I'm enjoying reading the comments and I enjoy this channel.
I started as a phone operator on the old cord board.Ended up working for the phone company for fourty years.Did many different jobs there,transferred all over the country,it was a great company when it was the bell system.
Films like this one should be shown at elementary schools onwards in order to instil into our youngsters the appreciation for the hard work and ingenuity many people had to put in in order for them to be able to have their smart phones and laptops today
steven mcdermott, much of this, and even more, is already present in many text books. However, students are not interested in reading about them, and when they do, they quickly forget what they read. Therefore, a few, not too many, short videos would be great for imparting such information to students. Skills need contextual purpose
Depending on the level, you could insert a few funny clips of your own into this video, maybe including some students in the clip as well, and/ or you could also insert a couple of challenges, say something for them to notice and report on, it could be from the film or of your own making
I worked at Pacific Bell in CA as a 411 operator. It was probably the best job I ever had- good pay and benefits. I joined in 1978 on paper directories much like the ones in everyone's home, but around 1981 we switched to computer database directories. By the early 80s the "O" operators, who were in different offices than us- began to be shuttled to our office and became 411 operators because calls had gotten so automated that the job of the "O" operator was winding down. The ones who had been there for a long time grew unsatisfied with their jobs. The job of being an operator was well on its way to being obsolete. They hated the increasing "help the customer- but don't help the customer if it takes toop long" attitude the company was taking. (411 operators had to be able to greet the customer, look up and get the number to them within 30 seconds- we were timed.) They also missed using the old "cord boards". In the early days we had more liberty-- I remember working late at night and a drunk guy would call in, and we would switch him to the supervisor who took the time to talk to him. There was a man in an iron lung who needed help placing calls- his calls went to a department called "Special Services". I don't know what happened to Special Services. Now when I call 411 myself, I have no idea where my call goes to or who answers it. Maybe each company has their own- (Verizon, Spectrum, etc.) Apparently, there are no "O" operators anymore. By the way- "Information" was changed to "Directory Assistance" sometime in the 60s because people took it to mean any kind of information. Like, "How many teaspoons in a cup?"
I always loved talking to the Operator. My first collect call was from my Dad, who was flying a helicopter at the time. I loved that they patched through calls for military families. I like the human connections.
Nostalgia!! David, you never disappoint. This reminds me of the good ole days via switchboard, switchboard operators, rotary phones ( I still have one) & the party lines w/ different rings/ringtones to distinguish btw one family from another. The phone #s use to be 5 digits. Oh my gracious, & long distance phone calls were so expensive. Also, we had phone booths everywhere. Our young generation have no idea L🤣L.. If we ran out of gas, we were walking until we found a gas pump, rotary phone, pay phone &/or a kind neighbor. There was many times we had to trust strangers whom lived nearby. I am grateful we met good-hearted, altruistic ppl. Ty David
I spent many years working on the now obsolete LSM (letter sorting machine) at the post office. We sat at a console and keyed letters to the appropriate bins on the other side, sorted by zip or by carrier route. I enjoyed it and miss it. I think I would enjoy being a telephone operator as well. It is sad to see so many jobs replaced by automation, though I suppose it is the price of progress.
Oh gosh, that was a prized job in Cleveland in the 80s when the good industrial jobs were just about gone. I took the test a few times and passed, but never high enough to get called. A relative who worked for the post office told me that they had 10K applications for three jobs, last time I tried. I did get called to work one Xmas season, but they wanted me to work from 6:00 pm to 2:30 am. I had an 8:00 am to 5:00 pm job and didn't have a car. My family told me I could do it since I was in my early 20s, but I was worried that I couldn't get home since there was no public transportation overnight in Cleveland, OH at the time (doubt there is any now) so I passed on the opportunity.
I started out as a Directory Assistance Operator back in the early 80's, I did that job for 16yrs before transferring to another department. Looking back through the years I never had thought that it would fade away.
In 1958 they thought if you learn these skills you'll have employment opportunities for life. They didn't imagine how technology would make this so antiquated.
For a 40 year career as an operator (if they can handle the job for that long), that brought them to 1998. There were a few operators left then, and given their seniority, they probably still had jobs if they accepted transfers as offices slowly closed, although I would think they would have applied for other positions by then. That said, many people spent their entire working lives at cord boards/TSPS consoles.
@@davidtaylor9999 I just googled "what happens if you dial zero on a cell phone" and now I still don't know what happens if you dial zero on a cell phone.
@@davidtaylor9999 I tried on my cellphone. I reached nobody. I got an announcement saying to hang up and dial 911, 611, 411 and so on. depending on what I wanted. No operator.
Oh my goodness ... I can remember calling 0 and asking the lady to help me with my homework. They always did until one day her supervisor told me 'why honey, you're going to need to ask your mother' ... I had the first vision of the internet ... I just love questions answered whether by the Operator or the Internet.
Thank you, Mr. Hoffman! I know that the algorithm on youtube is weird, and some videos get hundreds of thousands of views and some get a few thousand, but I really appreciate all of them! I didn't even know I was interested in this subject of the 50s and onward and your documentaries have inspired me to learn more about the time. I knew nothing of these telephone operators. Thank you!!!!
This from the 1950s my dad would see this in highschool, they would try to educate you about learning about telephone operator. Thanks for sharing this video David Hoffman film maker.👍👍🙂📹
After 34 years of life here in the United States I have, not only, seen with my own eyes Society change rapidly, and drastically, I also try and grasp the scope of just how different things are now compared to many many years ago. Try and think of what it was like 1,000 years ago. It blows my mind.
I was born 2002 and am still sorting out the specifics on what the fuck this species did to fuck shit so fast, but it’s looking like it’s just another pattern in human nature. A crash and a war or two could ether bring a second stronger age of prosperity but because of the new internet on top of relatively new industrialization their are way to many variable’s that we don’t know about long turn affect that the internet and future innovations will have, a massive technical crash or a dystopia hell
@@newmankidman5763 Do U really want someone to run with that question? Due to licit drugs (prescription pills), most everyone will be sick (vs survival of the fittest), 99% will be on public assistance (up from 40%), the politicans (& rich & a few scientists) will have escaped in rocketships to the new earth they are looking for now, population rose from dumb people having lots of children, and no one will know how to dial a telephone. Alternatively, in 3022, the earth will be encapsulated from all the plastic bottles melting during WW-III, waiting to recover and start anew in a million years. The politicans will still have flown away, but their skill set remained at "getting elected, not governing wisely."
@@cliffontheroad, my comment was not a question, but rather an addition to the original poster's "Try-and-think" exercise, to which you relevantly replied. Thank you
In the 1940s and 1950s, working for the telephone company was considered to be a very stable job and people who grew up during the great depression really valued stability. People tended to fix up their co-workers with each other, so a lot of telephone company employees tended to marry other telephone company employees. It was quite common for their children to grow up and also work for the telephone company. When the women had their first child, they were summarily fired from their jobs. Those women who managed to hang onto their jobs, were promoted to management jobs in the 1970s, when society started to become more conscious about providing women with the full range of employment opportunities. The telephone companies were the first industry to accept the idea of hiring women in all job functions; other industries lagged and some didn't accept the concept until the year 2000, or so. Over the years, there have been concerns raised that the switchboard equipment, used by operators, tended to expose the women to radiation and, as a result, telephone operators tended to have a higher than average rate of breast cancer in later life. Direct Distance Dialing came out during that time period and was, and still is, considered to be one of the greatest technological advancements in the history of the world. Without DDD, there wouldn't be enough people on the planet to handle all the calls being made. DDD didn't reduce the need for telephone company employees, due to the rapidly expanding number of calls being made. Back in those days, telephone companies were more highly regulated than today and, as a result, the Public Utilities Commissioners placed a higher emphasis on maintaining service quality than they do today. Telcos were highly rate regulated in those days and the regulators made sure to provide ample funding to the telcos to ensure high quality service. This was possible, in those days, given that Telcos were monopoly service providers and didn't face competition. Telcos were considered to be natural monopolies due to the high barriers to entry as a result of the significant expense in establishing and maintaining central office switches and burying cable in every community throughout the country. Back then, before computers became so wide spread as they are today, the telephone industry was considered to be far and away, the most technologically advanced of any industry. The employees were proud of the jobs they did to literally lay the original cable and establish the original switches that created the industry that we have today. When they retired, they became known as PIONEERS, because they literally were Pioneers in creating the telecom industry that we enjoy today. After they retired, they continued to maintain a connection to the telcos they had worked for, because they were provided pension and health benefits for the rest of their lives. Today, the telecommunications industry has been subsumed into the computer industry and it is a part of the computer industry that really isn't very profitable. In case you are wondering, both my parents worked for a telco where they were first introduced to each other. I have now had a long career as a telecom regulator.
Every time I need to call the phone company (I still have a land line and yes, I have a cell phone too) I curse the divestiture. You used to get SERVICE. My land line wasn't working a few years ago and they actually told me to go outside, find the connection to my apartment building and check it myself, reminding me not to do this while standing in a puddle of water. I cursed them to next Saturday on Twitter (which works when you need their attention). I also miss the sturdy old phones. If you knocked them on the floor, they still worked! Before anyone gets on my case, I do understand that we would not have the vast array of telecommunication devices, services., that we do today if the old Bell system had survived. But it wasn't all bad.
I miss the days when you could call O for operator, and get a real human on the other end. Telephone operators had some amazing stories from their work. Thanks for the reminder David.🖤🇨🇦
I remember those days. So thankful for one operator who helped me in June 1962.I was 21 years old and just returned from local emergency room of local hospital.My mom, who was only 39 years old had just died.I was a total mess . I had the task of informing my sister and 2 brothers.One brother,20 had left Ohio with a friend to go to Utah to work on huge construction job-he hadn't had chance to write home with his address yet.The operator was so patient, compassionate and assured me she would find him( only gave his name,description and same of his friend-I had to guess to pronounce name of town in Utah. By some miracle,this wonderful young, operator contacted a US Marshall in Utah and he personally went to constuction area,found my brother and had him call me so I could break the sad news about our mother's sudden death.My brother said friend bought train ticket and he was escorted to station for long trip home in time for the funeral.Sorry for the long story but Mr. Hoffman's video on the importance of telephone operators and the human element of their value so true-I wanted to share my story as hadn't shared it in 60 years .All the help that day started from one caring telephone operator.Thank you,David Hoffman for the video.
@@JWFsMom I’m sorry you had to go through all that at such a young age. Your story really speaks to how it was back then. The Operator was a real person with empathy, who could access the help needed by the caller. Such a thing would not happen today when a computer answers and gives you choices of which button to push for what. Thank you for sharing your story.🖤🇨🇦
My mother was an operator at Michigan Bell in the early 40's. She had a group of women that she worked with that got together regularly. After the war many got married, as did my mom and stayed home raising families. That group of women still continued to get together once a year for 40 years or more.
Nothing better or Genuine than the original Bell system, between operators and 411 Directory Assistance these people were absolute Pros in their job, so sad we don't have this any longer technology is not always the best
Wooow OMG this is excellent vid David. I now firmly believe that u should have ur own museum. the David Multimedia Museum. Really these clips are more than just valuable.
A beautiful idea. A dream for me. I do hope that some wealthy person gives me that opportunity. I would create one hell of an online Museum with financial support and the proper resources to back me up. David Hoffman filmmaker
Many decades later when I started in the cell phone industry, many of those functions were rolled into one position as customer service representative. Many parallels decades apart.
when i was a little girl, i imagined that i would work as a phone operator. lol... i was really amused with the use of the original phone equipment, that no longer existed anymore when i was growing up. i still liked watching the movies that displayed it. i was always the main operator in the movie. i guess it's what encouraged me to make this a job skill, as an adult. it always AMAZES me at how far along we've come in the world.
Fascinating David I worked for AT&T in the early 90s in California back when calling cards and calling plans were a thing my how far we have come as I talk to you on a cell phone or the computer that used to take up a whole room
You can still reach an operator by dialing zero. I used to call them all the time from a pay phone when I was a kid, trying to reach my mom. I didn't have the money and they were always nice and helped me out.
you read Studs Turkel's Working to get the employee's feelings on this job. Turns out they feel a bit differently than the company does. Great video! It goes great with the book too
I'm unsure about the "beautiful life" part. When I was a younger, I did take a job with AT&T/Pacific Telephone as a TSPS Operator in the San Fernando Valley (I'm a male). I'm not going to go into the details here, but things didn't end well and I ended up taking legal action against them (we settled out of court). You basically sit there at your operator's position all day, expected to average 30 seconds a call acting like a robot, while there is usually a supervisor in the corner of the room monitoring you and others. I lasted about 32 months. After that stint I went on to other employment, finished my university degree, and eventually became an application developer for a major organization. The pay, how you're treated, freedom, benefits, etc., I can't even compare how better things are.
I was a male TSPS Operator over six, summer vacations from school in Maine between high school and college. It paid well and was air-conditioned, but you're right: after announcing the 100th collect call of the day, it became monotonous. The calls I looked forward to were the international ones. I studied computer science in college, and it was this work which inspired me to learn more about how computers functioned. Never dreamed that the need for a Dial-0 operator would completely vanish.
Hired with zero experience, zero qualifications, but with an eagerness to learn and a company willing to train her. Now, I have no frame of reference for whether or not this is how things _actually_ happened back then, but that immediately stood out to me as a 20-something who got their teeth cut in the “22-year-old with 19 years of experience” hiring era that we live in now.
I took a break from college in my early 20s and worked as both a Directory Assistance operator (DA) and an "0 operator" (TSPS) for GTE in Huntington Beach and Westminster (California). No glamor with these jobs, in my opinion! Both jobs were fun for about a month each and then became boring as hell. As soon as I could, I quit and when back to school. I've been a tenured math professor for 32 years now and while I would never wish away these early experiences (I met a lot of really nice people), I would never make being an operator a career!
Long-time subscriber of this great channel.. Do you have any Mort Sahl archives? There's a few on the net, but they're charging an arm and a leg, and I know personally that many of the old reels sitting in Universities are going bad, and history is dying forever. But what there is -- great time capsules.
I became a telephone operator right when they were converting from switchboard to TSPS (traffic service position systems). I believe it was around 1979.
Scrolling I haven’t seen anything about party lines. Those were unique. I have often thought back on how confidently I would just dial “0” knowing the operator would patiently & willingly help me find a solution to almost anything from spelling to science. I’m grateful to have the vast internet these days but I’m glad to have experienced those old times. Thanks for continuing to post.
Some of the old sit-coms like The Andy Griffith Show have humorous stories that center around a local telephone operator. I grew up in a tiny town in Tennessee, you had to talk to the operator who could connect you to someone else. So, everyone knew this operator, and could talk to her which my grandmother (born 1894) often did to exchange local gossip. Small towns had this local operator system. Lots of old films feature one. Nowadays with smartphones the major issue is scammers that might be somewhere on the other side of the world, India for example, teams of them preying on the elderly and raking in money. I don't use a phone anymore just communicate by email. Behind all the new technology is an economic fact of life which is globalism, multiculturalism. . . it has a benign and malign form. It would be interesting David if you could do something on the Utopian communities, like Esalen in California or Stephen Gaskin's The Farm, the latter still exists.. there were many others. All were anti technos movements that stemmed from the West coast counter culture of the 1960's.
A good idea Christopher but unfortunately good ideas without funding on in my wheelhouse. But the subject would be fascinating for sure. David Hoffman filmmaker
When I watched this video and heard how important men were to the company, because of the types of positions only they were expected to fulfill (like engineering), it touched me. My mother is a retired Engineer. She was the only female graduate in her class. Other women entered the program, but they dropped out. My mother refused to be one of them. It was very hard and I can only imagine, maybe even intimidating, but she never gave up. Seeing engineering programs for teen girls and even toys popping up for children, to inspire all young people, makes me feel a sense of peace and hopefulness.
After I watched The Changeling, where Angelina Jolie played Christine Collins (who apparently worked as a supervisor in the local Operator's office) I wanted to work there, because she rollerskated up and down the office aisles😆. It's funny to think that even in the noughties, here in the UK, we still had an Operator (the official name was Directory Enquiries) which you could phone to find a number - and they would even connect you. I have no idea if it still exists, I think smartphones might have rendered it obsolete.
My mother worked for Mountain Bell starting in 1960 as a divorced mother of 4. First she was in the White Pages then transferred to the Yellow Pages. She started as a clerk then over time to a unit manager. She was a block manager over the units on a floor before she retired with 30 years. The camaraderie was great between the women in her unit that they supported each other as advice over problems with the kids to finding support for other problems. There were a few office picnics for the building at a park. There was a Yellow Pages salesman who was an NFL player Super Bowl winner that check on the girls in the yellow pages. He would go to the businesses to get them to expand their listings spaces to ads with more information of the sales and services they provided. He let them touch his Super Bowl ring to aid in getting the sales.
David, my grandmother and her siblings were somewhat well known regionally as radio singers and dancers in Cleveland. Any idea how to find archives? Edit: checking on last name . Gerrick!
My mom's sister was a telephone operator for Bell South and she loved her job! That was before I was born but my aunt had quit her job when she got married. She was always dressed to the nines afterwards.
Have you seen Cable Girls? I believe its in another language so the voices are dubbed over but... my gosh. Made me think of that series right away! Great video!
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Yes, you do. There are some of us left. Also, so much is computerized now. Robots are doing so many jobs, many jobs are no more and humans are becoming obsolete. It's sad and quite scary. I don't think humanity has gone forward in most cases, we as a whole, have gone backwards.
It is interesting to note that despite this being about a woman and her work, they have to sneak in that men are what makes her work even possible. Whether true or not is irrelevant - but her thunder being taken away, as a capable working woman, was so cliche and predictable.
People in the comments don't realize that these are fluff films. Not everyone was so happy and thrilled to be working like this but they had no choice, not everything was so simple. Things nowadays are convenient because it was a struggle before.
" I have a little boy on the line! What do I do?!" Well, Carol, first of all, calm the &#@! down. I think Carol believes little boys are both poisonous AND capable of travelling through telephone lines. This may not be the right job for Carol.
It seems to me the producers had a great deal of respect for the complex and often life saving work these women did, essentially they were 911 operators on top of their standard duties. It also seems that the women appreciated the men's work as well, imagine being appreciated by society and the opposite sex and guided to a career that suits you?! I'll take what works over what's woke every time.
@@graceyjewels7148 I can only speak for myself but as a big fan of ASMR I have to say I do prefer to hear a woman's voice especially in times of trouble. 😎😅🇺🇸
I always wondered what it would have been like if this system of picking up the phone and asking the operator who you want to call would have still been a thing in the 90s when people were using the internet and dialup. "Operator, please connect me to AOL!" "Sure right away!" Lol
Talk about jobs that have been taken away by computers. I think in about 50 more years, there will be no need for that “personal touch” only for computers. 💻
Exactly!! These robotic voice operating systems have furthered the lack of clear, good ole fashion communications today. If I can get a human being on the other end, I will do all I can to do so.
As a former telephone operator, I remember we were never allowed to take food or drink to the console. In particular, if you spilled a drink, you could short-circuit the entire console.
David, that was my first job, I was a telephone operator for Pacific telephone! It was my dream job at the time! I sat next to ladies who had done that job since the 1930s. I worked at the old corded boards just like the ones in this film. They were just bringing in automated systems, but I loved working on those old boards. When you got rude little kids you could hold their line up and tell them to put their mother on the phone - and they would! I once got a kid to apologize to me for calling and saying dirty words, lol!
Wonderful story.
Wow that's so cool!
Wow that's awesome!
I remember calling the operator back in the late 80s when I was a kid and just asking them if they enjoyed being an operator because I wanted to be one when I grew up….. if I only would have known! 😂
Illinois Bell Telephone long lines Elgin weighing in 1969-74
My great aunt mary McIntyre worked for Ohio bell for 40 years. Never married, never wore pants. Kept house for her two brothers who were priests as it was her duty till she died 😬. Played piano and fed me pretzels and Shasta and I adored her! Can’t wait to see this!
My friend's grandmother never was married and managed to have a decent life raising her son, having a house and eventually a pension, initially starting out as a switchboard operator. Not sure how her initial employment company continued considering buyouts/merges, etc, but I believe she retired under RCA.
I tried to get a clerical job at Ohio Bell in Cleveland for years in the mid to late 1970s. I couldn't pass their convoluted typing test. Eventually, after I'd been working for a while as a typist, I took the test again and passed, but of course, they had no openings at that time. (Frankly, I needed more on-the-job experience.) Said they would keep me on some list and call if something came up. Well, they actually called me after I'd started another job as a secretary. I didn't feel I'd been at the latter job long enough to change (and I wasn't miserable yet) so I turned down the opportunity. I'd forgotten this until watching this video.
My first office job had one of those corded switchboards although I didn't run it. Later, I saw one just like it in a movie made in the 1930s!
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this, however.
Downside: In 1958 I don't think there were many (if any) African American operators although we did work for the phone company, at least in NE Ohio.
Upside: When I started working office jobs in the late 1970s, you could get a job like that, save for a year or two, move to your own apartment and buy a car. I did, but not all at once. I did not have a college degree (never got one) and I did not need roommates.
Downside: This type of work was mind-numbingly dreary and boring as hell, even when there was enough work to do. I did "administrative support" or just plain, old, "administration" for almost 43 years. Did I mention that it was frequently underpaid? It took a decade not to be treated in the child-like manner David Hoffman describes. Then you go through the long "tolerated" period. This time was affected mightily by word processing and automation in everything. Eventually, I made it to "old lady privilege." BTW, I kept up and even thrived. It didn't make it any more interesting.
Upside: I am retired and I don't have to eat cat food. I'm enjoying reading the comments and I enjoy this channel.
I started as a phone operator on the old cord board.Ended up working for the phone company for fourty years.Did many different jobs there,transferred all over the country,it was a great company when it was the bell system.
i was a tele operator from 1970--1994. i loved it every day.
I love how people talked and looked back in those days. Would have been an amazing time to live! Fascinating video to watch as well.
Films like this one should be shown at elementary schools onwards in order to instil into our youngsters the appreciation for the hard work and ingenuity many people had to put in in order for them to be able to have their smart phones and laptops today
Tbf that would be a waste of time instead of getting tot skills🤷🏼♂️
steven mcdermott, much of this, and even more, is already present in many text books. However, students are not interested in reading about them, and when they do, they quickly forget what they read. Therefore, a few, not too many, short videos would be great for imparting such information to students. Skills need contextual purpose
Depending on the level, you could insert a few funny clips of your own into this video, maybe including some students in the clip as well, and/ or you could also insert a couple of challenges, say something for them to notice and report on, it could be from the film or of your own making
Yes! Sign me up! Only about 5 decades ago, though. I kinda wish I had done that 50years ago.
I worked at Pacific Bell in CA as a 411 operator. It was probably the best job I ever had- good pay and benefits. I joined in 1978 on paper directories much like the ones in everyone's home, but around 1981 we switched to computer database directories. By the early 80s the "O" operators, who were in different offices than us- began to be shuttled to our office and became 411 operators because calls had gotten so automated that the job of the "O" operator was winding down. The ones who had been there for a long time grew unsatisfied with their jobs. The job of being an operator was well on its way to being obsolete. They hated the increasing "help the customer- but don't help the customer if it takes toop long" attitude the company was taking. (411 operators had to be able to greet the customer, look up and get the number to them within 30 seconds- we were timed.) They also missed using the old "cord boards". In the early days we had more liberty-- I remember working late at night and a drunk guy would call in, and we would switch him to the supervisor who took the time to talk to him. There was a man in an iron lung who needed help placing calls- his calls went to a department called "Special Services". I don't know what happened to Special Services. Now when I call 411 myself, I have no idea where my call goes to or who answers it. Maybe each company has their own- (Verizon, Spectrum, etc.) Apparently, there are no "O" operators anymore. By the way- "Information" was changed to "Directory Assistance" sometime in the 60s because people took it to mean any kind of information. Like, "How many teaspoons in a cup?"
I always loved talking to the Operator. My first collect call was from my Dad, who was flying a helicopter at the time. I loved that they patched through calls for military families. I like the human connections.
@@graceyjewels7148 me too.
Nostalgia!! David, you never disappoint. This reminds me of the good ole days via switchboard, switchboard operators, rotary phones ( I still have one) & the party lines w/ different rings/ringtones to distinguish btw one family from another. The phone #s use to be 5 digits. Oh my gracious, & long distance phone calls were so expensive. Also, we had phone booths everywhere. Our young generation have no idea L🤣L.. If we ran out of gas, we were walking until we found a gas pump, rotary phone, pay phone &/or a kind neighbor. There was many times we had to trust strangers whom lived nearby. I am grateful we met good-hearted, altruistic ppl. Ty David
I spent many years working on the now obsolete LSM (letter sorting machine) at the post office. We sat at a console and keyed letters to the appropriate bins on the other side, sorted by zip or by carrier route. I enjoyed it and miss it. I think I would enjoy being a telephone operator as well. It is sad to see so many jobs replaced by automation, though I suppose it is the price of progress.
Still important duties to know. Hope there are records saved in case of power outages.
Oh gosh, that was a prized job in Cleveland in the 80s when the good industrial jobs were just about gone. I took the test a few times and passed, but never high enough to get called. A relative who worked for the post office told me that they had 10K applications for three jobs, last time I tried. I did get called to work one Xmas season, but they wanted me to work from 6:00 pm to 2:30 am. I had an 8:00 am to 5:00 pm job and didn't have a car. My family told me I could do it since I was in my early 20s, but I was worried that I couldn't get home since there was no public transportation overnight in Cleveland, OH at the time (doubt there is any now) so I passed on the opportunity.
Good point. You come from an interesting time.
Fantastic, David. Incredible to see how we got first communication calls with the phone and the jobs involved. Just loved it!!!! Thank you!!!!!👍👍🌹
My mother was an operator when we came back from over seas in the late 60’s.
Very nice. I started out as an information operator in the 1960s.. if I had stayed with the telephone company I could have retired very well..
I started out as a Directory Assistance Operator back in the early 80's, I did that job for 16yrs before transferring to another department. Looking back through the years I never had thought that it would fade away.
In 1958 they thought if you learn these skills you'll have employment opportunities for life. They didn't imagine how technology would make this so antiquated.
For a 40 year career as an operator (if they can handle the job for that long), that brought them to 1998. There were a few operators left then, and given their seniority, they probably still had jobs if they accepted transfers as offices slowly closed, although I would think they would have applied for other positions by then. That said, many people spent their entire working lives at cord boards/TSPS consoles.
What happens if you dial 0 on your phone now? I’ve been too afraid to try it…
@@davidtaylor9999 I just googled "what happens if you dial zero on a cell phone" and now I still don't know what happens if you dial zero on a cell phone.
@@davidtaylor9999 I tried on my cellphone. I reached nobody. I got an announcement saying to hang up and dial 911, 611, 411 and so on. depending on what I wanted. No operator.
Oh my goodness ... I can remember calling 0 and asking the lady to help me with my homework. They always did until one day her supervisor told me 'why honey, you're going to need to ask your mother' ... I had the first vision of the internet ... I just love questions answered whether by the Operator or the Internet.
That's so sweet
Aww. That was a sweet lady you had on the line.
Wow! An old school life hack! 💯
I could watch these for hours David!
Me too
Thank you, Mr. Hoffman! I know that the algorithm on youtube is weird, and some videos get hundreds of thousands of views and some get a few thousand, but I really appreciate all of them! I didn't even know I was interested in this subject of the 50s and onward and your documentaries have inspired me to learn more about the time. I knew nothing of these telephone operators. Thank you!!!!
This from the 1950s my dad would see this in highschool, they would try to educate you about learning about telephone operator. Thanks for sharing this video David Hoffman film maker.👍👍🙂📹
I really enjoyed this one. I love all these black and white windows to the past.
After 34 years of life here in the United States I have, not only, seen with my own eyes Society change rapidly, and drastically, I also try and grasp the scope of just how different things are now compared to many many years ago. Try and think of what it was like 1,000 years ago. It blows my mind.
And what it will be like a 1000 years from now
I was born 2002 and am still sorting out the specifics on what the fuck this species did to fuck shit so fast, but it’s looking like it’s just another pattern in human nature. A crash and a war or two could ether bring a second stronger age of prosperity but because of the new internet on top of relatively new industrialization their are way to many variable’s that we don’t know about long turn affect that the internet and future innovations will have, a massive technical crash or a dystopia hell
@@newmankidman5763 Do U really want someone to run with that question?
Due to licit drugs (prescription pills), most everyone will be sick (vs survival of the fittest), 99% will be on public assistance (up from 40%), the politicans (& rich & a few scientists) will have escaped in rocketships to the new earth they are looking for now, population rose from dumb people having lots of children, and no one will know how to dial a telephone.
Alternatively, in 3022, the earth will be encapsulated from all the plastic bottles melting during WW-III, waiting to recover and start anew in a million years. The politicans will still have flown away, but their skill set remained at "getting elected, not governing wisely."
@@cliffontheroad, my comment was not a question, but rather an addition to the original poster's "Try-and-think" exercise, to which you relevantly replied. Thank you
In the 1940s and 1950s, working for the telephone company was considered to be a very stable job and people who grew up during the great depression really valued stability. People tended to fix up their co-workers with each other, so a lot of telephone company employees tended to marry other telephone company employees. It was quite common for their children to grow up and also work for the telephone company. When the women had their first child, they were summarily fired from their jobs. Those women who managed to hang onto their jobs, were promoted to management jobs in the 1970s, when society started to become more conscious about providing women with the full range of employment opportunities. The telephone companies were the first industry to accept the idea of hiring women in all job functions; other industries lagged and some didn't accept the concept until the year 2000, or so. Over the years, there have been concerns raised that the switchboard equipment, used by operators, tended to expose the women to radiation and, as a result, telephone operators tended to have a higher than average rate of breast cancer in later life. Direct Distance Dialing came out during that time period and was, and still is, considered to be one of the greatest technological advancements in the history of the world. Without DDD, there wouldn't be enough people on the planet to handle all the calls being made. DDD didn't reduce the need for telephone company employees, due to the rapidly expanding number of calls being made. Back in those days, telephone companies were more highly regulated than today and, as a result, the Public Utilities Commissioners placed a higher emphasis on maintaining service quality than they do today. Telcos were highly rate regulated in those days and the regulators made sure to provide ample funding to the telcos to ensure high quality service. This was possible, in those days, given that Telcos were monopoly service providers and didn't face competition. Telcos were considered to be natural monopolies due to the high barriers to entry as a result of the significant expense in establishing and maintaining central office switches and burying cable in every community throughout the country. Back then, before computers became so wide spread as they are today, the telephone industry was considered to be far and away, the most technologically advanced of any industry. The employees were proud of the jobs they did to literally lay the original cable and establish the original switches that created the industry that we have today. When they retired, they became known as PIONEERS, because they literally were Pioneers in creating the telecom industry that we enjoy today. After they retired, they continued to maintain a connection to the telcos they had worked for, because they were provided pension and health benefits for the rest of their lives. Today, the telecommunications industry has been subsumed into the computer industry and it is a part of the computer industry that really isn't very profitable. In case you are wondering, both my parents worked for a telco where they were first introduced to each other. I have now had a long career as a telecom regulator.
Excellent commentary.
Every time I need to call the phone company (I still have a land line and yes, I have a cell phone too) I curse the divestiture. You used to get SERVICE. My land line wasn't working a few years ago and they actually told me to go outside, find the connection to my apartment building and check it myself, reminding me not to do this while standing in a puddle of water. I cursed them to next Saturday on Twitter (which works when you need their attention). I also miss the sturdy old phones. If you knocked them on the floor, they still worked!
Before anyone gets on my case, I do understand that we would not have the vast array of telecommunication devices, services., that we do today if the old Bell system had survived. But it wasn't all bad.
This is such a beautifully made video.
I miss the days when you could call O for operator, and get a real human on the other end. Telephone operators had some amazing stories from their work. Thanks for the reminder David.🖤🇨🇦
I remember those days. So thankful for one operator who helped me in June 1962.I was 21 years old and just returned from local emergency room of local hospital.My mom, who was only 39 years old had just died.I was a total mess . I had the task of informing my sister and 2 brothers.One brother,20 had left Ohio with a friend to go to Utah to work on huge construction job-he hadn't had chance to write home with his address yet.The operator was so patient, compassionate and assured me she would find him( only gave his name,description and same of his friend-I had to guess to pronounce name of town in Utah. By some miracle,this wonderful young, operator contacted a US Marshall in Utah and he personally went to constuction area,found my brother and had him call me so I could break the sad news about our mother's sudden death.My brother said friend bought train ticket and he was escorted to station for long trip home in time for the funeral.Sorry for the long story but Mr. Hoffman's video on the importance of telephone operators and the human element of their value so true-I wanted to share my story as hadn't shared it in 60 years .All the help that day started from one caring telephone operator.Thank you,David Hoffman for the video.
@@JWFsMom I’m sorry you had to go through all that at such a young age. Your story really speaks to how it was back then. The Operator was a real person with empathy, who could access the help needed by the caller. Such a thing would not happen today when a computer answers and gives you choices of which button to push for what. Thank you for sharing your story.🖤🇨🇦
It's way more convenient nowadays
Hello David here from Sebring Florida USA 🇺🇸 I been a fan of nostalgia for over fifty years and this was a fantastic film, Thanks for posting it 😎
My mother was an operator at Michigan Bell in the early 40's. She had a group of women that she worked with that got together regularly. After the war many got married, as did my mom and stayed home raising families. That group of women still continued to get together once a year for 40 years or more.
These videos are crucially important!
I love videos like this because I write stories and always want to figure out how things worked in a given era. Fascinating.
Nothing better or Genuine than the original Bell system, between operators and 411 Directory Assistance these people were absolute Pros in their job, so sad we don't have this any longer technology is not always the best
Wooow OMG this is excellent vid David.
I now firmly believe that u should have ur own museum. the David Multimedia Museum. Really these clips are more than just valuable.
A beautiful idea. A dream for me. I do hope that some wealthy person gives me that opportunity. I would create one hell of an online Museum with financial support and the proper resources to back me up.
David Hoffman filmmaker
I am so happy! Being an employee is just wonderful!
Loved this…. Life was much more innocent that today!!!!
They wouldn’t be able to handle the calls they get now people were so innocent and pure then
Remember, this is basically an advert. They were definitely not pure back then.
Many decades later when I started in the cell phone industry, many of those functions were rolled into one position as customer service representative. Many parallels decades apart.
when i was a little girl, i imagined that i would work as a phone operator. lol... i was really amused with the use of the original phone equipment, that no longer existed anymore when i was growing up. i still liked watching the movies that displayed it. i was always the main operator in the movie. i guess it's what encouraged me to make this a job skill, as an adult. it always AMAZES me at how far along we've come in the world.
Thanks for this video!
Stands in burning kitchen
"Hello, operator? Can you get me the fire department, please?"
It was like that in WV until only a decade ago when they got 911 service. The 911 tax was included on the phone bill from the late 1990’s.
I know 😳 I thought the same. I was thking hurry up & get out .. biting nails
1950s Sims
Fascinating David I worked for AT&T in the early 90s in California back when calling cards and calling plans were a thing my how far we have come as I talk to you on a cell phone or the computer that used to take up a whole room
I completely had forgotten about calling cards. Thanks for the memory!
You can still reach an operator by dialing zero. I used to call them all the time from a pay phone when I was a kid, trying to reach my mom. I didn't have the money and they were always nice and helped me out.
you read Studs Turkel's Working to get the employee's feelings on this job. Turns out they feel a bit differently than the company does. Great video! It goes great with the book too
I'm unsure about the "beautiful life" part. When I was a younger, I did take a job with AT&T/Pacific Telephone as a TSPS Operator in the San Fernando Valley (I'm a male). I'm not going to go into the details here, but things didn't end well and I ended up taking legal action against them (we settled out of court). You basically sit there at your operator's position all day, expected to average 30 seconds a call acting like a robot, while there is usually a supervisor in the corner of the room monitoring you and others. I lasted about 32 months. After that stint I went on to other employment, finished my university degree, and eventually became an application developer for a major organization. The pay, how you're treated, freedom, benefits, etc., I can't even compare how better things are.
I was a male TSPS Operator over six, summer vacations from school in Maine between high school and college. It paid well and was air-conditioned, but you're right: after announcing the 100th collect call of the day, it became monotonous. The calls I looked forward to were the international ones.
I studied computer science in college, and it was this work which inspired me to learn more about how computers functioned.
Never dreamed that the need for a Dial-0 operator would completely vanish.
Hired with zero experience, zero qualifications, but with an eagerness to learn and a company willing to train her.
Now, I have no frame of reference for whether or not this is how things _actually_ happened back then, but that immediately stood out to me as a 20-something who got their teeth cut in the “22-year-old with 19 years of experience” hiring era that we live in now.
I took a break from college in my early 20s and worked as both a Directory Assistance operator (DA) and an "0 operator" (TSPS) for GTE in Huntington Beach and Westminster (California). No glamor with these jobs, in my opinion! Both jobs were fun for about a month each and then became boring as hell. As soon as I could, I quit and when back to school. I've been a tenured math professor for 32 years now and while I would never wish away these early experiences (I met a lot of really nice people), I would never make being an operator a career!
Long-time subscriber of this great channel.. Do you have any Mort Sahl archives? There's a few on the net, but they're charging an arm and a leg, and I know personally that many of the old reels sitting in Universities are going bad, and history is dying forever. But what there is -- great time capsules.
Sadly I do not. My parents were fans of his and had a long playing record of his life performances.
I became a telephone operator right when they were converting from switchboard to TSPS (traffic service position systems). I believe it was around 1979.
@David you might enjoy the book "The Victorian Internet" it has a whole chapter on the social lives of telegraph operators 'on the line'. Great book!
My grandmother did that job in the 30s-40s 😍
Scrolling I haven’t seen anything about party lines. Those were unique.
I have often thought back on how confidently I would just dial “0” knowing the operator would patiently & willingly help me find a solution to almost anything from spelling to science.
I’m grateful to have the vast internet these days but I’m glad to have experienced those old times.
Thanks for continuing to post.
How things have changed. And not always for the best.
Some of the old sit-coms like The Andy Griffith Show have humorous stories that center around a local telephone operator. I grew up in a tiny town in Tennessee, you had to talk to the operator who could connect you to someone else. So, everyone knew this operator, and could talk to her which my grandmother (born 1894) often did to exchange local gossip. Small towns had this local operator system. Lots of old films feature one. Nowadays with smartphones the major issue is scammers that might be somewhere on the other side of the world, India for example, teams of them preying on the elderly and raking in money. I don't use a phone anymore just communicate by email. Behind all the new technology is an economic fact of life which is globalism, multiculturalism. . . it has a benign and malign form. It would be interesting David if you could do something on the Utopian communities, like Esalen in California or Stephen Gaskin's The Farm, the latter still exists.. there were many others. All were anti technos movements that stemmed from the West coast counter culture of the 1960's.
A good idea Christopher but unfortunately good ideas without funding on in my wheelhouse. But the subject would be fascinating for sure.
David Hoffman filmmaker
I love these videos.
Man.. I could sure use that cool mail thingy ☺️
Very nostalgic, the 1950s were a wonderful time.
This is so neat. Thanks for sharing with us
When I watched this video and heard how important men were to the company, because of the types of positions only they were expected to fulfill (like engineering), it touched me. My mother is a retired Engineer. She was the only female graduate in her class. Other women entered the program, but they dropped out. My mother refused to be one of them. It was very hard and I can only imagine, maybe even intimidating, but she never gave up. Seeing engineering programs for teen girls and even toys popping up for children, to inspire all young people, makes me feel a sense of peace and hopefulness.
Having a phone the size of a deck of cards, that you can Google any number you need is one of the greatest inventions ever.
Good 1958 recruiting film to watch. Interesting seeing how the Western Electric phone company worked.
It's a little different in tone from Lilly "Ernestine" Tomlin's version.
@@brianarbenz7206 There's only one Ernestine but Carol was just starting.
After I watched The Changeling, where Angelina Jolie played Christine Collins (who apparently worked as a supervisor in the local Operator's office) I wanted to work there, because she rollerskated up and down the office aisles😆. It's funny to think that even in the noughties, here in the UK, we still had an Operator (the official name was Directory Enquiries) which you could phone to find a number - and they would even connect you. I have no idea if it still exists, I think smartphones might have rendered it obsolete.
I had a great aunt that was a telephone pioneer. I guess she was an operator for over 20 years.
Sadly, as automation evolves, the general aptitude of the average person diminishes because of a lack of opportunity to interact with people.
My mother worked for Mountain Bell starting in 1960 as a divorced mother of 4. First she was in the White Pages then transferred to the Yellow Pages. She started as a clerk then over time to a unit manager. She was a block manager over the units on a floor before she retired with 30 years. The camaraderie was great between the women in her unit that they supported each other as advice over problems with the kids to finding support for other problems. There were a few office picnics for the building at a park. There was a Yellow Pages salesman who was an NFL player Super Bowl winner that check on the girls in the yellow pages. He would go to the businesses to get them to expand their listings spaces to ads with more information of the sales and services they provided. He let them touch his Super Bowl ring to aid in getting the sales.
Fantastic💯
I’ve worked in call centers - including for Ma Bell. I still get PTSD when the phone rings. 😱
Horrid jobs.
I was an operator in 2000. It was a dark time in my life I've tried to forget.
I've worked call center jobs that were not as good as my current one, which I enjoy. I totally identify. Some were stomach churning with pressure.
This is so fun!
This is brilliant.
David, my grandmother and her siblings were somewhat well known regionally as radio singers and dancers in Cleveland. Any idea how to find archives? Edit: checking on last name . Gerrick!
My mom's sister was a telephone operator for Bell South and she loved her job! That was before I was born but my aunt had quit her job when she got married. She was always dressed to the nines afterwards.
Have you seen Cable Girls? I believe its in another language so the voices are dubbed over but... my gosh. Made me think of that series right away!
Great video!
Is it good? I started watching the first episode but got distracted and never went back to watch.
@@springrain9438 I got so into it. Very well put together from the beginning to the end!
@@sillygooser69 good to know! Thank you for replying. Its hard to find decent shows anymore.
this is really refreshing to watch after seeing the average young woman’s TikTok
A time when people were needed, cherished and put pride and interest in to their jobs. When customer service existed.
I put pride in my job and I feel like I’m making a contribution and there are many many folks like me. Independent contractors that used to call us.
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Yes, you do. There are some of us left. Also, so much is computerized now. Robots are doing so many jobs, many jobs are no more and humans are becoming obsolete. It's sad and quite scary. I don't think humanity has gone forward in most cases, we as a whole, have gone backwards.
It is interesting to note that despite this being about a woman and her work, they have to sneak in that men are what makes her work even possible. Whether true or not is irrelevant - but her thunder being taken away, as a capable working woman, was so cliche and predictable.
Amazing jobs and quality needed in the modern world
4:45 Michael got in trouble. I hope he learned his lesson.
People in the comments don't realize that these are fluff films. Not everyone was so happy and thrilled to be working like this but they had no choice, not everything was so simple. Things nowadays are convenient because it was a struggle before.
*Set for life.* I'm watching on a cellphone 📱.
What is wrong with being pure and innocent? Nothing. Shouldn't we ALL be pure and innocent?
" I have a little boy on the line! What do I do?!"
Well, Carol, first of all, calm the &#@! down.
I think Carol believes little boys are both poisonous AND capable of travelling through telephone lines.
This may not be the right job for Carol.
🤔Thou dos’t “think” too much!
😂
It seems to me the producers had a great deal of respect for the complex and often life saving work these women did, essentially they were 911 operators on top of their standard duties. It also seems that the women appreciated the men's work as well, imagine being appreciated by society and the opposite sex and guided to a career that suits you?! I'll take what works over what's woke every time.
Women are good at multi-tasking and communication. They say it's more calming to hear a female voice, makes sense.
@@graceyjewels7148 I can only speak for myself but as a big fan of ASMR I have to say I do prefer to hear a woman's voice especially in times of trouble. 😎😅🇺🇸
I always wondered what it would have been like if this system of picking up the phone and asking the operator who you want to call would have still been a thing in the 90s when people were using the internet and dialup. "Operator, please connect me to AOL!" "Sure right away!" Lol
Real interesting
Talk about jobs that have been taken away by computers. I think in about 50 more years, there will be no need for that “personal touch” only for computers. 💻
When do I start?!
Women were so beautiful back then compared to today's females
And thanks in part to an invention that very year, all those jobs were made obsolete.
What is the title and date of this film?
Why do you ask?
David Hoffman filmmaker.
@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Because no title or date was shown on the film!
@@larrywillis-tw1yn You should Google it! 🙂
We are enjoying films here.
What the telephone companies do without them now ?
Just wow!😳 and today's equivalent of "operators"???🤔🤓😬
Operator, naaaaw. I will take an automated robotic voice over an operator any day. YEAH RIGHT!
Them were the days.
Exactly!! These robotic voice operating systems have furthered the lack of clear, good ole fashion communications today. If I can get a human being on the other end, I will do all I can to do so.
@@lesliewyatt4188 Sure is hard to navigate those waters, but I totally agree!
Many deep breaths to reach a human!
I hope Michael's okay.
Im curious. Why did they only give coffee to the ladies on their relief period?
As a former telephone operator, I remember we were never allowed to take food or drink to the console. In particular, if you spilled a drink, you could short-circuit the entire console.
Those where the days of old
Hello Operator 😅
Mrs Bridge
Are you related to albert hoffman?
I am not. There are many Hoffmans.
David Hoffman filmmaker
To think theyc were all automated by the mid 1950e
“ oh sure ha ha ha,”. Men, we girls have to admit men have their place, we couldn’t do our jobs if it weren’t for men. LMFGAO🤣😂😅
Carol was a cutie. An American beauty.
I hope after phone companies laid them off they managed to find a different cult
The original Alexa.