Operators: Community Ears

by Kyle Schaub

February’s water and electrical
crises were treated with a cool
head by campus telephone opera-
tors to calm down excited callers,
“Kids call up and want to know all
sorts of questions," commentedvi-
rginia Blackwell, chief switchboard
operator.

Usually the operator on duty can
report estimates on when services
will be restored, but the times are
not always correctly estimated by
the workmen. “if lam Wrong, stun
dents call me back to let rneknow,”
added Ms. Blackwell.

Candlelight

During the last:A electrical black
out, the telephon s on campus were
still working due to an automatic
hattery systemwhichcanoperatethe
entire system for 48 hours.Thehate
tery does not run the electric li»
ghts, however, and the night opera-
tor had to attend the switchboard
by candlelight.

Campus operators receive their
crisis information from either the
physical plant supervisor or Ralph
Ppmerenk, Director of CollegeSer-
vices. This practice allows the op-
erator to quickly clear a ﬂooded
switchboard by satisfying students
who use the service as a front line
information center.

Fire and police emergencies can
either be handled by the student by
dialing directly downtown or by
dialing the campus operator. Ms.
Blackwell said that the latter mete
hod allows the operator to also
alert campus personal.

Shifts

Located on the second floor of the
heating plant, the switchboard is
manned 24 hours a day by three
operators on three consecutive 5h,
ifts. Ms. Blackwell runs the day
shift from 8 am. to 4 p.m., and
usually handles more calls for face
ulty than tor students.

Ms. Blackwell described the4p.m,
to midnight shut as the busiest,
since most students and parents pl-
ace their calls then The quietest.
shift, from midnight to 8 a.m., is
responsible for switching off the
corridor phones at 12:30 a.m. and
turning them back on at 6:30 am.
from a single lever on the switch-
board.

12:30 Switch Off

The operator on duty during this
last shift will break into phone con-
versations to warn people that the
phones Will be cut off at 12:30,
usually in “five minutes. ”However,
inter campus conversations do not
show up on the campus switchbo-
ard, since the connection is autur
matic and does not require operae
tar assistance. Thus these calls can
be inadvertently cut off if thepeople
are not aware or the switch-oﬂtime
beforehand.

If an emergency does develop, and
there is an urgent call for a slur
dent after 12:30 a.r‘n., the campus
operator will call the house press

iKnown coast to coast,

ident and have them fetch the dee
sired student. Otherwise, late cal-
lers are asked to try again during
scheduled hours.
House Phones

To permit a 24-hour emergency
outlet, house phones have been in-
stalled in every entrance hall in
all oi the campus housing. These
phones, which have no listed ex»
tension number or bell, are only
for making calls and not receiving
them. This system permits telee
phoning after the corridor phones
are switched off, but still protects
the sleeping student.

 

phoneg

 

The campus telephone system,
which is party automatic and
partly operator-assisted, has
some interesting features whr
ich students may use by dialing
either “1" or “0r”

By dialing "0." a student may
recall the campus alter he has
completed his operator origi-
nal call.

Transfer calls can alsobe mar
de automatically by the student,
Suppose Visitor A calls Student
B long distance, but asks for
the wrong extension. Student
c, who answers, can transfer
Visitor A to the correct exten-
sion if her

" tells Visitor A he will tr»

transfer the Call

‘ dials “1,” and listens for

dial tone and then dials new
extension (if the line is not
answered or busy, student
c momentarily depresses
hookswitch and is then au-
tomatically reconnected to
Visitor A)

when student E answers,
Student A informs him he is
transterring a call trcm Vie
sitor A, and tinally hangs
“D

Visitor A is automatically
connected with Student B
when student c hangs up.

The above method is faster
than using the operator to tranr
sfer an incoming call, an ad»
vantage for long distance calla
erst However, the operator-as
sisted transfer is also a valid
method.

Suppose again that Visitor A
calls Student B long distance,
but asks for the wrong extene
sion. Student c, who answers,
then:

* tells Visitor A that he will

transfer the call

* dials “0” and tells operator

to transfer a call to Student
E
. hangs up receiver.

 

 

 

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Pomerenk commented on why or,
mnell does not have a phone in ev-
ery room,~‘flt is a matter of cost,
The dorms were built before it
became common practice to put
phones in every room. There are
not enough (telephone) wires.”

He added that the limit for the
present campus system is 500 wir
res, and to enlarge it would inr
volve expensive alterations. Healso
[elt that the present corridor Sys‘
tem has the advantage or a “meSr
sage service,” since someone has
to answer the phone, even if a stue
dent is not home.

Wiring System

Every telephone on campus is dire
ectly connected by its own wire
directly into the campus telephone
bank in the heating plant. One tel-
ephone workman said that the pre
sent number of wires is over 400,
and that these wires are protected
in a dust- tree room regulated at
a steady 78 degrees

He estimated that 50 ’75 of the
wires were the “dial 9” automa-
tic lines which tie directly into
the General Telephone system do-
wntown. The public pay phones are
also routed in the campus wiring
system,

Pomerenk pointed out that the see
ven campus pay telephones repre—
sent another 24-hour outlet, They
are located in the Main lounge cl-
oak rnom, in the booth on the Ha-
ines loggia, in the Loose entry, in
the Younker entry, on Langan ti-
rst, in the Forum basement and
the P. E. Complex,

Long Distance

Calling long distance presents so-
me complication for those students
used to direct dialing. The college
cannot assume financial responsi—
bility for outgoing direct calls, so
long distance calls must be placed
downtown and either made collect
or with a credit card number.

Incoming long distance calls must
also be routed through the campus
operator. She must first establish
if the call is prepaid, or the re-
ceiving party must give the long
distance operator a credit card
number. The latter system, how-
ever, is time—consuming andexpenr
sive since the caller, the receiver,
the long distance operator and the
campus operator must all remain
on the line until the credit card

number is given.
There are four lines tor on cam-

pus calls to the campus operator
and 17 lines for non-campus calls.
Ms. Blackwell said that the board
is lite constantly during some per-
iods, which means that she handles
up to 600 calls an hour, based
on the six seconds it takes to com-
plete one call.

Commenting on slower. periods,
Ms. Blackwell stated that Tuesday
and Friday nights are the slowest,
but added that the number of calls
varies as to what is happening
around campus.

“You can never tell about this
board, l' stated Ms. Blackwell about
the frequency of calls “Sometimes
i can sit here tor 45 minutes and
not get a single call. Other times,
l can hardly rest a second. You just
can’t predict it,” she concluded.

Monitor Dudes
. Ms. Bla well also described what
' ties she and the four

GlASSES ,
Made and Repaired
in Our Laboratory

Contact lenses

Cases and
Solutions

EYES EXAMINED
Phone 236-7502

EJJoIso , 0.0.

OPTOM ETRIST

Across from Post Office
Closed Thursday p.m.
and Sat». p.m.

THE GRINNELL SCARLET AND BLACK MARCH 22, 1974 PAGE 3

sciriei ind stick photo by non; Halsq'

Chief Telephone Operator Virginia niackwell expertly handles anincoming
call at the campus telephone center on the second {too of the heating plant.
v ihle on her desk are the watchman phone, campus switchboard, watch.
men paging system, and the rotating campus/town telephone directory.

other operators must monitor while
on duty. The most obvious is the
switchboard. Since most of the on-
campus telephoning is automatic,
the operator handles mainly incom-
ing calls and information requests.

“Foolish questions,” which stu-
dents sometimes ask, are annoying
to MS. Blackwell when the answers
can easily be found in directories
or by dialing “lid” for local in
formation.

Ms Blackwell could also use an
Encyclopedia Britanica to answer
some of the questions she recei-
ves. She reported that “How much
oil should i use in place of butter
tor my cookies?” and “How long
does it take to walk to (place X)
and back?” were not uncommon
questions.

Hazard

While these questions are not im-
possible to answer, they can cr-
eats a potential hazard if the hoe
ard is jammed. It would mean that
these calls would be occupying val-
uable lines when open access to
the campus operator might mean
life or death,

in addition to laziness, Ms. Blackv
well described another student ch-
aracteristicveanonymity. Students
should immediately call in their
new extenSions so that the number
of campus manhunts could be cut
downf She said that students do not
realize how annoying it is to others
when a telephone number is not kn-
own. She emphasized that it could
also be critical in case of an emer—
gency.

Broken phones represent another
area where students could improve
service. Missing parts shouldlierer
ported to the campus operator, who
then notifies the telephone company
about the problem.

i Other Duties

There are {our other operations
that the campus operator is rese
ponsible tor while on duty. One inv

volves answering the watchmentel»
ephone which the men use to report
problems. Anotherdeviceisthepag—
ing system which alerts the watch-
men that he should call in on the
special watchmen extensionr
Another phone on the operator’s
desk is a city line that is used as
an emergency outlet when the ba—
ard is hopelessly jammed. '
The tinal responsibility begins
after the heating plant personnel
punch out at 5 pm. The operator
monitors a board which lights up if
something goes wrong in the heat-
ing plant, She then either calls in
a watchman or a city boiler opera-
tor, depending on the seriousness
of the problem.
Vicution Schedule

When the dorms are closed during
vacation, the operators are still on
duty, but on a limited schedule.
The switchboard is attended from
8 am, to noon and 1 pm. to 5 pm,
Monday through Friday

When the board is not attended,
calls cannot come Irom non-carn-
pus phones to a college phone, un-
less an ottice has a direct city
line. Calls can still be made from
a college phone to another college
phone, or to a non-collegelinesincc
both these operations are automa-
tic and do not require operator as—
sistance.

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winter clothes with us
rather than
lugging them
home and
back again next

year.

locked

IIIIV BLEANEIIS
llAUNﬂERElS

 

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THE
UNIVERSITV OF CHICAGO

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Students from other colleges and universities who meet the
admission aequirements of the University’s undergraduate College
and who have the approval of their “home" college may register
as Students- at- Large {or one quarter, two quarters, or an entire

They may enroll in any course for which they are academically
ouauried, undergraduate or graduate

With the approval of the students own college, credits earned
at the University may be transferred and applied to the student’s

Students are elibible to live in the couege Residence l-lalls, enjoy
all the privileges of a University of Chicago degree student, and
at the same time exploretheculturalresourcesof one otAmerica’ s

For complete interruption and appllcition (mm, write to:
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