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The Telephone's Role in
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In 1935, Tofield night operator Patricia Burnett observed a fire
burning in the local pool hall at 2:30 a.m., and rang the alarm for
the fire department. She then got the fire truck out from Edmonton
and telephoned everyone whose property would have been in danger had
the fire spread to nearby buildings.
In 1939, an alert operator in the village of Mannville named Mrs.
A.M. Rutherford noticed that a nurse calling from the local hospital
sounded vague and disoriented. When she heard nothing further,
Rutherford decided something was wrong and called the doctor at the
curling rink. He was reluctant to leave the game, but agreed to
check on the situation at the hospital. He found everyone overcome
by carbon monoxide fumes because the furnace vent had been blocked
by drifting snow. All 19 people in the building would have perished
had the operator not acted to get help.
Rural communities were not always pleased when automatic
switching replaced the local operator. Callers found comfort in the
voice of the operator, and when it was replaced with a recording,
there was a large outcry. Eventually, however, people accepted the
changes.
The operator’s job was hard work. Edmonton operators staged a
strike in 1906 for better working conditions and higher wages. The
strike lasted 20 minutes, but they made their point. Callers were
often short-tempered and in a hurry, but the operator was expected
to be polite at all times. A large exchange could be noisy as the
operators called to each other to make connections. In the summer,
the buildings were very hot. The turnover rate was high, as the city
did not permit a woman to work after she was married. This often
left the system short of operators. For many years, women did not
work after 11:00 p.m. because of concerns about their safety riding
the streetcar home. In these instances, a small group of men
provided operator service through the night.
Edmonton’s first operator was Jenny Lauder. After working
part-time on the switchboard for a year, she quit school at the age
of 14 to become the first full-time operator in 1892. She became the
head operator and stayed in the telephone office until 1907 when she
married William A. Griesbach (A Boer War veteran and historian, and
later mayor, MP, and senator).
By the 1960s, the operator’s job was still as vital as ever.
People often called the operator with their queries, such as to ask
which gas stations were open on Sundays. The operators made sure
they kept the list of stations close at hand. The chief operator
wrote up new numbers and changes by hand and gave copies to all the
operator stations.
It was not uncommon for operators to receive calls from children,
especially during Christmastime. They relied on the operator to
connect them through to Santa Claus, which was made possible through
a special service provided by department stores such as Eaton’s, The
Bay, and Woodward’s. Oftentimes, children’s queries proved to be
amusing, as described by retired Edmonton operator Isobel Peters.
Interview with Isobel Peters: Child’s call about Santa Claus
Listen!
Isobel Peters began working on the information desk in Edmonton
in 1966. She was trained by her supervisor along with five other new
operators. Courtesy was the first priority, no matter what the
situation or how obnoxious a caller might be. Peters worked from
7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and enjoyed her contact with the public. She
had little chance to chat with the other operators because of a
steady stream of calls for information.
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