WE ARE GETTING A PHONE!!!

Telephone operators at work, are they in uniform?
How would you caption this picture? Are they waiting for someone to call Hotel Ogahmah, phone number 3, or Morgan's Place at phone number 5, or the City Meat Market at phone number 10 or Hicks Furniture and Undertaking at phone number 30?

The long time of waiting for a telephone will soon end for 90 families in Thief River Falls whose order for service were delayed by shortages of equipment growing out of the war.

AJ Rau, manager for the Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, states that telephone factories are now producing sufficient telephone instruments to enable the company to soon provide service for all waiting applicants who can be served by present call handling facilities. In Thief River Falls this will mean that a telephone will be installed for all orders now on the company's waiting list. The installations are now being made and will be completed within the next few weeks.

Telephone lines serving most sections of the city are being used to near capacity and all new residence telephones will be installed on a party line basis. It may be necessary, according to Mr. Rau to temporarily change some of the lines now working on an individual basis to party lines to provide service for waiting applicants. The building of more telephone lines, planned for the near futures, will remove the need for this expedient.

The installation of telephones for these 90 families will add a considerably heavier volume of calling to the already busy local switchboard. The central office is now serving 1,827 two telephone customers and 323 farm telephones an increase of 338 telephones during the war years.

Use of the service grew steadily during the war and in the past six months of peace has increased even more rapidly. Local calls are now averaging 10,300 a day which is 1,300 more than last year a day. Long distance calls also reflect the use--about 380 out-of-town, 250 last year.

With the still further step-up in called expected, Mr. Rau pints out that there may be times, particularly during the busier called hours, when the operators will not be able to answer and handle calls as rapidly as in the past. Rush calling hours are from 9-11 AM and from 3-5 PM. Keeping calls brief will help greatly.

In this day and age, do you know anyone that doesn't have some sort of phone service? Doesn't it seem odd to think of humans making your calls for you?

Her name was Lucy. She was a telephone operator for years. I knew her as a retired lady. She told me that if an operator had a run in her stocking, they would have to change it. She stated they must be well dressed because they performed their duties better.