Operator (Switzerland)

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Telephone operators (1955)
Operator for the airline Swissair (1966)

With the job title of telephone operator , employees in telephone traffic were employed in Switzerland from 1880 . Their task was to telephone calls to accept and to invitees convey . The profession hardly exists in the 21st century, as almost all telephone numbers can be dialed by direct dialing.

In Switzerland, almost exclusively women have been employed for this work since the first telephone networks went into operation around 1880. The administration justified this by stating that the female voice on the phone was better understood, and that women, in contrast to male employees, were said to be more patient and sensitive in dealing with customers. There was no public resolution that would have prohibited men from working in the operator service, but the employment of women for telephone service was never much discussed and was taken for granted by the administration.

Area of ​​responsibility

Until the automatic telephone exchange , which began around the 1920s and was introduced gradually over several decades, telephone connections still had to be made manually. The subscribers therefore first dialed the number of the nearest switchboard, where the operators took the calls and established the desired connection at their operator desks. To do this, she put the caller's line, with a plug attached to the end, into the appropriate recess. If the operator had established the connection correctly, the actual phone call could now be made. Sometimes the customer also had to be forwarded via several telephone exchanges until the desired connection was established. The operator saw that the call was ended by means of flashing lights and disconnected the call. The line could then be occupied by a new customer.

With the rapidly increasing number of telephone lines from the beginning of the 20th century, the processes in the central offices were increasingly rationalized. This had an impact on the work of the operator, who was now asked to work as quickly as possible. As a result, the operators at their operator desks usually had several ongoing calls at the same time, especially during peak hours. They always had to appear friendly and courteous.

Social prestige

The telephone operators enjoyed a good reputation, which at the beginning of the 20th century was due in particular to a general fascination with the new medium “ telephone ”. The fact that the operators were in contact with a primarily male audience, but could only be heard by them but not seen, gave the women in the switchboards an aura of mystery. This circumstance even gave rise to lewd fantasies, such as in the German hit song by Robert Stolz and Arthur Rebner from 1919, “Hallo, du süsse Klingelfee”. In addition, working in the switchboards was considered a safe place, which was very important at the time. Due to their in-depth training, the PTT operators were very much in demand in the private sector.

Entrance exam and apprenticeship period

As a rule, the apprentice daughters were recruited through newspaper advertisements. Relatively high demands were made on those interested. Knowledge of a second official language , including some English, was a prerequisite for becoming a telephone operator. In addition, precise knowledge of geography was required, because working in the switchboards required the telephone numbers to be found quickly, which were sorted by region and town. Mathematical knowledge was also required in order to correctly calculate the taxes for the respective telephone calls. In addition, the candidates had to be able to show a high level of resilience in order to be accepted. Some of the telephone exchanges inquired about the applicants from the post office keeper or pastor of the respective home parish. The suitability for work in the switchboards was tested by an entrance examination. This examination comprised an essay in the mother tongue, a dictation in a foreign language, the translation of a text into the mother tongue and general questions about geography and mathematics.

The one-year apprenticeship included a practical part on the one hand, with the apprentice's daughter working in the switchboard for hours under the supervision of an experienced operator, and a theoretical part on the other. This included memorizing numerous service regulations and expanding geographical knowledge. After six months, the apprentice daughter passed an intermediate examination. At the end of her apprenticeship, she had to pass a final exam before she could work as a telephone operator. Even after the end of their apprenticeship, the management advised the employees to learn another language if they had the opportunity. This was promoted in a targeted manner, as workers could take unpaid vacation to do a language study trip to England, France or Italy. The career of telephone operators offered rather few opportunities for advancement. Hard-working women could be promoted to supervision, but the civil servant status was not granted in the telephone switching service.

working conditions

The operator shifts were irregular and included night duty. One or two operators were usually sufficient for this, since the nocturnal telephone traffic was significantly lower than that during the day. The work at night included not only all calls and wake-up calls, but also all emergency calls. Thus, the operators always carried a great deal of responsibility during the night shift. Due to the increase in telephone traffic during the Second World War, the Swiss administration increased working hours from eight to nine hours and later to ten hours without increasing wages . In the Swiss switchboards there were always telephone operators who were unable to meet the high physical and psychological demands in the long run.

The operators were at the bottom of the pay scale for all telephone and telegraph administrators. Since there were no comparisons with male work performance in this occupation, the low wages of women in the placement service hardly met with resistance. In 1940, the salary of Swiss telephone operators was not enough to look after an unmarried woman. For this reason, most of the operators still lived with their parents or relatives. The workers who had to rent a room in the city could therefore only barely support themselves. Nevertheless, working in the switchboard was a rather well-paid female job for the time. Furthermore, the apprentice daughters already received a small wage, which was relatively unusual at the time.

The Swiss telephone operators were mainly young, unmarried women. As a rule, married women workers were no longer employed. This was already established in June 1900 by a Federal Council resolution, but it was only binding for the permanent telephone operators. As reserve telephone operators, provisional assistants or as employees in small, rural telephone exchanges - so-called telephone exchanges III. Class - married operators were still allowed. If the respective permanent operator expressed the wish to continue working and this was approved by the head of department, she could continue to be employed as a temporary assistant. The Federal Council's decision was justified in particular with the additional costs that a possible pregnancy would cause. It was also argued that the spouse's interference in the wife's official affairs must be expected, which would have contradicted official secrecy. The rapid increase in domestic telephone traffic during the Second World War meant that more operators were needed in the switchboards. Because of this, telephone management reinstated many former, married operators. However, according to the legal basis, they were only employed temporarily.

The operators had to adhere to clear service regulations during their working hours. These included guidelines on how to deal and express yourself with customers. The operators used formulas to guarantee that the phone call would go smoothly. Depending on their department, they answered a call with “Schnelldienst!”, “Fernamt!”, Or the name of their headquarters. The use of the word “hello” was prohibited. The operator repeated the number requested by the subscriber, lowering her voice at the end. If anything was unclear, she raised her voice after the number, which should clarify the question. If the connection could not be established, the operator said: “No. Unfortunately, X does not answer. " with, whereby she should show regret. She also had to show regret when there were complaints.

The most important service regulation was the maintenance of official secrecy. The apprenticeship daughters have already been taught this particularly emphatically. It was strictly forbidden for them to disclose information about phone calls to third parties. Eavesdropping on conversations was also prohibited, and the operators undertook to maintain official secrecy even after they had finished their work at the PTT . Violations of the same were punished with dismissal, in severe cases with imprisonment. Nevertheless, the operators occasionally had to join in on the conversations, for example to check the end of the phone call or the spoken language. As a result, the employees inevitably got to hear certain confidential information and were therefore of interest for espionage, for example.

See also

literature

  • Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Women in the Swiss Telegraph and Telephone System, 1870–1914 . Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 1992, ISBN 3-905278-96-0 .
  • Helmut Gold , Annette Koch (ed.): Miss from the office. Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-7913-1270-7 .
  • General Directorate PTT (Ed.): 100 years of electrical communications in Switzerland, 1852-1952 . Volume 1-3. Bern 1962
  • Professions of the PTT . In: Städtische Berufsberatung Zürich (Ed.): On the choice of career. Educational leaflet for students in the 2nd and 3rd secondary grades and the other final grades. No. 29. Zurich 1953.
  • Schweizerische Telegraphen- und Telephonverwaltung (Ed.): The way of speaking of the telephone staff and their influence on the service. Bern 1942.
  • Swiss post, telegraph and telephone administration. (Ed.): Mandatory position of the PTT staff . Bern 1940.
  • Archives: administrative files of the postal, telephone and telegraph companies (today Swiss Post and Swisscom), 1848-1997 . Holdings: Oral History Project Collection We, the PTT: Interviews Dossier: Interview Nelly Iseli-Dällenbach . Köniz, PTT archive . 18th January 2017 . Signature: 012-SAM-OHP-010 . link

Web links

Commons : Operator  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 10 .
  2. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich, 1992, p. 33 .
  3. ↑ Annette Koch, Helmut Gold (ed.): Miss from the office . Munich 1993, p. 48-49 .
  4. ↑ Annette Koch, Helmut Gold: Miss from the office . Munich 1993, p. 40 .
  5. ^ Professions of the PTT . In: Städtische Berufsberatung Zürich (Ed.): On the choice of career. Educational leaflet for students in the 2nd and 3rd secondary grades and the other final grades . No. 29 . Zurich 1953, p. 62 .
  6. ^ Professions of the PTT . In: Städtische Berufsberatung Zürich (Ed.): On the choice of career. Educational leaflet for students in the 2nd and 3rd secondary grades and the other final grades . No. 29 . Zurich 1953, p. 62 .
  7. ↑ General Directorate PTT (Ed.): 100 Years of Electrical Communications in Switzerland, 1852-1952. tape 3 . Bern 1962, p. 739 .
  8. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 252 .
  9. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 90-91 .
  10. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 136 .
  11. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 138 .
  12. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 147 .
  13. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 192 .
  14. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Katrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system 1870-1914. Zurich 1992, p. 90-91 .
  15. ↑ Yvonne Bühlmann, Kathrin Zatti: Gentle as a dove, clever as a snake and as secretive as a grave. Women in the Swiss telegraph and telephone system, 1870–1914 . Zurich 1992, p. 141-143 .
  16. ↑ Swiss Telegraph and Telephone Administration (ed.): The way of speaking of the telephone staff and their influence on the service . Bern 1942.
  17. ↑ Swiss Post, Telegraph and Telephone Administration (Ed.): Mandatory position for PTT staff . Bern 1940, p. 5 .
  18. ↑ General Directorate PTT (Ed.): 100 Years of Electrical Communications in Switzerland, 1852-1952 . tape 3 . Bern 1962, p. 751 .