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Posted by on April 5, 2009, 1:39 am
In the 1940s and 1950s, places that had large banks of pay phones,
such as military bases and train stations, often had Bell attendants
working a switchboard on site to assist callers. (Several are
pictured in the Knappen book on payphone history).
One would see the attendant and give her the call request. When the
call was placed, the attendant would direct you to a booth and you'd
have your call.
Would anyone know more details of what the attendants did?
Long distance calls in the 1940s and 1950s required two separate
steps: 1) connection of the call by routing over various toll trunks
indirectly or directly; and 2) calculation of the initial period toll
charge, collection, and monitor of the length of the call and
collection of overtime minutes. (Non pay phone calls involved writing
up a toll ticket with the data; pay phone calls involved asking for
and collecting coins.)
That is, did they collect the toll charges personally, make change, or
did the caller deposit them in the phone in the usual manner?
Did the attendant have direct access to toll trunks to place the call
and time it, or did they act merely as a PBX to regular toll
operators?
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
P.S. I recall a payphone attendant in Pennsylvania Station in the
1970s. By then I think all they did was make change and assist in out
of town directories and dialing instructions. Since they had TSP by
then they didn't really need an attendant, but it was helpful in a
busy place like that.
| ![Historical question--payphone-bank attendants [telecom]](/images/header.jpg)
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