Now we are ringing true 

It certainly was however a more personal service. (we learnt more about the ‘personal’ lives of others because of the ‘service’) but seriously, sometimes the caller knew the operator at the exchange and they would conduct a brief chat. A catch up on the family and events, prior to requesting the number they wanted. Or, on over-hearing something very significant, I recall an operator once calling our house and asking my mother to attend a neighbours place, as the neighbour was going to receive some tragic news and the operator knew someone should be there for them. That was when the telephone company cared. It was definitely warmer than the constant repeating of words and requests required today by the automated answering services (How many ways are there to say “Problem with my bill”…. Only to be transferred to your ‘statement balance?’)

The telephone has connected us to each other all over the globe. I remember years ago the thrill of an international call. You rang the operator. They took the details. Then you hung up. After a short, or sometimes longer wait, the phone rang and you would be talking to someone directly in another country! Sometimes you even got connected to the person you wanted to speak to (I guess that hasn’t changed then?) But hearing the distant echoic sounds of an international operator. There was variation in accents and sound, but it was still understandable. You had to possess very particular language skills then, to be on the international desk. Unlike, today. Perhaps that is the current problem when we get diverted to a call centre, which I know (for us) is seldom in Australia, and if it is, it is usually operated by people with English as a third language. I can’t complain, I speak English and mess around with a few others, but could not hold a conversation in any but English. (Sounds like I could work at a call centre answering calls for anyone then?)

It was considered essential to be understood back then. The telephone company was highly regarded by its users. The employees were appreciated and respected in the community. Today, it is the telephone companies that receive more formal complaints and reports on customer dissatisfaction that any other business enterprise. Even more than local government and the tax department, and that is saying something. In a world where people all too readily complain about issues, I constantly here the words, ‘My telephone company”… before a short, or lengthy diatribe on its, costs, faults, service and people. There is massive dissatisfaction out there for what is now one of the worlds biggest businesses. Yet, I know most technicians who work for them, go out of their way to do their best for you. So why are we so let down after that? Why have they lost that real personal caring business ethic? Oh, yes. Profit margins. When it is necessary to forsake the respect, for the dollar. And of course, blame it on the shareholders, not the management. Now it sounds like they are ‘ringing’ (the cash register) true, rather than us phoning home.

(Continued tomorrow)