Bad days at work — we’ve all had them. Most of us have heard tons of advice on how to deal with bad days. I remember hearing somewhere along the way, you can write down your feelings in a letter — and then destroy the letter.
This poor lady should’ve followed that advise.
Let me set the stage. I found the letter on microfilm from a 1960s edition of a community newspaper which means I can’t link to it since it doesn’t currently exist online — and I can’t reproduce it in its entirety since that probably violates some copyright laws — so I’ll just highlight the best parts.
The lady, let’s call her Maggie, is a telephone operator who has had her fill of, among other things, people who ‘cough, sneeze, and clear their throats in our ears,’ jumps right into her formal complaint against consumers at large — saying, in the second paragraph of her letter to the editor,
“Some say we are slow. Unfortunately, they don’t realize the main thing that slows us down is themselves. They seldom know the number they want and in the time it takes us to reach information, we could easily take three more calls, sometimes more. I feel they are just too lazy to write it down — it’s easier for them to let us do it.”
She continues a few paragraphs later by adding,
About half the time we answer a call, we have to painfully extract the needed information from them, for they are carrying on a running conversation with someone else and could care less that we are talking to them.
And don’t even get her started on area codes. Even though area codes were first introduced in 1947 — it apparently took a little longer for them to be integrated in small rural areas like Preble County. Maggie said,
They have no idea what an area code is for and they don’t use it. Without the area code you usually end up with a recording in Dayton.
But, even though Maggie is clearly frustrated with her customer base, she is pragmatic and offers a solution as she closes out her letter.
Those who complain so much should apply for a job here, for I’m sure they’d find it an enlightening experience.
Charlie R. Claywell 