e is no part of her equipment upon which they
spend more time and effort than on the voice of the telephone girl. It
is interesting to know that their very excellent motto, "The voice with
the smile wins" did not spring into being without thought. On the early
bulletins this clumsy phrase was printed: "A smiling voice facilitates
service."

The girl at the telephone, even though she receives a thousand calls a
day, must answer each one pleasantly and patiently. Some people call
without a very clear idea of what they want, and the fact that business
houses have so many different names for exactly the same job often makes
it difficult for them to locate the person they are asking for, even
when they are fairly sure who it is they want.

"May I speak to your personnel manager?" comes the query over the wire
to a girl who has never heard of a personnel manager.

"I'm sorry, I did not quite hear you."

The person at the other end repeats the word and the girl is sure she
had it right the first time.

"We have no personnel manager here. Maybe there is some one else who
would do. If you will tell me what you want----"

"I want a job."

"Just a minute, please, I'll connect you with our employment manager."

Advertising engineers, executive secretaries, and many others are old
jobs masquerading under new names.

More business men complain of the girl at the telephone than of any
other person in business. She must, under the handicap of distance,
accomplish exactly what the man at the door does, and must do it as
efficiently and as courteously.

No matter how angry the one who is calling becomes, no matter how
profane he may be, no matter what he says, she must not answer back, and
she must not slam the receiver down while he is talking. Perfect poise,
an even temper, patience, and a pleasant voice under control--if she has
these, and a vast number of the telephone girls have, she need not worry
about the rules of courtesy. They will take care of themselves.

The numbers that a girl in a business office has to call frequently she
should have on a pad or card near the switchboard so that she will not
have to look them up. Many business men ask the girl at the board to
give them Blank and Blank or Smith and Smith instead of giving her the
numbers of the two concerns. She then has to look them up, quite a
difficult task when one has the headpiece on and calls coming in and
going out every minute. To stop to look up one