number often delays
several, and it is a duty which should never devolve upon the girl
whose business it is to send the calls through. The man who is calling,
or his secretary, if he has one, or a person near the switchboard
stationed there for the purpose should look up the numbers and give them
to the operator.

An efficient girl at the telephone sends numbers through as quickly as
is humanly possible, but even then she is often scolded by nervous and
harassed men who expect more than can really be done.

Mr. Hunter has called Main 6785. It is busy. He waits. Hours pass. At
least it seems so to him, and he grows impatient.

"What's the matter with that number, Miss Fisher?"

"I'm still trying, Mr. Hunter. I'll call you when they answer."

The line continues busy. Mr. Hunter looks over the papers on his desk.
His nervousness increases. He takes down the receiver again and asks
what the trouble is. He does not get the number any more quickly this
way, but it would be hard to convince him that he does not. The girl
says quietly again that she is still trying. He clings to the receiver
and in a few minutes she answers triumphantly, "Here they are," and the
connection is made.

The telephone girl in a big concern (or a little one) is constantly
annoyed with people who have the wrong number. When it happens ten or
twelve times in the course of a day--fortunately it is not usually so
often--it is hard for her to keep a grip on her temper and answer
pleasantly, "This is not the number you want," but the snappish answer
always makes a bad situation worse, and the loss of temper which causes
it drains the energy of the person who makes it. It is not merely the
voice with the smile that wins; it is the disposition and temperament to
which such a voice is the index.

_The Secretary._ The next in the line of defense is the president's
secretary. To him (and we use the masculine pronoun although this
position, like a good many others, is often held by women even in the
biggest organizations, where the responsibility attached to it is by no
means small)--to him the president turns over the details of his day's
work. He arranges the president's schedule and reminds him of the things
he has forgotten and the things he is likely to forget. He receives all
of his visitors by telephone first and many times disposes of their
wants without having to connect them with the president at all. He
receives many of the callers who are adm