Prompt Response: Remembering Corded Switchboards ☎️
Which outdated technology do you miss the most, and why?
It was the 80s, and I was finally old enough to work. I got a weekly allowance at the girl’s home where I lived, but a job would give me a bit more freedom and money.
I’m not sure why they didn’t have me look for work outside the home, but maybe it was because most nearby jobs would’ve been on Hollywood Blvd, and a small 17-year-old female would not have been safe there. Whatever the reason, I was offered the operator job for the switchboard right there in the home. And I loved it!
I grew up knowing my grandma was a 911 operator (before it was 911), and I always felt she was so special for having that job. I think I mentioned in a previous post that she almost got the job given to Shaaron Claridge to do the voice acting for the Adam 12 TV series. They worked together at the Van Nuys LAPD station, and she was still there at my grandmother’s retirement party based on the signatures on her card.
Anyway, I was so excited to learn those simple plug boards (often called “cordboards,”) and that experience helped me get a job at Thrifty Telephone Answering Service in Van Nuys, California. I tried to search, and they are not likely to still be in business (started in 1948), but if they are, they’ve probably gone totally digital by now. Others I worked with at the time also enjoyed the process when cordboards were the standard, but I doubt you could even find a repair person trained to fix them anymore.
While I was there, I became the night operator and worked all 11 boards by myself. Up to 100 lines per board meant the possibility of 1100 phone calls if all lines were purchased and everyone called at one time. But that never happened—thankfully. The hardest time for me was when the multiple lines for the insurance company that insured people even if they’d had a DWI advertised at 2 in the morning, and they would say, “Call now; operators are standing by.” And I’d be thinking… Operator, no “S” as I tried to answer 6 lines as quickly as I could. That was my nightly workout. Lol 😆
Still, even with those harder times, there was something about that simple technology that made going to work every day more enjoyable than it felt at other jobs. I truly hated leaving there to move to Arizona. But I love my memories of the place and the experiences I had there. And I know that, maybe more than the boards themselves, it may be what the boards brought into my life that makes me nostalgic for them.
On a similar subject but way more current, I found out today about some new type of phone rooms called Warm Call Centers also called warmlines for people to call that don’t need an emergency hotline. They are a growing industry to support people who just need a human ear that isn’t a robot or AI and won’t take away from real crisis calls.
These new warmlines are similar to the former Xerox customer support lines where the operators were trained to offer compassionate advice to callers—even if they weren’t calling about a Xerox problem. There used to be a collection of the funniest or most outrageous calls they’d received, but I can’t seem to find it. I read years ago about someone who called Xerox because she was in labor and didn’t know what to do next.
People really do need real people to be there to listen and respond to them. It’s why I chat with cashiers and don’t like self-checkout. And if I were still out in the workforce, I’d probably apply for one of those jobs at a warm call center. I might even try to break the record they set with a 10-hour phone call. 🗣️📞🗣️📞🗣️📞🗣️😁
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Just An Old Fashioned Love Song
I could blog for days on some of my favorite songs, both in hymns and secular music. It’s probably why I like the band, ApologetiX so much because that gives me hymns with the tunes of my secular faves. But for tonight, I want to talk about gathering with people who love The Lord and singing praises to Him. The greatest love is from God to us, so the greatest love songs should be from us to Him.
Now, when I hear the words “community hymn sing,” I’m pretty certain it’s going to be hymns sung by the whole community. I expect a “turn to page 1234” moment where we all pick up a song book and sing together. Of course, most have replaced the song books with overhead lyrics on beautiful backgrounds, but you get the idea. We all worship The Lord with good old-fashioned songs that tell of our love for Him.
But that’s not what happened when we attended the first one for our community. Instead, there were different groups playing and singing, no lyrics for the congregation, and me wondering whether it was okay to sing along. Did I enjoy it? Yes! It was all my kind of music, and most people wanted folks to sing with them. And despite not having the lyrics available, I was surprised at how many I knew by heart.
So, though both my husband and I would’ve preferred what we expected to find there, it does bring up something important. Why did I know so many of the lyrics even without them in front of my eyes? Because I’ve sung them to The Lord for so many years, they’ve become a part of me. This is what Proverbs is talking about when it says to “Train up a child in the way he should go.” It’s not a promised guarantee that a child raised to love and honor Christ will never depart, but if the practice is modeled before them and instilled in them, there’s an excellent chance that what’s been instilled will never depart. And that means, if the child grows up and grows distant from The Lord, there’s a well of memory within him or her which can be tapped into when they are ready.
I had my time of doing things my own way, but teachings and music from my own childhood were a well in me that I’ve tapped into many times since giving my whole life to Christ as a young woman. If you’ve got children, or grandchildren, or nieces and nephews (as was the case for me and my husband when we raised 4 nephews for 5 years), use every opportunity to put something into that well for them. One day, when they realize they’re running dry, what you’ve placed into them could save their soul. You’ll know it and be filled with joy when you hear them singing their own old fashioned love song to their Creator. I’m still hoping and praying for that day because I want all of us worshiping God together for eternity.
And, now, here’s one of my favorite songs from my time in Missionettes as a little girl. It’s called “Pass It On” and the lyrics can still make me cry.
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