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Number, Please
Switchboard operators in 1930s or 1940s British-Mandate Palestine, a few years after the other photo (the chairs look a little less like torture devices). Matson Photo Service. View full size.
1974 - PBX Operators
Boy, does that bring back memories. My Dad opened up a doctor's exchange in San Antonio and had some PBX Switchboards very similar to these. They weren't quite as old, but extremely similiar.
One time, when I was working for him, I knew who the caller was calling in and I answered it in my best Lily Tomlin "Hello?" voice. Everyone was laughing, but my Dad wasn't -- at least, on the surface. :)
It most certainly brings back memories though....
Telephone operators
I worked at a telephone switchboard that was exactly like the one shown above. The chairs were the same. The headsets were the same and the switchboard had the cords that you see in the picture. I started my career in 1947. A few years later, the whole operation went dial and the office was closed. Boy, does that bring back memories!!
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