Do you remember when there was only one telephone company?

My MIL worked as an operator with the phone company in Pontiac, Michigan, and when there was a strike, they had a picket line schedule and it was all very organized.

about the same time I had to make a visit to our local Southern Bell office and I told her later that our picketing consisted off a man sitting in the shade across the street in a lawn chair, with a glass of iced tea and his placard propped next to him.

sometimes the South has the right idea 😉
 

I was 18 when I walked into our local General Telephone office to apply for a job. The receptionist looked at me and said "You're not built to climb telephone poles." So, I looked in the want ads and Pacific Bell Telephone in L.A. was hiring. I took their test and did well and they hired me. The first day they put me in front of a large panel covered with terminals and I spent the day learning to solder their way. I spent a year stringing wires inside the central office before quitting and going to college.

In those days, a change in telephone service meant adding or moving a pair of wires, and that's what I did. There was no air conditioning and the windows were sealed to keep dirt out, so it got a little sweaty in the summer. One requirement for the job was that I had to join the Communication Workers of America union and they took a couple dollars out of my pay each month. It's the only time I was a union member. I was making $1.65 an hour. My supervisor let me keep my wire cutters which I still have. It was good experience.

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