Operator is a job title that could mean a lot of things, but when I think of the term I think of a telephone operator. Some of you probably remember the days when you could call "Operator" and get a real person instead of an automated system. They could connect you to numbers you needed to reach or find the numbers for you if you couldn't find them. An operator years ago was an actual human who could answer your questions and hopefully help you do whatever it was you needed to do on the telephone. My maternal grandmother was a telephone operator back in 1919. I never asked her about it because I never heard about this until after she died. Operator sounds potentially interesting in its time, but now it is an anomaly for the most part. Many jobs have become obsolete due to mechanization.
A few times over the years I have been an office worker to a certain extent. I've rarely been confined to a desk all day doing clerical work, but I have worked in an office environment mostly answering phones and filling out paperwork. But that is part of a manager job which was why I was doing office work. And much of that office work entailed being an order taker. Customers would call in to my office to place orders and I would enter those orders into the system to be shipped to the customers. Order taking was one of my favorite office related jobs because I enjoyed interacting with customers.
In my young adult years I fancied myself as a bit of an outdoorsman--to a limited extent at least. I enjoyed hiking and camping, but I would never say I was enough of a pro to be acting in any professional capacity of outdoorsmanship. These days I don't go outside all that much. I'd have to drive a bit of a distance to escape the urban wilderness of Los Angeles and I don't care to be an outdoorsman in the city. I like to watch television shows about it, but that's about as much wilderness that I can stand these days.
What are your favorite outdoor activities? Do you enjoy working in an office environment? When's the last time you called an operator?
Thinking about dialing 0 to reach the operator made me smile. I hadn't thought about that in a long time. I don't even remember when the last time was that I called one. It's been decades easily! Do you remember how you could call the operator to ask the time? lol I like office work. That's what I did before motherhood and if I worked outside the home again, then that's what I do. My favorite outdoor activities is walking, bicycling, and tennis. I loved playing croquet in the summers with DH's dad, DH, the kids, and other family. That was so much fun. I also loved shooting baskets with the family when they were younger. I like doing fun style outside but nothing work related.
ReplyDeleteCathy, I don't think I ever dialed "O" for the time, but there was a certain number you could call and it would give the exact time. We used to play croquet in our parents' house backyard in Maryville. I would have been in high school at the time. My sister and I would often play during summer.
DeleteLee
When we dialed O as kids, we got what sounded like a robot reciting the date, time and temp. My ex-sister in law may have been on one of the last crews of 'live' telephone Operators here in town. She had some wild and some very interesting stories about her job ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess I am an office worker because I sit in an office every day talking with clients via zoom or the phone. My ass hurts too so that makes me annoffice worker but I am all NY myself which I love.
ReplyDeleteI am not an outdoorsman but I do love hiking and camping. I would not go way into the wilderness like Julian Sands did only to be found months later
Favorite outdoor activities is walking and hiking, and I was an office drone/peon/serf/plebe for over 25 years. Happily retired.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite outdoor activities are bushwalking and bodysurfing in the ocean. I work in an office/classroom and I like it. As a professional writer I also spend a lot of time in my home office. All good. I think the last time I spoke to an operator was in 1989 when I was living in Hawaii. She couldn't understand me because of my Australian accent. ha ha
ReplyDeletehttps://dacairns.com.au/blog/f/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-o
I think I'd go nuts without someplace at least semi-wild to go...
ReplyDeleteCW, I'm fine either way. Sometimes I do crave to be on a wooded trail, but then I can go on my back patio and watch the traffic go by and then I'm fine.
DeleteLee
Nearly every company I call these days has replaced their live operators with an IVR system. Of course, we had computer operators everywhere I went...
ReplyDeleteI haven't been out of my house since around this time last year, and it'll be a while before I can get out...
I've been an order taker (waitress) and office worker (most of my career life) but never an outdoors person. I was even a long distance operator in Miami, my first full-time job.
ReplyDeletehttps://dbmcnicol.com/a-afterthought/