U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for September 1
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1: FIRST TELEPHONE OPERATOR
Profile America -- Wednesday, September 1st. While comedian Lily Tomlin will probably always come to mind as the stereotype of the telephone operator, the nation's first woman operator actually reported for work on this date in 1878. Her name was Emma Nutt, and she stayed on the job for 33 years. Teenage boys were the first operators, but they proved to be rude to customers. Women replaced them and responded to callers quickly and courteously -- usually after just one "ringy-dingy." Forty years ago, there were 420,000 telephone operators in the U.S. Advancing technology has reduced that number, so that today, less than 30,000 remain. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2010, p. 437
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 141
Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
