The term “Telephone lady” , characteristic of the French Telephony , goes back to one period or the Phone network commutated was not automated.

While waiting for the installation of the automatic on the whole of the French territory (which is effective only at the end of the years 1970), the telephone centres lodge a large staff and qualified. The most famous figures of this microcosm are the “telephone ladies”, thus called because this category of personnel was recruited exclusively among unmarried young girls, whose education and morals are irreproachable. It generally lost their employment when they married.

Their function is to take the requests for call of the subscribers, then to connect them. Their work station consists of a table with cards jack and cables called dicordes , being used to connect the subscribers between them. The telephones do not have of a dial but only a Manivelle to make come the current. The subscriber is then connected to the exchange of telephone to which it is connected and gives to the operator the number that it wants to call as well as the exchange of which it depends (for example “the 22 in Asnières”). Two cases of figure can then arise:

• is the corresponding one is on the same exchange and the operator connects the line directly;
• is the corresponding one depends on another exchange and the operator then connects the line on another exchange where another “telephone lady” takes over.

These young ladies are also perfect targets for the customers dissatisfied with the service. One reproaches them their bad mood as well as the slowness of establishment of the communications. In the context of the beginning of the century, the subscribers are especially fortunate people who do not support that the “subaltern employees” have as much influence on their business. However, of the contests of effectiveness are organized to improve quality of the service: one puts in competition operators to assure the maximum of connections per hour. The records are about 400 establishments of connection per hour, which corresponds to a communication every ten seconds.

That does not prevent that the access to the service is sometimes random: Fernand Raynaud made a comic Sketch of it, the 22 in Asnières .