1992 Phone Operators Fight For Their Jobs Against Machine Voices. An Amazing Moment. 

I work in customer service on the phone now and the automated help system was just implemented. Everyone I talk to thanks me for being a real person. It's the best to get thanked just for being human!

Forty years ago there was a woman that was a local celebrity in Rochester NY for an obscure reason. She was the voice that replied in automated directory assistance. You asked for a number and the reply would be automated but with a human voice. This is before pure digital robot voice technology we have today. Her odd notoriety got her on national TV shows a few times. She worked for an advertising agency. I believe her name was Terry Hartman. Just thought I'd add a little story about automation and operators and the partial transition in 1980's.

My mom was a telephone operator from 1955 to 2010. She dedicated her life to “Ma Bell” as she used to say. She was proud member of the Pioneers Of America, through the years she fought for union membership & equal pay for women in the workplace as well. She always said “I’ve been blessed with a job I love & have always loved”. She retired from AT&T in 2010 but it was such a part of her life that she felt retirement was a death sentence & she didn’t like it at all. She became severely depressed after retirement & there was nothing we could do for her because she had loved her job so much she couldn’t bear the thought of not working & unfortunately in 2013 she passed away.

I am the only male operator at an in bound call center in Los Angeles (2021) this video is amazing, thank you for everything you do; I can identify with everything they are saying; to a lot of these callers, they call because our voice is assuring.

I miss the days of speaking to real operators.

I hate the automated system. I think it was designed because they don't give a harry about humans at all.

One of the reasons I love to watch your videos is not only do you want people to be the best versions of themselves but you actually believe them when they're telling you they are. I lost that illusion before I can remember and I to a degree envy it. I've never been afforded out. I'm looking at the body language and the word choiceage of both sides of this. I think the executives knew exactly what was going to happen and are fishing for ways to prevent fall out. I think the workers have an idea but are not sure and are holding out hope. I'm 42 years old. The benefit of generation has that the older generations didn't is that there was still the illusion that the company actually cared about the workers life and will being other than just another resource to use. We do not have that illusion and with it the misplaced loyalty that the older generations had to their perspective companies is also not there and therefore we can minimize damage to ourselves.

An affluent old man with a smile approches to kindly invalidate your skills and take away your livelihood.

These ladies sealed their fates by giving the suits a bunch of ADDITIONAL tech requirements needed to replace them. Examples: emergencies (911) & disabled (TTY.)

I'm impressed with the woman that said it plainly, "There's no way you can replace me."

Now people fight for their job again a robot what a sad thing

I'll never forget the kind, compassionate operator who stayed on the phone with me and calmed me down when I was home alone and having a full blown panic attack - all because it was late and I didn't know where my mother was. This incident happened sometime in the early to mid 80's. One day, my mother was supposed to pick someone up from Newark Airport right after work. I knew she was going to arrive home later than usual that day, I just didn't expect her to be gone for as long as she was. I was maybe 8 years old at the time. I had grown accustomed to being home alone Monday through Friday from about 3:30 to 5:30. I was the only child of a single working mother who earned poverty wages, so paying someone to watch me for two hours after school was a luxury she couldn't afford. I had no choice but to become a "latchkey kid" at an early age. (Latchkey kids were very common in the 80's.) Anyway, on the afternoon my mother was due to go to the airport, she called me right before leaving work to assure me that she wouldn't be gone too long. Unfortunately, she underestimated the time it would take to make an airport run. The hours began ticking away. When 7:00 rolled around, I started getting a little worried. By 8:00, I was a nervous wreck. When my 9:00 bedtime came and went with no trace of my mother, I was in full blown panic mode. I was imagining the worst possible scenarios. I was convinced that my mother had been kidnapped, or that she had died in a car accident. I was crying hysterically and didn't know what to do, so I called the operator. I figured that an operator could help me get in touch with Newark Airport and then maybe someone at the airport could find out if my mother was still there. I will never forget the kindness of the operator who answered my call. She was a true saint. When she got on the line, I was sobbing uncontrollably. I explained to her that I was home alone and scared that something terrible had happened to my mother. I needed someone to help me locate her. While the operator didn't have the power to find my mother, she remained on the phone with me and gently reassured me that everything would be okay. She told me that my mom probably got stuck at the airport because planes run late all the time. She managed to calm me down and convince me that my mother wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere. I don't know exactly how long we talked, but that beautiful soul stayed on the line with me until my mother finally walked through the door sometime after 9:30 PM. This incident happened about 40 years ago, but I will never forget the kindness, concern, and compassion that telephone operator had for some random kid who was crying on the phone. And it turns out the operator was right: the flight my mother had been waiting on had arrived several hours late, and that's why she was gone so long. I was relieved that my mother was alive and unhurt, but I was pretty pissed that she didn't call me from the airport to tell me about the delay. All she had to do was put some change in a damn payphone. Putting me through that terror was not okay. Thank goodness for that operator. I don't know what I would have done without her.

Automated systems always need a clean start question that never lets you ask split second random extra questions without having to restart the complete endless loop over and over again for each question. Someday I hope they realize that there is money to be made in full service human interaction especially with banking.

Warch the faces of the operators; they knew something was up, more so the silent ones than those who spoke. I like the woman wearing the pink turtleneck who said her grandmother and mother has been phone operators too and that she knew she was doing a good job and was proud of it. Ah, the good old days when people had a strong work ethic and cared about the quality of their work! I would have been suspicious as heck if I had been one of those operators listening to these two guys.

Worked over ten years in call centre customer service in u.k. In 2000, to navigate menus it was 99% non-voice recognition, however I wondered_worried about the future. I'm surprised that given AT&T were looking to cut costs that they weren't also having similar thoughts about automation, even if they felt bad about it... Now, I'm increasingly concerned about all sorts of scenarios from sci-fi read growing up that I never thought would happen in my lifetime. Increasingly rapid automation, thanks to exponential computing power is definitely one of them. Thanks for your films, varied and interesting 💜

Wow, this is super resonant. Thank you for sharing this with us.

“Is your sense we’re going to cram this down the customer’s throat?” Yes, maybe not you personally, but the companies are definitely going to AND DID. I WOULD PAY A FEE TO TALK TO A HUMAN for issues that cannot be resolved by an automated operator. In 1992, this technology was in its infancy and so far from where it is now, I bet many could not imagine we would get to the place where are now.

This documentary reminds me of this quote "Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master." Christian Lous Lange 17 September 1869 - 11 December 1938

I think the writing was on the wall in the 1980's, but nobody was sure when telephone operators would basically vanish. Technology and the business basically created a slow and agonizing good-bye, as operator offices slowly closed and remaining operators either had to transfer to another office (which might require moving) or being laid off. The final nail in the coffin came in the 2000's as smart phones and VOIP technologies evolved. Now people don't even want to answer the phone since most are robocalls. We communicate in other ways. Even assistive technologies evolved for users who need them. That left the operators either needing to learn a new skill, maybe working at the cellphone store, being let go or retiring early. Resistance or denying this was happening doesn't work. It's best I keep my brief experience working for AT&T (less than three years) to myself, but I felt no love or feeling important from AT&T managers. It was like "now that we hired you, lets figure out a way to fire you." I eventually moved on to an information technology career elsewhere, with AT&T just being a distant memory for me.

The man mentions Longview at the beginning, presumably this is Longview, Texas, where I grew up. I did not know that we were the guinea pigs for automated customer service.

I work in one of the last remaining call centers where people, not machine voices, help callers complete a variety of tasks. The human interaction is what enables them to get the answers they are seeking.

I love you David wow thank you brother!

great video. well done.

These ladies were 100% correct. Even to this day a machine cant replace a real person. But corporate does anyway.

There statements still hold true today. Technology should be limited unfortunately we will not learn this lesson until something tragic happens.

This is a great video I have spread around on Twitter. Thank you.

It's fascinating to see how these tech-driven changes impact language. Real people don't talk from a written script. But automated messages are nothing but script. In non English-speaking countries, many people pick up English, to some extent, from the repeated automated script that they listen to when they dial a bank or any customer care service number.

I embrace new technology - but Interactive Voice Response is nothing short of infuriating. It makes an upset customer even more upset.

It's beautiful, as a retired life employee, to look into the faces of other lifer employee's when the big boss is talking. I don't see skepticism, bewilderment or doubt. They know how to interpret what he's saying and know a door, in another room, in another building, has already been closed on the matter.

Apparently the situation continues to this day......

There will always be progress despite what we old folks want

I loved working for att

What a scumbag boss… “We take care of our people, I don’t want to overstate that”.

Feels like robots will take over everything

They were all right 🤷‍♀️

those are some cute-ass operators right there lol

Profits over people. Eliminating jobs

They did cram this down our throats & when you finally get a human on the line it is an Indian I’m speaking to which I can barely understand.

Gosh I miss getting real people on the phone. I hate the automated.

Yes they knew that

I hear "Money" by Pink Floyd playing in my ears

The sad thing is that by allowing the choice between the Operator and a machine, they were basically letting the mechanised system in by the back door . I don't think these men realised that - they seem to value the Operators and their opinions. I wish they could have seen the extent to which computers would be used to cut costs and replace services rather than augment and improve them. It's soul destroying to have to tackle mechanised queuing systems for almost everything, and how many jobs were lost to this? No one except the company shareholders and owners benefit, in my opinion. The customers and few remaining employees certainly don't. Speaking to a person is always the last option in these systems - great way to make your customer or client feel valued. It might be more efficient but it's a lot less courteous and humane. Everyone hear seems so kind and caring, it's a shame they lost that family atmosphere. I do have to say though, that I think some employers are trying to reinstate that - and to value their employees.

Pretty soon only the repair guy will have a job

Guess what? The company doesn't care about the customer let alone the employee.

All they cared about at the time was money and do you think that has changed ?

Value what the labor does-- it fulfills a necessary service or need. Could it be that some automation has actually caused the public to be desensitized? Lose empathy? For some people, True communication gives humans something. Without that, we forget how to talk to people. The students I deal with have in the classroom in higher-ed have to be ordered to talk to each other in class-- a combination of many things, and I think the automation of many services have contributed to that. Technological advancement isn't bad-- it's a tool. And it can be used with wisdom or used foolishly. When and while we implement it-- if we were truly advanced as a people in ALL ways-- we should be aware of as much of the whole picture as we can be, and tweak things along the way to properly serve all parties involved-- shareholders first? No. They are just a part of the picture (particularly if the shareholders do not have human beings and human society as a part of their investment).

"We are so glad to get your opinion on this matter, because we care. P.S. Your fired.

Automated systems are only good for the greedy companies who don't want to pay real people to do the job. The cost is borne by the customer who has to spend 15 minutes explaining to a computer what would take 2 minutes to explain to a real live person.

The lady that was saying they're more than just an operator, that sometimes a person just needs a friend and that's what they are, what she was saying was so true. When I was in the 1st grade I was dropped off by the school van and had to let myself into our apartment because both my parents worked. The first thing I would do is get my snack together and pick up the phone and dial 0 and just talk to the operator. As a little girl I had no idea there were lots of operators that answered calls but I thought I was talking to the same operator each day. I can tell you firsthand all the operators that answered my calls were always sweet and patient. They always took the time to talk to me. Thank you to those ladies who kept a 6-year-old company after school. Much love.

My mother was an operator in the 40s and 50s. My Godmother was an operator most of her life (into the 2000’s). My best friend’s mother worked with both of them in the 40s and 50’s. My mother met my father at the telephone company. For women of the time who needed to work job choices were limited and the term, career, was little used. These women were all tough as nails, outgoing and caring. It’s a shame that this is a bygone era. And, I agree, David, I think these men were truly trying to figure out how to transition while keeping these women employed but, in their heart of hearts, they knew it was the end. One wonders what they went onto do after they were let go. My Godmother started to work the switchboard for a couple of hospitals and then became a medical clerk. My mother became a housewife. Oh, and bottom line, the automated systems are most always an exercise in frustration.

Sadly in the minds of the company reps, these women have all already been fired. The only reason that capital would ever have a meeting or focus group like this is to gain as much information as possible to enhance what it plans on using (in this case machine voices)--to benefit itself. There's actually a kind of invisible class exploitation that's happening here.

Every time I have to go through those damned automated phone systems I say it out loud.....”I wish I could talk to a real person again!”

6:47 "Our world has gone crazy with technology." I wonder what she thinks about Google knowing everything about you in this day and age. Also, something about this film looks sinister.. what I see is a bunch of suited execs attempting to gently tell the ladies they have just become, or are about to become, obsolete.

First it was Bank Tellers , then operators & now checkout personnel all being replaced. Human interaction when doing a transaction is almost extinct.

It was a fight humans ultimately lost.

It's interesting how the leader in the team meeting minimizes the employees feedback as "this is about job security," while the employees were more focused on customer's needs. Just shows how information, decisions become all about the numbers as they are funneled up in the hierarchy, businesses have forgotten that business is about people at the core of it.

I am with AT&T, have been for my entire adult life, because even though it may take jumping through hoops, I can still get a human. The automated lines are good if my issue is textbook and common, but if there is any little thing different, the automated lines simply escalate the problem, by the time I actually get a human I am frustrated or angry. Since the strokes, I get confused easy and there are days that I just don't understand things, on those bad days, an automated system will have me so frustrated and confused that I am in tears, I miss the days of human interaction and a polite or caring voice answering the phone and assuring you that they will help you.

This footage is rare and historically significant. They all had sweet comforting voices (except for Ernestine) In an emergency an Operator could cut into a call to get a hold of someone. Everyone would prefer to speak to a real person rather than a harsh computer voice. Truly a bygone era.

The long automated menus at the different large companies now are so frustrating that I just hang up and go to the internet for a solution.

Thank you for sharing this. Very educational and just listening to these women speak from this era I could already imagine how helpful and patient they could be when you get a human on the line. Nowadays these automated services are not only tedious sometimes you can't get through to what you need. As they say time is money and those automated services are eating up mine. Thanks again.

it's dehumanizing to replace people with machines. I even was against self checkouts that replaced cashiers....

It was nice to talk to the operator

I'm a third generation AT&T employee and provide tech support over the phone. It funny because these videos from David Hoffman verify what I've been told my whole life. Here we are 30 years later and the heart of this discussion isn't any different, the only difference involves giving customers the opportunity to help themselves using the internet. You have a mature business trying to cut costs any way it can and remain competative. People at the top won't have a job if they can't make the share holders happy. But I'm at the low end of the totem poll providing tech support, its above my pay grade.

I remember hearing their voices from my mom talking on the wall phone.

This was a great piece of documentary work. I miss the operators, and am still irritated by computer answering systems. I’m willing to bet that a couple of the high ups knew exactly what was going to happen while most did not. Those ladies were very eloquent and clear sighted in their observations. Thanks for this David…I remember the big change.🖤🇨🇦

*_"What do you think about your jobs going away?_* That's the question that should have been asked. :-(

The bosses(esp Pee wee Herman)were lying to these gals. Pathetic!

My last two jobs were call centers. Thank God i no longer work that of kind of job, never will again. 8:30 a concern back in the day, now a desirable result. Modern call centers are actually built to obtain this result on purpose if they can pull it off. Ultimately, the megacorps want to reduce this cost. They are desperate for it. Insatiable, in fact. It was never a matter of if or even when. And it didn't matter what was lost along the way. Maybe ATT back then cared about their employees. No company today does.

This group is concerned with customers not being able to reach a human operator. The concept that people today not even knowing how to *dial* an operator isn't even a concept to them. Like David said, this is a slice out of history.

hey david!!! just wanted to say how much i love your channel & work! i am 22 years old & i absolutely love taking a look into the world before i was able to live in it. ☺️

David , Iwant to believe you but I feel like they were using those women to make their automated system better.

They knew it. that's why they were testing it, too see if they could replace a person. Proof is that they are all gone now. :-(

The vast majority of robocalls I get start off with a high pitched beep sound of some sort. As soon as I hear it, I hang up. Not interested in that companies services.

Rotary phones are a mystery device to school age kids today.

This was not about automation, this was about people already ridiculously rich trying to make even more money by "cutting costs" to pump up the stock price. Meaning, the operator was seen as overhead, versus the value generator that they really were. Putting these people out of work was unethical, as the impact to peoples lives and their communities is never a part of the calculus. It's inevitable, but it certainly isn't "progress".

In 1978 I called 411 to get the phone number of a boy in my class. I was planning something sneaky, probably curating my list of people to prank call. When the operator asked me what name, I gave his mother's name as it would be listed under her name. He said enthusiastically, "oh I know Lillian. Tell her I said hi!!"

I was born in '89, and I can't say that I've ever talked to an actual human operator. And definitely the times I've had to call customer service on different occasions over the years I've gotten either the automated system, or someone out of India or some other place. My great uncle, worked as a switchboard operator right out of high school in 1953, and just before his passing in 2009, he would tell me endless stories, like how you felt like family, in fact that is where he met his wife at, most of the operators at that time were women, as many of the men were drafted to serve in the Korean war, and he retired in 1990 after almost 37 years. Yep, those were the days, before corporate greed took over, and companies really took care of their employees as well as customers, making them feel like family.

When I was about 3½ years old in the late 1970s, I was sitting on the floor in the living room by myself playing with the phone (a black Western Electric model 500). I was banging on the hook switch and messing around with the dial. After a minute or so an operator came on the line and scolded me; told me to stop playing with the phone. I figured I'd best head on out to the kitchen to file a formal complaint with my mother; the nerve of that mean old lady on the phone! Mom wasn't sympathetic to my plight at all. She said, "Well, you shouldn't have been playing with the phone."

When I lived in Houston in 1976 a chemical plant exploded by my house so my mom evacuated us. My dad was still at work and when we thought he would be home I started calling my house (no cell phones back then) hoping my dad would answer to let him know where we were. I was like 10 years old so I was desperately trying to reach him and on my 8th or so call a lady answered and asked me if I was ok. I was shocked because I did not recognized her voice. It turned out it was the operater and noticed my multiple calls and was concerned if I was ok. By gone era for sure.

I was born in 1997. I can say that I know plenty of people in my generation who absolutely HATE those automated systems. It's pretty common to see people around my age furiously screaming, "Just get me a dammn representative! Is that so hard??" at the phone. We're completely used to it, because it's all we've ever known, but just about all of us think they're extremely annoying.

Back in the early 1990s, my neighbor was an Information Operator (aka 411 Operator). One day I dialed 411 and HE ANSWERED! What were the odds? I asked him about the odds of that happening and we estimated it to be about 1 in a thousand or so.

Oh boy, I am definitely old enough to remember this. In fact, I’m old enough to remember my mother, trying to remain calm and patient with the operators while trying to place a transatlantic call. Which means I am old enough to remember when you had to use an operator to call Europe. My mother wouldn’t call “home” (Scotland) very often, but I remember more than once her ‘arguing’ with the operator about 1) whether Scotland was a country and 2) whether or not the town she grew up in actually existed. My mother: “it does exist, I spent the first 25 years of my life there …..” Eventually she always managed to get through with the help of an operator!

When ppl can't talk to other ppl they become antisocial.

I always appreciate the human on the other end of the line.

YES THEY KNEW

I'm an X South Western Bell Telephone employee, we also had operators back in the 80's, of course then, AT&T was still apart of SWBT., til the divestiture came into play in "1987", where SWBT & AT&T split, anyways to make a long story short, we had operator that was transfered into where I worked(acct. dept.)Records Clerk III. it was aweful, operator that had been working there for years, that had planned to retire in that field, was devastated & having to basically start from the bottom & learn an entire different field in acct., some relocated to other cities, later off with the least seniority...at that point I decided to resign & start my own business. Great I did, because eventually our office relocated to another large city, I even heard AT&T picked up other employees that was willing to go. What a mess sometimes technology creates just to save money & not ppl's lives! Um um um...

Hi David! I'm speaking for myself I hate technology? Since it was ever introduced you actually see less parents communicating with their children! Some kids are glued on to it! That they don't even hear anything anymore! Much less go outdoors! I feel for this operators having to find employment elsewhere in a matter of a short time. I remember those good ole days when you felt just so different that someone cared like they said! And they would sure go out of their way to try and help you! Everything is changing to fast! You really have to be on top to educate yourself in order to even be able to help your children! With homework ... And if you don't learn it you are complete lost! Soon.. we'll have Robots! I know who ever ran/owned At&t Yes! Maybe they did have empathy for the employee but their main concern was Money Money $ $. I didn't expect for it to be so long! Sorry! David But I honestly enjoy all your videos! Your amazing! And I know how hard you work!

As a ex union organizer I know exactly what's going on

Machine minds will always lack the soul a human needs.

No, no, no, That's not the way it feels "Operator" well let's forget about this call there's no one there I really wanted to talk to Thank you for your time, you've been so much more than kind, and you can keep the dime :) I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well I only wish my words could just convince myself that it just wasn't real, but That's not the way it feels, "Operator" could you help me place this call ✌😎✌

I destest these robot systems with limited choices.

Thanks!

I want the operators back

Technological unemployment is very real and if it's not dealt with will become a very big problem, very soon. 🤔

Having lived majority of my life in the digital age and having dealt with annoying automated help through most every outlet on the phone, I really wish but they were more physical people that would pick up the phone and help me. It’s hell just trying to get to a point where you can speak to a representative that can actually help you with your problem instead of an automated machine that just get you more angry.

Amazingly nostalgic as always ¿Do you have a video about the printed press? 🧐

It is difficult to watch the women in this video have so much passion and conviction, while the men give off smarmy vibes..

the autonated systems drive me up a wall, I can't imagine those companies saved that much more in profits by getting rid of people

Once about 3 years ago I was on the line about a dilemma I had with a product. This company were much more human than the robots we hear everyday. She spoke me through my dilemma professionally and we would chit-chat. Talk about where we'd go for vacation around the world, share family stories. She told me about vacations she had in France and I told her about visiting home in Ireland. I miss the humanity in customer support, the very department that needs this element of humanity is voided the moment when they put a robot in. Do I keep doing business with this company? Absolutely!

When that woman said there was no place for technology. They had no idea....