Business Screen Magazine (1965-1966)

-HtT I Kir mt iw mn • rai nndtunoi onuior Wi 1 '""''"^^""^^"•"-"n'tycanhelpyoy answer unusual requests '.■«) Tie-in promotional media are 'grouped uitli prints of luo Bell Si/.s/c;)/ filiii.\ used in the Inlornidliim Service program 40.000 Voices That Say "May I Help You?" Perloriiiing Hit Koutiiic But Highly-Useful Task, the Ini'ormation Operator Stars ill T>»i» \<-u Bell System Motion Pictures Vt hieh Interpret This Important Service As MoKi and niore of the relations between tiic teieplionc companies and their customers are hciny conducted by the impersonal ilial it has become increasingly important to the companies that their lew remaining human contacts be made as pleasant and helpful as possible. Frequently the Inlormalion operator is the only company voice tlie customer ever hears, as more and more long distance calls are dialed directly. Thus, Information is more of an important job today than ever before. I5ut. manv of the Information operators have felt that this was a cooped-up, un-glamourous, stopgap, "no brains" kind of job, just looking up numbers all day — no talking to London or Tokyo — no chance to see and meet people face to face as in some other telephone jobs. I his feeling is exactly what the companies are trying hard to overcome. The Information operator really has a much more demanding job than she realizes — one that takes judgment, tliscretion aikl imagination. In a new lilm recently released by American Telephone & Tele graph Company, Kathy, Nancy and Jai.|ueline are seen as Information operators — jobs which they hold in real life. They were chosen for their roles because they are typical of some 40,000 other operators who handle Information scr\ice in the Bell System. New Challense.s in Kach D;i>The film mirrors the challenging experiences Informatit)n operators encounter in their day-to-day work. Writer-|iroducer Charles P.-lmer, of Parthenon Pictures, Hollywood, analyzed the wide variety of calls to Inlormalion and watched hunilreds of ojierators at work bclore beginning to produce the film, which is the first ever made on Information service. The picture is entitled May I Help You.' — The Slory of 1 lie Information Operator. Its 28-minute rimning time is crammed with real-life situations Information operators meet in providing telephone numbers and other special services for customers. Change .All Tlirousjli the Years In its earh sequences, the film tells of the many changes over the years in the work of Information operators — starting back in the last century when boys worked as operators. But the film points out , that while working procedures have changed, the objective remains the same — to be helpful to the customer. The gr.)wing importance of Information service is stressed, and the qualities of the operators — including those of initiative and judgment — are dramatized in the busy activities of Kathy, Nancy | and Jaqueline. Answering the var; ied inquiries from customers, the ( operators find that the "book" does not contain all the answers. Time and again they find themselves relying on their personal knowl ^ edge and experience in answering ( requests. Takes a "Thinking Operator" .•\s the film points out, "Only a . thinking operator can meet and handle the hundreds of situations — the millions of calls for Information . . . that these girls receive every day." A second version of the film, used for training drill, is titled 20 Information Calls, and presents one specimen call after another — all taken from incidents in the film. May I Help Y'oii.' was directed by David Bi>wen, of Parthenon, and supervised for A.'T.&'T. b\ the late Tom T'ischer. • ".May I Help You?" ;.v the first film ever produced on Informaiidn Service. Out of llio pages of fuiniliar plum, direelories loom tin faces of typical It Js helpini: to imprin-e the morale of iipcriitors pcrfonninu these tasks. Information operators as pictured in this seen, fi.nn /:, " v,, ■, , \ m,,,. as»»"~' ,~.i;s^ 1 tir-.::--" c ■'