First telephone

[PeterR]

Yes..

 

Ha ha

[rbbt]

Yes, I remember that too!! Different world eh?

 

Not quite true..

 

As a GPO telephonist before 1972ish you contributed to the Civil Service pension scheme, a pension scheme which provided you with a dowry (cash lump sum payment) when you got married.

So when you got married and took your dowry you had to resign in your maiden name and they reinstated you in your married name.

 

Not everyone took their dowry as to do so reduced your pension pot ie smaller pension when you retired.

 

Married women were employed by the GPO I worked there from 1970-79..

best times ever..

[hillsbro]

Hi rbbt - that's interesting, though perhaps PeterR and Daven were referring to an earlier period, when only single women were employed as operators. For example, this web page states that "Women were paid up to a third less than men. They were also forced to leave their jobs when they married". I imagine that by the 1960s this would have changed (the GPO was abolished in 1969 when it became 'The Post Office'). As PeterR noted - it was a different world!

[MARY POPPINS]

Not quite true..

 

As a GPO telephonist before 1972ish you contributed to the Civil Service pension scheme, a pension scheme which provided you with a dowry (cash lump sum payment) when you got married.

So when you got married and took your dowry you had to resign in your maiden name and they reinstated you in your married name.

 

Not everyone took their dowry as to do so reduced your pension pot ie smaller pension when you retired.

 

Married women were employed by the GPO I worked there from 1970-79..

best times ever..

 

Did you work at flat street, then Hallam I worked there around that time, remember it being so strict but looking back I have so many fond memories

 

---------- Post added 11-02-2015 at 21:40 ----------

 

I guess you waited for the operator to say "Number please". And oddly enough, they were still saying that in Sheffield in the 1970s!

 

I remember saying number please, but then to be realy bad we used to say rubber knees, to see if anyone noticed, oh what rebels we were,

[hillsbro]

...I remember saying number please, but then to be realy bad we used to say rubber knees, to see if anyone noticed, oh what rebels we were,

I also remember being a bit mischievous, when speaking to a (male) operator in the early 1970s:

Operator: . .Number please.

hillsbro:... ..Buxton in Norfolk 287... Transfer charge please.

Operator: ..Oh - transfer charge ... could you say that at the beginning please.

hillsbro: .....Well you asked for the number.

[buddysbuddy]

I got my first phone in 1976---and it is still being used!! I had to have a new connector to fit the new plug in socket as the original was hard wired into the box. it does not cope with " press 1 for---- etc. but still works fine otherwise.