he business office was a structured environment, like the rest of the Bell System. Very little was left to chance. Before starting to work, I was sent to a month long training class with a group of other women (no men worked in the busi- ness office then, and no women worked out in 'the field' doing repairs or installations). The Bell System was big on training. The companies that used to be a part of it still are. We were trained exactly how to react and precisely what to say and do under every conceivable circumstance. If an inconceivable circumstance came up, we were to immediately put the caller on hold and head up to the desk of our "BOS" (Business Office Supervisor), the "Mother" of our unit. Each unit within the business office had approximately six representatives managed by a BOS. For every six units there were six BOS's and a District Manager to manage them. The Dis- trict Managers reported to a hierarchy of other managers. There was a similar hierarchy in the Plant Department. The foremen were first line, second line, third line, etc., each line having a cor- responding set of responsibilities, clout and compensation. Back in the business office, our job was to take customer orders over the telephone. Orders were written in pencil on paper forms (no computers on the desktop). We released them to the The Telecom Handbook 305 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE order reviewers, who reviewed them for accuracy. They sent them to the order writers, who typed them into the system for distribu- tion to the other departments. It was also our responsibility to answer customers' questions about their telephone bills and, when we had time, to make collection calls to customers who were late in paying. These were known as "treatment calls." Orders had to be written on the form in a very precise way, block printing and using the correct USOCs (Universal Service Order Codes) which were consistent throughout most of the Bell System. The terms CV for a single-line telephone and KV for a six-button telephone rarely heard today, wer