Back in my college days in the late 80’s it wasn’t unusual to wake up and have no idea where I was and more importantly where my glasses were. Being legally blind, the glasses become a priority.

I awoke one morning, in really bad shape totally disoriented. The phone was next to me. I picked it up, and dialed zero. The operator answered. “Operator” came thee pleasant voice. My priority at that moment was what time was it. “What time is it?” I asked. “I can’t tell you that”, she said, “You will have to call time and temp.” “Why can’t you just look at your wrist and tell me what time it is?” I asked her. “I’m sorry Sir, I can’t do that.”. “That’s absurd!” I railed at her. And the line went dead.

That happened in about 1986 I think. And I have been holding it against that operator for 40 years for not telling me the time.

This afternoon, I was listening to tapes of Studs Terkel’s Working interviews. One was of a Ma Bell operator in Waukegan, IL. One of the things that came out of the interview was that if an operator was caught talking to a customer, she would get a black mark om her record. She said that people would call and say “I’m lonely, please talk to me…” And she wouldn’t be able to talk to them. So some fool, calling for the time would get the same treatment. I’m sorry. I was a stupid drunken punk thinking he was entitled to information. I am sorry I ever held it against that operator. So this is my apology to all the operators who had to listen to such crap. I apologize. I was wrong.