Hello Girls Headset
INTERESTING FACT : During the war , many telephone lines were shot down and destroyed by bombs , shells , and other weapons . This caused the girls to loose connection and shut down in 1920 .
5th grade video : Abigail Stewart
Hello , today i ' m going to be telling you about a day in the life of a WW1 headset , from an actual WW1 headset . Now you ' re probably thinking , " This is going to be REALLY boring " but I promise you , there is more to my life than just sitting on some " Hello girls " head all day . Well , before I tell you about MY life , let me tell you the backstory , or at least what I have heard the operator that uses me ( I think her name is Grace ) talk about .
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The Letters So , It started off when she heard about how they needed girls from america that could speak french and english to come and answer the phone when soldiers and generals called . Tons of women sent in letters , hoping they would get chosen , but only 150 got chosen . Well , the girls went through some basic training , and 223 women went to france to work as telephone operators .
The Setup Well , of course I know what the setup and home of these girls looks like , so let me paint a picture in your mind : On the desk , there was a HUGE switchboard , were the " Hello girls " would plug in the telephone into wherever the plug in was of who the boy wanted to talk to . On the back on the chair , I can just barely see a gas mask and helmet .
I ' m guessing they have these because they work nearby explosives and weapons . If you think about it , I can even see her paycheck ! Grace leaves it on the table for me to see . I look every month when the boss comes and hands it to them . Hers says $ 125 , but I looked and some other women only get payed $ 50 for their hard work .