How to Save Time Spent in Waiting for Calls By Ocn Sax Feawcisco ConmEsPONDENT
San Francisco, July 2
As a person who valued his working time, this writer, during many years residence in Shanghai, nade it.a Tole to do something useful while waiting to get telephone numbers. Underneath the telephone in my private office (the instrument was attached to the wall and neces tated a short walk to get to it) T erected a fuly equipped writing table, at which T could always find some unfinished piece of work to jo me to (a) profitably use the time involved in getting my number and (6) maintain a certain standard of decent temper, which would not have been possible unless thoughts had been occupied in any way other than that of waiting for the number.
For example, I would take down the receiver and wait silently, with expenditure of nervous energy, until the operator had actually confirmed the number that I desired. I would then, with the receiver at my left ear, proceed to take up the threads of some statistical problem on my desk or some unfinished article for casual pur Diication, and I can assure the reader of the ultra-modern Shanghai of To-day that I have succeeded many a time in doing a successful quarter of an hour's work before I heard the Voice of the person at. the other end to whom I wished to impart some information. I once. witnessed a duplicate of this procedure in. the office of a London newspaper editor, who, waiting for! the number, turned quite irritatedly to me and blurted out, "If you are in a hurry in London, don't tele T wonder whether any of the magicians, all of whom went
and who occupied some super na tural niche in the organization of the Shanghai Telephone Company of those, days, are still. alive remember the distress of nine-tenths of those very short-tempered subscribers. Of course, what I have written is descriptive of the Very Ancient Days! Though I am given to understand that, despite the telephone efficiency that has become the vogue in many great ties all round the globe, Shanghai still occasionally suffers as we sed to, Well, my table cost me about ten dollars!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.