Screwing it up since 1877

So here's what my Useless Knowledge feed had to say this morning:

"The first operators employed by the Bell Telephone Company were young boys who worked standing up. Only after several years did it occur to anybody to provide them with chairs."

The Telephone History Timeline Page, which - thankfully - has an annotated bibliography for further verification, states that "commercial telephone service begins" in 1877 and that "[s]witchboard operators were no longer necessary to make a telephone call" as of 1891.

If we assume that switchboard operators were required from the start then Bell has been in the business of technological innovation at the expense of actual people - evidently its employees, in particular - for over 125 years.

I wonder if I'll take any comfort from that fact the next time I have to talk to Bell Canada's "automated operator", Emily.

At least she doesn't need a chair.