Courtesy of the Washington Monthly, this is an unforgettable image of one of the earliest call centers. It’s a scan of an ad from the October 1958 copy of Newsweek, and the copy (obscured here) reads:
This “magic scoreboard” makes it possible for the Hilton Reservation Offices listed below to give you, while you are still on the phone, complete reservation information at any of the 33 Hilton Hotels around the world. You will receive an immediate verbal reply on your reservation request, and a written confirmation will be mailed the same day.
There are some informative comments below the post. For instance, the “magic scoreboard” showed rates and availability to the operators, and was called the “rack”. This is the origin of the term “rack rate,” which means the base room rate.
My favorite part is the young woman carrying the vase of carnations across the workroom.
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I like the new blog look!
Times certainly have changed – I’ve never seen a call center in it with a lady carrying around flowers. ;p
She’s not carrying the flowers, she’s stood next to them. You can see her arm holding a piece of paper.
The 50s was awesome for this stuff. For an even earlier pic (from 1955) check out http://tinyurl.com/3c8toa (Popular Mechanics).
I totally love the name: “Magnetronic Reservisor”! (”Web 0.001″?)
I’ve been trying to find the very earliest reservation system, which I think is much earlier. I’ve seen a picture of a large room with chalkboards all around the walls and telephone operators in neat rows.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
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[...] I saw this pic thanks to Valeria Maltoni, who pointed me to the GetSatisfaction blog (just added you guys to my blogroll!), who got it from The Washington Monthly. Here is what the text in the picture says: “This “magic scoreboard” makes it possible for the Hilton Reservation Offices listed below to give you, while you are still on the phone, complete reservation information at any of the 33 Hilton Hotels around the world. You will receive an immediate verbal reply on your reservation request, and a written confirmation will be mailed the same day. [...]