Back in the Days of True Customer Service

A few years ago, I bought a collection of tapes which were all in the sort of large boxes in which audio companies used to ship blank tapes. They were all recorded on and labeled with extensive detail, at least from the distant photos I could see into the individual boxes of tapes. This was enough to intrigue me to shell out whatever I paid for them.

In the time since, I've gone through one box of the tapes, which contained such things as a concert and a live performance of "George Washington Slept Here" done at some sort of amateur performance hall, with the name of a school mentioned on the labels on the outside of the individual tape's box.

I just moved on to the second box, and the first tape I opened had the following labels on it:

Again, this is the sort of thing I could sort of make out in the initial eBay ad which led me to buy the boxes. And I was not let down. What is contained here is some sort of training tape, either for A T & T operators, or, more likely, those who would be supervising them. It contains 60 apparently real calls for all sorts of service on phones, phone lines and phone wires, etc., from back in those days (in this case, 1962) when the phone company was not only a monopoly, but also owned your phone equipment, and was obliged to keep it in good working order.

Based on the labels (above) and the opening introduction, it sounds like these calls were being presented to supervisors (or those in training), for them to score the calls in some way, reflecting what was and wasn't done correctly.

This is probably a bit tedious to listen to in one, 61 minute blast, but it is an fascinating trip back into the days when you could make a phone call to get something fixed or replaced, and have the company on the other end of the line immediately make a sincere effort to not only acknowledge your feelings, but to find out what would be the very quickest moment at which you would be available for them to help you.

A few of the calls indicate that this quickness of response was not always what really happened, but it sounds like most of the time, the system worked.

Download: A T & T - Plant Observers Training Tape
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The Story of a Serial Drug User, In His Own Words

I have very little to say about today's feature. I think it speaks for itself. I will say that it's one of the most startling and amazing tapes I've come across, and that I found it riveting.

For those who might wonder, I have no idea who the main speaker is, who is interviewing him, for what purpose, or when this may have been recorded. My guess on the latter is the late 1960's or early 1970's, but there is nothing of any sort written on the box or the tape reel.

With that said, I present to you a recording of a man with extensive experience in the world of illegal drugs, being interviewed about his history and his thoughts.

Download: Unknown - The Story of a Serial Drug User, In His Own Words
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