She loved her job, she was always up to date with the latest news.
The town was a touch behind the times, but nobody minded that. The community regarded itself as old worldly and that suited those who lived there. It was so out of the way that there was no mobile coverage in there region and the central telephone exchange was what they relied on. She was the operator. It was her habit to listen in on all calls being made through her switchboard. Beyond the business calls, most of which were quite dull, she loved conversations. It was these person to person chats that she enjoyed most. She would get an even greater kick out of telling her friends what she had heard.
Unhappily, this source of ongoing entertainment could only last so long. In the fullness of time, she became aware of the fact that after passing all this on to all of her friends, their numbers began to dwindle. It transpired that without recognising what this trend could bring about, she ended up in a situation where she no longer had any friends left in the town. In fact, she could tell that there was a growing movement to have her removed. When the time of her dismissal came she received no support from the community.
As a result she moved to a nearby town where she found work as an office cleaner. It wasn’t at all satisfying. It so happened that this town also had no mobile coverage. So, she applied for work at the exchange.
She never heard back.