My name is Harris London, and I’m a telephone operator at USPS headquarters in Washington, DC. I spend my day answering calls from the public and helping to resolve customers’ problems.
My workday starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. Most calls come from consumers. I look up each caller’s district and connect him or her to the local consumer affairs office. The goal is to help each caller find someone who can address his or her concern.
I’m 92, and I’ve worked in the telephone operations center at headquarters since I began my postal career in 1976. I was hired to work for the summer. My job was to update cards with the information on every Post Office and Postmaster in the United States. When September rolled around, the managers asked me to stay on.
Over the years, the technology has become a little more complicated. Sometimes the systems aren’t as fast as the ones we had before. But in most cases, it’s wonderful.
I like my shift because I had evenings to be with my children. Spending quality time with them was important. I have four children, two girls and two boys. They’re all grown now, of course.
When I’m not working, I spend time with friends, my children and my five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Working for the Postal Service has given me independence. It is has made me self-sufficient. I don’t know how much longer I’ll stay. My children keep saying, “Mom, you’re not 25.” But I really enjoy working here.
“On the Job,” a series on individual employees and their contributions to the Postal Service, appears regularly in Link.