Information Booth Gets Odd Queries

Although the recent quake which rocked the floor of the Atlantic was recorded in every seismograph station around the world, it only created a little more work for the Information Booth at University A.

But the ladies in charge, Mrs. Pitcher and Mrs. Sullivan, didn't mind the additional phone calls relayed to them by the master switchboard in Lehman Hall; they are used to handling the hundreds of queries that come in daily, through mail, telegraph, phone and person, earthquake or not, and as a matter of fact prefer to receive one-track inquiries. For as Mrs. Pitcher says--

"It is certainly easier to give a stock reply than to bother finding out the 'average weight of a hippopotamus,' for which one person asked yesterday."

Never The Same

Endless variety seems to be the keynote of most calls the personal has to answer. So the man who wanted to know where he could sell his body received only a bland statement that the Medical School no longer paid for outside contributions.

Such questions, typical of the odd ones the staff attempts to answer, don't make up the greater routine of its day's working program. Usually Mrs. Pitcher and Sullivan assisted by students, Donald H. Shaw '43, H. Bruce Sears '43, and Thomas R. White '44 keep busy pouring through files for the data most frequently sought, "Where does John Jones live and where can I get in touch with Professor Doe."

Complete Data

The files, consisting of a complete record of every one connected with the University from the President down to an occasional lecturer, furnish the bureau with the means for giving out the facts.

"Sometimes, though, it is quite difficult to satisfy the questioner," Mrs. Pitcher reveals. "For instance, today a girl called up and wanted to know where 'Kenneth' lived.

"'Kenneth what, please?' I questioned. The girl replied; 'Oh, I don't know his last name; I think it starts with H. Can't you find him for me?'"