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Show GliMsimas Evo best time to telephone Christmas Is a time when most of us join together with family and loved ones to reflect and give thanks for the blessings of life. For some , however, Christmas is a work day. Mountain Bell operators, for example, must be on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. On Christmas, the operator force Is increased to ensure that your calls to friends and family will go through without delay. Working on Christmas is not without its rewards. The special spirit of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men" can be felt In virtually every call handled that day. Delia Stark, retired Assistant As-sistant Manager-Operator Services in Ogden, has many fond memories she carries with her from her job. "We did our share of baby sitting in that job. I remember remem-ber one little child crying his eyes out on Christmas Eve. Whenever I mentioned Mommy or Daddy, he just cried louder. "But when I talked about Santa Claus, he would settle set-tle down. It seemed Grandpa Grand-pa had been left to babysit. baby-sit. He dozed off and the child thought he was alone. "Grandma lived next door and came over to rescue him, so all turned out well." For those customers who dial their calls direct, rather than placing them through an operator, Christmas callers cal-lers will have an advantage this year if they place their calls Christmas Eve (Sunday) (Sun-day) before 5 p.m. Calls placed alldaySatur-day alldaySatur-day and until 5 p.m. Sunday receive the 60 per cent discount dis-count rate. Calls placed on Christmas Day receive the 35 per cent holiday rate. According to Dennis Hancock, Han-cock, Customer Services Manager, it is possible that Utah customers will place over one million direct distance dis-tance dialed calls on Christmas Christ-mas Day this year. "Last year there were more than 852,000 calls placed and we're expecting about 11 per cent increase this year.' Christmas calling traditionally tra-ditionally strains the telephone tele-phone network because so many people are calling friends and relatives for the holidays. "Keep in mind that dialing dial-ing long distance calls directly whenever possible . saves both time and money. |