PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 24, No. 18, April 7, 2005

On the job: Donna Tinsley

By Sarah Scalia, News Bureau Student Intern

Click photo to enlarge Photo by Kwame Ross Donna Tinsley is a university operator in Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services.

Ever wonder who is on the other end of the line when you call 333-1000? University operators such as Donna Tinsley are ready to direct calls. Tinsley grew up in the Champaign-Urbana area and took classes at Parkland College. As part of a class internship program, the UI hired her as extra help at the College of Business where she continued to work even after her internship was complete. After receiving an associate’s degree in information cross-referencing, Tinsley began working as extra help through Illicall, the university student calling card. Now after eight years as a university operator in Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services, Tinsley loves it and says the job is still interesting.

Tell me about your job.
I work in the University Operator System. I’m Operator Six. Basically our job is to take the calls that come to 333-1000. We have calls coming in back-to-back, constantly. We have four operators during day shift and one supervisor. We have eight-hour shifts that start at 7:30, 8:30, 9 and 9:30 a.m. We also have one person come in from 3:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. for the night shift.

What type of calls do you take?
We get calls from people looking for a person or unit on campus, and we transfer them to wherever they want to go.

We also get some of the Digital Computer Lab’s calls when they’re away because they are in the building that houses the CITES department, which we are a part of. We also take calls for the Springfield campus operators, so when they’re away from their desk, they switch a button, and it comes up on our board. Here in Champaign-Urbana we just push a button and the calls go through to other departments. We don’t take Chicago calls, but if someone calls wanting Chicago we have a number we give them.

Have you had any unusual or interesting calls?
Yes. I don’t know why, but we always get kids, tiny kids calling in. Little 3-year-olds wanting to talk to grandma. We have parents calling wanting to know why they get this number on their bills.

I had one lady call, and she wanted to know if we had a Super Wal-Mart. She had a job but she had to transfer and she wanted to come where there was a Super Wal-Mart.

We also have students call around final exam time. After 5 o’clock when most of the offices are closed, they call us and ask us where their final exam is.

What problems have you had when trying to direct people to the correct number?
If a number comes in on our board that says ‘intercept,’ that means the line has been disconnected. In that case, we’ll ask the caller ‘What number did you call?’ If they don’t want to give us the number they dialed, it’s hard for us to tell them the correct number. Sometimes they just hang up on us. If they would just give me the number I could type it in and get a referral number.

We have parents call and they don’t have their kid’s information. (The parents) call saying ‘they’ve (their child) been here for three months and I haven’t heard from them and I’m worried.’ We don’t give out addresses because that’s a security issue. Then a person will say, ‘but it’s (the address) in the phone book,’ but we’re totally different. We have our own directory.

Have you ever gotten emergency calls?
We do have emergency calls, and when that call comes in we have to make sure we have the number we see on the board and write it down. When we dial 911, our number shows up first. So if this person gets hysterical and hangs up their line, they’re (911) going to call us trying to find this person. So this way we can help them get back to the person.

It’s funny. They’ll dial us and say, ‘I need 911.’ And you think, ‘why didn’t you just call 911?’ But you figure they’re probably hysterical and they just called the first number that comes to mind. When I first started, I got kind of nervous because you don’t want to do the wrong thing and you want to make sure they’re connected correctly.

What are your hobbies or interests outside of work?
I like to read a lot, I like movies, and I love going to the theater. When I go to Chicago to visit my sister, I go to plays. I am also a member of St. Luke’s Community Church in Champaign and am involved in the church choir, missionary society and the women’s group.

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