Directory Enquiries

The following are real conversations Directory Enquiries operators had with callers, as revealed in interviews with staff at the Cardiff DE Centre.

- Caller: I'd like the number of the Argoed Fish Bar in Cardiff, please.

- Operator: I'm sorry, there's no listing. Is the spelling correct?

- Caller: Well, it used to be called the Bargoed Fish Bar but the B fell off.

Then there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in Woven.

- Operator: Woven? Are you sure?

- Caller: Yes. That's what it says on the label - Woven in Scotland.

- Caller: I'd like the RSPCA please.

- Operator: Where are you calling from?

- Caller: The living room

- Caller: The water board please.

- Operator: Which department?

- Caller: Tap water.

- Operator: How are you spelling that?

- Caller: With letters.

- Caller: I'd like the number for a reverend in Cardiff, please.

- Operator: Do you have his name?

- Caller: No, but he has a dog named Ben.

- Caller: The Union of Shopkeepers and Alligators please.

- Operator: You mean the Amalgamated Union of Shopkeepers?

On another occasion, a man making heavy breathing sounds from a phone box told the worried operator: "I haven't got a pen so I'm steaming up the window to write the number on."