Farewell To One of UC's Favorite Operators From: University of Cincinnati Currents Date: February 18, 2000 By: Eric Lose Ann Sims is one of those behind-the-scenes workers who performs a very important job on campus. More than 500 times a day she is responsible for forming the public's first impression of the university. Sims is one of the people who answer the phone at UC's main number. "I've been an operator for 30 years, since October of 1969," she says. She will retire on Feb. 25. After moving to Cincinnati from Indianapolis, Ann heard about a job opening for an operator on the night shift. "I liked working nights," she says. "I had two small children and I could be with them in the daytime." Sims worked midnight to 8 a.m. for many years, and then switched to evenings. "That was in the old days, when you moved up in seniority through the shifts," she adds. Sims takes her job very seriously. Notes Michelle Miles, manager of operations, directory services: "She shows up early to work on those snowy days, when she knows the phone will be ringing off the hook." Sims says she comes in early on bad weather days "because you've got to have coverage. If I didn't come in it would put a lot extra on my co-workers." Sims' supervisor Martina Smith says, "She's the motherly type, very empathetic." Sims' empathy extends beyond coming in early to help co-workers. Ten years ago she started a charity fund, Smith said. "The profits go to help out children on Thanksgiving and Christmas." A lot of people call UC's main number. According to Smith, three operators handle about 200 calls per hour during the peak hours of the day shift. That averages out to each operator answering more than a quarter of a million calls each year. Sims takes her job seriously. "To me, my job was very important," she says. "Because when people call, you are the first person they hear, and if you give out the wrong impression, it's a bad impression on the university." When Sims was asked what she will do after she retires, she replied, "I don't know. I was thinking about maybe coming back part time. "But first, my husband and I are going to take a cruise, then I'm going to do some traveling during the coming summer. They tell me you eat yourself to death on a cruise, so I'm trying to lose weight now, before I go."