Omaha: Reservations Capitol

[Bob from Omaha]

I found a story from 1973 about the history of Omaha and 800 number centers. The area around 93rd & Bedford was at one time known as "Reservation City". At its peak thousands were employed in Omaha at these centers. Now? Don't know

[damonhynes]

I worked for Steve Idelman, Alan Kaplan, and at Marriott on North 90th. The story was that all the telecom infrastructure for SAC/Offutt made Omaha a handy location for 800 number traffic.

Nowadays, with fiber and satellite, it doesn't matter where you go, there you are.

[Brad]

I found a story from 1973 about the history of Omaha and 800 number centers. The area around 93rd & Bedford was at one time known as "Reservation City". At its peak thousands were employed in Omaha at these centers. Now? Don't know

I believe the Marriott call center is still there, just south of Blondo on 90th Street.
I don't believe the Radisson call center that was on 114th and Blondo is there anymore.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

It’s hard to tell from Google/Google Maps, but it looks like Hyatt’s reservations center at 99th and Q is still there but not operating at full force any longer.

[Greg S]

I found a story from 1973 about the history of Omaha and 800 number centers. The area around 93rd & Bedford was at one time known as "Reservation City". At its peak thousands were employed in Omaha at these centers. Now? Don't know

I believe the Marriott call center is still there, just south of Blondo on 90th Street.
I don't believe the Radisson call center that was on 114th and Blondo is there anymore.

The building is there. I don't know if anyone works there anymore though? Just never see any cars. My roommate worked there one summer when we were back from Lincoln during college. They were adding a second floor on top of the first. Said it was quite the challenging environment.

[Bob from Omaha]

I worked for Ramada reservations center in 78 & 79 during summer break. In 78 they were at 93rd & Bedford. The most fun was when Elvis died & everybody had to get to Memphis. In 79 they had moved to 78th & Crown Point(e).

Both summers the year round employees wanted to unionize. They brought in the Teamsters. I'd have thought the CWA (Communication Workers of America), but what do I know? Anyway, there were about 30 year round & they brought in 300 for the summer rush. Most of the summer help was college students. Word got around that if we voted down the union the company would throw a huge party with food & booze & live music. Needless to say, no union. They had us at booze. Both years.

I went to UNL & it was $35 a credit hour & housing was cheap. I worked the whole summer & in August a lot of the summer staff went back to college. The company offered unlimited overtime. For 30 straight days I worked from 6AM to 2 AM. I paid my whole year with August & didn't really need to work during the school year. I picked up some bartending jobs a little.

[Greg S]

I worked for Ramada reservations center in 78 & 79 during summer break. In 78 they were at 93rd & Bedford. The most fun was when Elvis died & everybody had to get to Memphis. In 79 they had moved to 78th & Crown Point(e).

Both summers the year round employees wanted to unionize. They brought in the Teamsters. I'd have thought the CWA (Communication Workers of America), but what do I know? Anyway, there were about 30 year round & they brought in 300 for the summer rush. Most of the summer help was college students. Word got around that if we voted down the union the company would throw a huge party with food & booze & live music. Needless to say, no union. They had us at booze. Both years.

I went to UNL & it was $35 a credit hour & housing was cheap. I worked the whole summer & in August a lot of the summer staff went back to college. The company offered unlimited overtime. For 30 straight days I worked from 6AM to 2 AM. I paid my whole year with August & didn't really need to work during the school year. I picked up some bartending jobs a little.

Summer of 87 I came back from college (also UNL). I had worked for Brandeis (Westroads) before college so I would always comeback and work for them on Summer, Thanksgiving and Winter breaks. That was the summer they were merging/bought by Younkers. Not the usual number of hours available. So halfway through I got hired by Telemarketing Corporation of America doing inbound calls (wide variety of clients including MTV). They kept offering time and a half and double time as they got busy. In about 8 weeks I earned enough to cover 75% of the following years tuition and room and board. They were off 103rd north of Fort. I think the police have that building now.

Greg

[Bob from Omaha]

Summer of 87 I came back from college (also UNL).

Greg

Schram 10 first two years, Schram 8 junior & then main floor of a house at 15th & B. I can't say I got my money's worth out of college but the parties were fun.

[djc311]

I worked for Steve Idelman, Alan Kaplan, and at Marriott on North 90th. The story was that all the telecom infrastructure for SAC/Offutt made Omaha a handy location for 800 number traffic.

Nowadays, with fiber and satellite, it doesn't matter where you go, there you are.

Working for Idelman outbound sucked... worst work atmosphere I ever had. Totally understanding the turnover and lack of motivation for employees, but it was terrible! Would rather sack groceries than get reprimanded for not signing up enough people for Sprint long distance.

The money was decent compared to other options, but that was it.

Now, working for Sitel inbound was OK. Relaxed environment, easy going managers/supervisors... lots of hours to pickup. Didn't care for their clients too much (I was on a call line for the Marlboro Adventure Team for awhile)... always got to hear from people saying they got cancer so the least they could do was get their "free" |expletive| from points such as a backpack, cooler or jacket.

[Greg S]

Summer of 87 I came back from college (also UNL).

Greg

Schram 10 first two years, Schram 8 junior & then main floor of a house at 15th & B. I can't say I got my money's worth out of college but the parties were fun.

Abel 3 my first two years (we were in a temporary triple which was the middle room between the triple rooms on each corner, had a temp roommate our first year for a couple weeks until housing found him a regular room, we overlooked Sandoz). Junior year 712 Charleston in the bottoms, then Senior year over near you, corner of 17th and B in an apartment that was part of a house, we had basement and half of first floor.

I had a blast, wasn't until my junior year that I really started putting the same effort into my studies that I was into the social aspects. Loved it though.