Operator is a general term that refers to people that works with equipment on a technical level. This may include the use of functional machinery or equipment, which often requires advanced degrees of training, but may also refer to more mundane services, such as a telephone operator, or a police dispatcher. In the pre-automation era of telecommunications, users would often contact an operator to connect telephone lines between a caller and a receiver. On the Hanna-Barbera Productions cartoon series Hong Kong Phooey, Rosemary acted as an operator for a police department.
