"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" is a 1972 song written by Jim Croce. Croce's record was released on August 23, 1972. It was the second single released from Croce's album You Don't Mess Around with Jim. It reached a peak of #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972, spending twelve weeks on the chart.
There is a similar song written by Ron "Pigpen" McKernan of the Grateful Dead and released on their 1970 American Beauty album. However, Croce's song predates the McKernan song by several years. There are numerous mid-1960s recordings available of Jim Croce performances that include his exact version of "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)." While the song-stories are similar, they are distinctly different songs.