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The AMISH community sometimes will have a phone booth by a farm field. They use them to call customers about business deals, selling crops or handmade furniture, etc. - or to check on a family member at the hospital or other serious matters. But they frown on having phones routinely available at home, which leads to idle gossiping and is too "worldly."
I have used them recently...Cell Phones are often too much of a pain to carry around. Also, I am sure there are some people still questioning the safety of cell phones.
What do you miss about them?
What do you not miss about them?
The pranksters miss using them for pranks. Students (high school and college) seemed to have fun seeing how many they could fit in a phone booth. I liked having a clear voice to speak with that didn't cut out unexpectedly or break up like modern digital cell phones do. I liked that if there was an emergency and you dialed 911, the operator knew exactly where you're calling from and you got the correct 911 operator. If traveling, good luck in getting a local area 911 operator. Last I heard, you still get your hometown 911 instead of the city you're visiting. Heard they're trying to find a way to correct this.
What I don't miss are the pranks (gum or some other nasty stuff on the ear piece or cut phone cords) and especially the stinking mouth piece of the receiver. It always seemed to smell a combination of horrible bad breath and stale ashtray. Thankfully, I never came across one that was used as a toilet or a puke deposit.
Nothing, with the invention of cell phones the pay phone was rendered obsolete...
What do you miss about them?
What do you not miss about them?
The pranksters miss using them for pranks. Students (high school and college) seemed to have fun seeing how many they could fit in a phone booth. I liked having a clear voice to speak with that didn't cut out unexpectedly or break up like modern digital cell phones do. I liked that if there was an emergency and you dialed 911, the operator knew exactly where you're calling from and you got the correct 911 operator. If traveling, good luck in getting a local area 911 operator. Last I heard, you still get your hometown 911 instead of the city you're visiting. Heard they're trying to find a way to correct this.
What I don't miss are the pranks (gum or some other nasty stuff on the ear piece or cut phone cords) and especially the stinking mouth piece of the receiver. It always seemed to smell a combination of horrible bad breath and stale ashtray. Thankfully, I never came across one that was used as a toilet or a puke deposit.
For several years, when you dialed 911 in any city/county, the call went to the 911 operator in that county. Last year I was listening to my police scanner, the dispatcher was giving directions to where the cell phone caller was. She called from the car where her husband had hit her and said he wouldn't let her out. Police found them by "pinging" the cell phone.
Back in the 60s, we carried one around in the back of a pickup truck for a while. Seriously. We were doing a play that had a phone booth as a prop, so we borrowed one from the local phone company and dragged it from theatre to theatre. That sucker was heavy.
I hadn't seen a pay phone in a really long time until this past weekend. I suppose it's because I haven't looked for one in a really long time. But there I was at a grocery store I go to now and then when I need something NOW and don't feel like driving to my regular store and what do I see out of my periphery right by the entrance...a pay phone. I just kind of looked at it and thought to myself, "well, I'll be damned....who knew?" I have been to that store many times, but never noticed it sitting out there.
I also remember when the pay phone calls were a dime. A friend showed me you could put in a nickel and hit the coin return just right and make your call for that nickel.
I also remember when the pay phone calls were a dime. A friend showed me you could put in a nickel and hit the coin return just right and make your call for that nickel.
When I was a kid we went to the beach a lot with our friends via bus. All of the mothers worried about our getting there safely and they'd wait at home by the phone. Each of us would (using the same dime) call home and let it ring twice. Then hang up and get the dime back.
Two rings meant you were OK.
My gosh we were all cheap back then.
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