Just for fun: Pre-Cell Phone Stories

[Anonymous]

I came across a homemade invitation to a big party my housemates and I threw a year after college graduation (so circa 1991). Everything was written out on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper--date, time, even a hand-drawn map of our house location. I think we must have made photocopies and handed them out to our friends and co-workers.

[Anonymous]

My parents met because my cousin couldn't call Triple A! My cousin's car broke down near our grandparents' house so she and her friend walked over to their house and my grandpa said to stay for dinner and he'd look at the car later. My cousin's friend was - surprise! - my mom, and she met her friend's very young uncle who was home from college that night. (My dad and his older brother have a large age gap.) The rest is history.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's say you didn't know what time it was. There was a phone number you could call to give you the accurate time:

"At the tone the time will be [beeep] 8:26 PM"

I think there was maybe another number for the weather. Anyone remember this?

683-4111 was the number in my town. Time and Temperature.

[Anonymous]

I met a young man at a bar one evening and we exchanged phone numbers, after a few chats we decided to meet up for lunch so made a plan for later that week.

We spoke that morning and agreed to meet on the corner of 17th and I, and then to walk together to grab lunch. We wanted to eat in the park at Farragut Sq. because it was a glorious spring day.

I was in my early 20s at that time, so shared with a few of my work friends that I was going to meet this young man for lunch. So I headed out, stood on the corner for about 15-20 mins, and then decided that I must have been stood up, so I grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the office.

When I got back there were 2 messages from the young man, explaining that he'd waited for me for about 20 mins, then gone back to the office and was told by a work friend that there were two 17th and I's and that I was probably on the other side, so he headed back out and waited another 20 mins.

When I called him back we both had a good chuckle and agreed that we would try again.

A few hours later I got a call from the front desk, I had a flower delivery waiting for me. The young man had sent flowers along with a short note.

Yes, dating was more difficult to coordinate pre-cell phone but I can't help but think that something has been lost in the ease of it all.

In my 20s, I went on a lot of dates, but honestly, most of them were really good ones, nothing like the horror stories you hear about today. Perhaps having to expend effort and energy on something makes you value it more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you dialed 867-5309, it connected you to a party line where you could hear other kids calling out their names and towns in hopes of making a connection.

I see what you did there, Jenny.

[Anonymous]

Graduated from high school in 1994. Beginning in my sophomore year I basically bullied freshman into answering the pay phone outside the main office and taking messages for me. They were then to hunt me down and deliver them. In exchange for their service, I got them onto the list of Untouchables - kids who were never to be beat up by seniors. When I graduated the school was so disgusted with how much time I spent monopolizing the pay phone that they TOOK IT OUT COMPLETELY.

Who was I calling, you may ask? That's an excellent question and I would love to tell you. Boys. Boys at other schools. Or friends, if they were home sick. I would cut class, call a friend and say "hey, you're not here," and they'd say "Yeah I'm home sick. I'll call you right back." Then I'd stand there and gab with them for the entire period.

[Anonymous]

My friends and I went traveling in Europe for 3 weeks in college. It was a v fun trip but one afternoon in Paris we all kind of needed a break from each other so we decided to do different things and meet at Pont Neuf bridge at a given time. I got there first and remembered sitting in the sunshine and being happy to see my 2 friends arrive in turn and tell them about my afternoon.

I always enjoy Renoir's Pont Neuf in the National Gallery of Art. It makes me think of that trip and my college friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends and I went traveling in Europe for 3 weeks in college. It was a v fun trip but one afternoon in Paris we all kind of needed a break from each other so we decided to do different things and meet at Pont Neuf bridge at a given time. I got there first and remembered sitting in the sunshine and being happy to see my 2 friends arrive in turn and tell them about my afternoon.

I always enjoy Renoir's Pont Neuf in the National Gallery of Art. It makes me think of that trip and my college friends.

I did this with two friends in Budapest after three weeks of travel and one didn’t show up. He was sick of us!

[Anonymous]

I am likely an old~timer here - 👵🏼, (52!)…..

But I actually miss certain aspects of “pre-cell phone” life.

It was so nice to not have to be “on” > if I wasn’t home an entire day, then I wasn’t home the entire day.
People who called me would just leave a message w/whomever answered the phone & that was that.

Now if someone does not hear back from me within an hour or so, they seem to panic or get annoyed.
People think it is your responsibility to get back to them after hearing a voicemail or reading a text message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's say you didn't know what time it was. There was a phone number you could call to give you the accurate time:

"At the tone the time will be [beeep] 8:26 PM"

I think there was maybe another number for the weather. Anyone remember this?

683-4111 was the number in my town. Time and Temperature.

In Northern Va, weather was WE6+any 4 digits!

I had a front desk receptionist desk in a local municipal office with multiple (3) phone lines. If I needed to make a personal call that might run for a few minutes, I’d call the weather number, place it on hold on both lines. The recording ran on a loop. Then I could make my outgoing call uninterrupted.

It was a horrible job and no - I really had no back-ups! Wasn’t allowed to leave the desk except for bathroom breaks and a very brief lunch. Usually had to call around to find someone so I could run to the bathroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people were more punctual before cell phones. Now you just text that you're running late but it used to be "meet me at the mall fountain - the one near Aeropostale - at 3:15".

Most people were, yes. I find it really annoying that people are now also more reluctant to set times and dates because it's so easy to reach people. When it's harder to connect, you do tend make specific arrangements like you mentioned.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a developing country where you had to drive into town to a central telecoms office to make international calls. My dad lived overseas for a while so my mom and I would have go to that place and stand in line and all that, just so we could have a chat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people were more punctual before cell phones. Now you just text that you're running late but it used to be "meet me at the mall fountain - the one near Aeropostale - at 3:15".

Most people were, yes. I find it really annoying that people are now also more reluctant to set times and dates because it's so easy to reach people. When it's harder to connect, you do tend make specific arrangements like you mentioned.

Well, at least now you don't have to sit right by the mall fountain the whole time. She texts and says she'll be late? You can go check out a store in the meantime. You're not going to have a missed connection.

This mall fountain story got me, because my sister had a friend who was always late, always kept her waiting by the mall fountain for like 30 minutes, and my sister would be so mad!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I met a young man at a bar one evening and we exchanged phone numbers, after a few chats we decided to meet up for lunch so made a plan for later that week.

We spoke that morning and agreed to meet on the corner of 17th and I, and then to walk together to grab lunch. We wanted to eat in the park at Farragut Sq. because it was a glorious spring day.

I was in my early 20s at that time, so shared with a few of my work friends that I was going to meet this young man for lunch. So I headed out, stood on the corner for about 15-20 mins, and then decided that I must have been stood up, so I grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the office.

When I got back there were 2 messages from the young man, explaining that he'd waited for me for about 20 mins, then gone back to the office and was told by a work friend that there were two 17th and I's and that I was probably on the other side, so he headed back out and waited another 20 mins.

When I called him back we both had a good chuckle and agreed that we would try again.

A few hours later I got a call from the front desk, I had a flower delivery waiting for me. The young man had sent flowers along with a short note.

Yes, dating was more difficult to coordinate pre-cell phone but I can't help but think that something has been lost in the ease of it all.

In my 20s, I went on a lot of dates, but honestly, most of them were really good ones, nothing like the horror stories you hear about today. Perhaps having to expend effort and energy on something makes you value it more.

What a nice guy! Did it lead to a relationship or no?

[Anonymous]

My husband hates shopping and I love shopping. He dropped me off at a store and said he will go for a walk nearby and come back after an hour and asked me to wait at the entrance.

Problem was we didn't tell each other which entrance. I was at the side entrance and he was at the front and both getting annoyed increasingly after 30 min. Then we both did rounds inside the store thinking maybe the other is searching inside. Finally we met after one person stayed put. An hour wasted and this would not have happened if we had a cell phone.