Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lol! 🤣🤣🤣

OP, that story is hilarious!!

Here’s mine:
A neighbor/friend & her family had planned on going to Disneyland w/my family.
Since our kids were close friends - they were all super excited + couldn’t wait.

Well we decided to follow each other there on the freeway.
On our way there, my friend suddenly and unexpectedly pulled off the road prior to entering the freeway.
I was confused yet by the time I actually took notice > there was no way for me to pull off the entrance to the freeway so I continued on my route, assuming they would eventually catch up.
I even drove in the right, slower lane.

Well we arrived at Disneyland & still no sight of them.
We all entered the amusement park thinking we would see each other eventually, right??
W-R-O-N-G!
We spent the entire day there + never ran into them.
My kids were bummed out and wanted to leave early since they had wanted to spend their time there hanging out w/their friends, not boring old Mom.

Well the next day I asked my friend why she had not entered the freeway when I did.
Her response?
That while driving she had noticed that she was low on gas and had to stop off at the gas station before entering the freeway.

Looking back, I think to myself….
“If only we had had cell phones back then….the trajectory of our day would have been so much better.”

Sheesh.

Confused- Did they get to Disney or not? And had you really not set out a couple meeting places and times prior to the trip? You really thought you would make the whole trip without getting separated?

Yes, after getting gas my friend & her family did go to Disney.
Like us - they had also assumed that they would run into us as well.

Yes > in hindsight we should have set up a place to meet in the event that we got separated.
(Bad planning!)

I also wish my friend would have let me know ahead of time that she needed to stop for gas, but I can understand how sometimes people do not think about this until they are in their car.

Oh well.
We laugh about it now, twenty years later……

Anonymous wrote:As a kid someone taught me this hack: dial 999 then last 4 digits of your number then hang up. It made the phone ring! Well that was entertainment before the internet.

I remember that!

I've known young people who don't understand the difference between the phone port on a printer/fax and the ethernet port, and if they can't fax (assuming this is not a place with VOIP phone systems) they think it's the internet down.

As a kid someone taught me this hack: dial 999 then last 4 digits of your number then hang up. It made the phone ring! Well that was entertainment before the internet.

Before cell phones I used to call a girlfriend just across the state border (15 miles away) and it cost me 15 cents per minute. Then every month I would pay 2 phone bills. One for local and the other for long distance.

I remember flying to college and whenever I had a connection and the flight was delayed, we would all run from the plane to the bank of pay phones (calling card!) to call the people picking us up to let them know we would be late.

I still don't like picking up people from the airport but back then you didn't know a flight was late unless you remembered to call the airline (and had all the flight info). And then you still had to try to estimate and guess if they had luggage, what time they would actually get to the curb, etc. There were definitely times when we totally missed each other. However, if you parked back then, you could actually meet people at their gate!

Anonymous wrote:My mom once pointed out that, if there had been cellphones (or even landlines) in Shakespeare’s time, none of his plots would have worked out.

The Tempest?

I remember the account numbers for long-distance calls in college. We had room phones in the dorms but long-distance calls were pricy. My parents ( and many others) had account numbers that we would use to call home long distance. You had to call a main number and, when prompted, press the account number and the call would be billed to our parents. I imagine it was a better deal than calling collect and that was why they were used. We weren’t allowed to make unlimited calls to our friends under our parents’rules, so there was whole number-theft scam that we used in order to have long phone calls with long-distance friends. The account numbers were a certain length and had certain conventions. We would alter some digits and keep trying until a valid one went through. You could write it down and use it a couple of times but had to keep changing numbers so as not to get caught. I had friends who got lazy and would repeatedly use the same number when they found a valid one, or worse, share it among friends. They would inevitably get caught. The account owner would see too many calls that they obviously didn’t make, dispute them, and the phone company would investigate and trace. A friend racked up a pretty hefty bill that she had to eventually pay. I was judicious about my phone fraud, haha, and never got caught. I remember I used a Sprint number.

I think that has been the extent of my criminal activities. (Well, and using fake IDs… ooops)

Calling cards. The world seemed to revolve around pre-paid calling cards. When I had my son, I used a calling card to call my parents from the phone in my room. Arrive at Grand Central and need to call your grandmother that you're on your way? Calling card from the pay phone. Using the sole pay phone in your dorm? Calling card. I'm glad we've moved beyond those things!

My mom once pointed out that, if there had been cellphones (or even landlines) in Shakespeare’s time, none of his plots would have worked out.

Anonymous wrote:On 9/11/01, all of the local landlines were jammed and you’d get either a busy signal or a tone with a recording, “dooo dooo dooo…all circuits are busy”

This lent to the eeriness and terrifying aspect of this horrific day in the DC area.

Something this generation will never hear or recognize: a busy signal.

I once left my apartment phone off the hook for an entire day because I didn’t want my boss to reach me on a Saturday and call me into work.

Funny, I remember the opposite. Our cell phones were getting the message that all circuits were busy but our landline worked.

I have a very old phone in my house, from the 1950's, and when that thing rings you can hear it in the yard. You also can't adjust the volume of the ring in any way. Even though it is rotary it was modified so that you can still use it to make calls. Kids love seeing it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, so many!

My grandparents often made a three hour drive to visit us. My grandmother always wrote out a note and pinned (with a straight pin) it to the rear passenger seat:

“We are Lyle and Lily Larlo, ages 76 and 77, on our way to visit our daughter Jane at 123 Main St, Rico Suave, CA. Her phone number is (123)456-7890.”

Also, before my grandparents would leave their house, my GF would call the State Police barracks adjacent to a steep mountain pass to ask for a weather report. This was a common customer question as the location was prone to becoming impassable during high winds, snow or rain. If the trooper at dispatch gave the all-clear, they’d leave.

But, they’d call our house phone and let it ring 4 times and hang up - our signal that they were leaving and so we could start timing their arrival.

We’d do the opposite when we’d arrive safely home - let their house phone ring 4x and hang up. No long distance charge this way.

How would the family know not to pick up the phone if your grandparents were calling to let it ring 4 times?

Pre-answering machine days the phone would just ring and ring. So they would likely let it ring four times. If it rang a fifth they would answer.

Anonymous wrote:PP and no area codes unless you were calling long distance.

I grew up in Fairfax County and the first 3 numbers in a phone number were hyper regional.

I remember:

971-Springfield Mall stores
569-West Springfield
455-WS
644-Orange Hunt area of WS
250-Burke
255-Vienna
281-Vienna

I remember when they switched to needing to use area codes all the time- I was in high school and heard it on the radio, and it was April Fools day, so I assumed it was a joke.

PP and no area codes unless you were calling long distance.

I grew up in Fairfax County and the first 3 numbers in a phone number were hyper regional.

I remember:

971-Springfield Mall stores
569-West Springfield
455-WS
644-Orange Hunt area of WS
250-Burke
255-Vienna
281-Vienna

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, so many!

My grandparents often made a three hour drive to visit us. My grandmother always wrote out a note and pinned (with a straight pin) it to the rear passenger seat:

“We are Lyle and Lily Larlo, ages 76 and 77, on our way to visit our daughter Jane at 123 Main St, Rico Suave, CA. Her phone number is (123)456-7890.”

Also, before my grandparents would leave their house, my GF would call the State Police barracks adjacent to a steep mountain pass to ask for a weather report. This was a common customer question as the location was prone to becoming impassable during high winds, snow or rain. If the trooper at dispatch gave the all-clear, they’d leave.

But, they’d call our house phone and let it ring 4 times and hang up - our signal that they were leaving and so we could start timing their arrival.

We’d do the opposite when we’d arrive safely home - let their house phone ring 4x and hang up. No long distance charge this way.

How would the family know not to pick up the phone if your grandparents were calling to let it ring 4 times?

This PP. Phones didn’t ring all the time. We’d generally know that our grandparents would be home 4 hours later. So, if our phone rang 4 times and stopped, it was our grandparents. If it rang a 5th time, we’d pick up.

DH family took it a more complicated step further; his grandparents and parents would collect call using a code name. The operator would call, someone would answer and then the operator would announce “Collect call from Mr. Crabapple, will you accept the call?” You’d say no that you wouldn’t accept and no charge for the call. Sometimes, you might be able to talk over the operator and get in a quick “love you!”