Posted on 03/29/2021 11:36:20 AM PDT by OneVike
My grandma would yell at us kids if we'd pick up the receiver. "It costs money!" she'd yell.
I do recall calling the operator when I was about 8 and asking for help with homework. Miss those days with a real live person on the other end.
Slaming down the receiver is such a lost art right now.
i worked as a answering service operator a year after high school.
and anyone remember Dr Hook- Sylvia’s Mother??
My Mother-in-law at the time in the ‘90s had an old rotary phone and lived in a tiny town. She didn’t really understand caller ID. When she called I would say in a deep, scary voice “Hell, Fran.” She would always get a little scared and say “Don’t do that!”
My husband was playing this in our car, and one of the young girl passengers asked WHAT’s an operator, and why is she asking for money??
We cracked up and just said “another time along time ago”!
A long time ago, I was one of those live phone operators.
I remember the crank telephone on the wall in the downstairs hall in southern York County, PA, which was considered the boonies. We were on Line 17. It was a “party line” with a half dozen neighbors all on the same line. If we wanted to ring someone on that line we could ring it ourselves. Our number was 17-R-13. (one long and three shorts). Groves’ number was 17-R-3. (Three shorts). To ring the Grove house we’d give 3 short cranks: ding-ding-ding. When anyone on our line got a call, all the others’ phones rang too. Our ring was one looong riiiing and 3 shorts. You only picked up the receiver if it was your ring.....unless you wanted to eavesdrop on a neighbor’s call.
To make a call to someone on a different line, or a long distance call, you’d give one looong ring and one of our local operators; older ladies, Ordella Hess or Nettie Slenker would pick up and connect the call for you. One was on days and the other on nights. It was that way when I enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army in 1957. When I came back in 1961 there were still “party” lines, but we had dial-up phones. Within a few years we all had private lines.
Had a young ATT guy come to the door and promise me the absolute bestest services bundle of TV, Internet and PHONE!
Told him they would be the last people I ever dealt with.
Asked him if he knew of Ma Bell and he didn’t. Explained what a hardass company they were and I vowed I would never deal with them again. He just was flumoxed.
But after 40 years the crap they pulled and the money they charged still rankled.
He left shaking his head...and I was shaking mine.
Now that’s cool
DUnkirk 6-9358... My folks had that number for 50+ years...
Oh wow.
So, do you have any memories to share about callers?
I was born in “56”, and I remember in 1094 we had a two person party line. I was pretty young still, but I do remember my Mom telling my older siblings to not to hog the phone because the other lady, (don’t recall her name) was complaining that every time she needed it it was busy, or she was sure one of us were listening in on her call. That I know was happening, because my brothers would laugh when they did.
Tucker, you must be in your mid 80”s I guess. Am I right?
I heard that song the other day. Hadn’t heard it in years!
My wife’s grandfather owned a few thousand shares of Ma Bell, when they were split up, they owned shares in all of them. By the time they died they had some good stocks to pass down to their son, my wife’s father.
Ever ask them if they thought it interesting their number was the same name as the battle of Dunkirk where the British escaped Nazi Germany in 1940?
Good for you.
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