I'm so old I've...

[Lainey]

I think when Mrs-M started this thread it said something about dialing a rotary phone. Last night while lying awake in bed I thought of how when we used to make a long distance call we had to go through an operator, and also there was the option of a person-to-person call. Wasn't there some other things we could designate? Please help me out with this if you remember operator assisted calls. Oh yes, you could call collect and hope the person on the other end would accept the charges!

I remember that the operator would "break into" your call if you told them it was an emergency and the other person's phone was busy.

[JaneV2.0]

Third-number or credit card billing, conference calls, marine or land mobile, foreign-language operator assistance...I worked my way through college on a switchboard.

[Gregg]

I remember the operator always asking if the call was "person to person" or "station to station". I'm pretty sure p2p was more expensive.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I remember the operator always asking if the call was "person to person" or "station to station". I'm pretty sure p2p was more expensive.

Yes, person to person was more expensive. I had completely forgotten what the other alternative was called, but you're right: station to station!

[IshbelRobertson]

I remember when many of the telephone calls in British cities were on 'party lines'. You just KNEW that the other 'party' was listening in on most of your calls! We all gave a sigh of thankfulness when there was enough capacity to allow you to have a dedicated line for your telephone.

[pony mom]

The phone in our kitchen has a cord, and a pretty short one. Makes talking on the phone while doing anything in the kitchen pretty impossible.

Remember when the front seats of cars had really low backs, too low for even a headrest? My dad's 1969 VW Beetle was like that; it also had the seats that were proven to slide towards the windshield when in a crash. But it did have those nifty little side windows that cranked open.

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Lainey.
I remember that the operator would "break into" your call if you told them it was an emergency and the other person's phone was busy.

Yes, I remember that, too.

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Pony Mom.
The phone in our kitchen has a cord, and a pretty short one. Makes talking on the phone while doing anything in the kitchen pretty impossible.

LOL! In our old home we had a wall-mount telephone, and I MADE that poor old cord do it's thing! ROTFLMAO!!! I'd stretch it for all it's worth, all the way around the fridge to get at the coffeemaker, because setting the phone down for a moment wasn't an option (LOL!), and if I needed a cigarette, I'd stretch the cord to the fullest, then holding the receiver part of the telephone with my outstretched arm/hand, I'd stretch my other arm out as full as it would go, and pluck my cigarettes from the table!

I remember the stages that took place over the course of a long telephone conversation. With no chair to sit down on, I'd start off standing until I got restless, then I'd progress to sitting down on the floor till my bum would go numb! Then when the call was over, I'd labor to stand again, because every joint and muscle in my lower body had stiffened. Those were the days...

[Gregg]

But it did have those nifty little side windows that cranked open.

Ah yea, those were the ones the smokers in my family barely cracked open in cold weather. Sucked the smoke right out! I remember cranking them all the way open (basically backwards) to funnel the wind right at me in hot weather when the old 4-60 air conditioning wasn't enough.

Our kitchen phone had a cord that must have been 30' long. Dad got it for Mom so she could talk while she was at the stove. It was huge and piled up on the floor, but it was so twisted and tangled that the effective length was probably closer to 3'.

[Mrs-M]

Yeah, those old fly-windows worked fantastic in sucking out smoke!