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Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:40:47 PM EST
[#1]
Back in the day, I knew which pay phones could receive a call back, for when I paged my boss.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:44:43 PM EST
[#2]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I carried change in my shoe.
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Wow . . . you actually owned shoes ?  ?  ?


Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:45:42 PM EST
[#3]
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Quoted:



Wow . . . you actually owned shoes ?  ?  ?


View Quote View All Quotes
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
I carried change in my shoe.



Wow . . . you actually owned shoes ?  ?  ?


And owned my own bicycle, too.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:49:34 PM EST
[#4]


It seemed cleaner that way.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:53:23 PM EST
[#5]
I have
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:55:12 PM EST
[#6]
In my garage

Attachment Attached File
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 8:58:19 PM EST
[#7]
Kept Dimes in our Penny Loafers in Grade School. Only good for local calls. There is actually a pay phone at a grocery in this town.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:10:20 PM EST
[#8]
Remember the 10-10 numbers to "save" money on long distance?


Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:13:48 PM EST
[#9]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Yeah. I’d wipe the receiver off on my shirt first though.
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Came to post this. I’ve used them many times and it always grossed me out. I never let the handset touch my face.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:17:28 PM EST
[#10]
Absolutely.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:20:34 PM EST
[#11]
We didn't even have rotary dial phones until around 1950. You picked up the handset and "Central" asked "Number Please?"
Our home phone number was 371 and Dad's office was 103.

Central:

Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:21:26 PM EST
[#12]
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:22:21 PM EST
[#13]
I was born in 1955. 'Nuff said.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:26:28 PM EST
[#14]
I used the jackpot telephone a lot.  Call home collect for MikeJGa.  My parents would refuse the call, but know I was OK, but running late ??
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:27:04 PM EST
[#15]
My kids are in their later 20s and I doubt they've ever used a payphone.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:29:26 PM EST
[#16]
Not only have I used pay phones, I could bang nickels.  I was such a little hoodlum.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:34:10 PM EST
[#17]
Saw one long ago at the courthouse that still worked.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:36:18 PM EST
[#18]
When AT&% broke up in 1984, 1 out of 8 people in this country worked for AT&T or the subsiderary companies they had that made phones and other stuff. Largest company in the world at that time. Larger than Exxon, Chevron and a few other companies combined.

Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:49:30 PM EST
[#19]
I remember1980s pre internet e commerce conducted on a pay phone during my coffee break with an AT&T calling card and a credit card. That was so slick.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:53:30 PM EST
[#20]
I kept a roll of quarters in my work truck up until 2008 or so.  One area I serviced (still do), was way out in the mountains, had no cell towers, and my work was often on off hours so there weren't any phones to borrow.  It was $3.00 in quarters just to connect, then $1.00 a minute after that.  It was a colossal pain, but far enough from the time when I had a calling card to go back to using it.  I did have an AT&T Universal credit card that had a long distance calling number, and I ended up using that until that area finally got cell service.  Then, I had a Verizon phone for just that area, it was the only provider.  Just last month I ported that phone over to AT&T since all our work phones are with them, and all phones work up there now.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:56:11 PM EST
[#21]
I used to own a few they BBC we installed on construction sites. I would always find at least one silver coin at each clean out.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:56:18 PM EST
[#22]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I frequently would spend all my money on the vending machines after school then have to scrounge around under it or under the bleachers to find a dime to call home.
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"You have a collect call from 'comegetme!'"

Some days nothing was under the bleachers


Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:58:07 PM EST
[#23]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Saw one long ago at the courthouse that still worked.
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I forget where I saw it. Some place (restaurant/bar) had the The half sphere thing. I don't know if it worked.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 9:58:49 PM EST
[#24]
Cutoff is about 30 years old.  Anyone under that has never used a payphone, and likely never seen a payphone outside a movie.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:00:57 PM EST
[#25]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I frequently would spend all my money on the vending machines after school then have to scrounge around under it or under the bleachers to find a dime to call home.
View Quote


+1

I remember when it was a dime to make a phone call.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:01:34 PM EST
[#26]
Down in Laveen, AZ, there is still an active pay phone. Thats the only one I know pf that is left.

Used them more times than the current population of recent college grads retards have balanced a check book and changed a tire.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:02:41 PM EST
[#27]
I remember my grandma putting in the coins and calling my mom from Wal-mart and letting me talk to her.  That's about it
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:07:53 PM EST
[#28]
Back in the day it was the original cell phone.

What else were you going to use?
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:08:02 PM EST
[#29]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
My parents would drop me off at the movie theater when I was in middle school.

When the movie was over I would drop a dime in the lobby pay phone, call my house, let it ring twice and then hang up.  
Rotary dial, not the new fangeled touch-tone phones. That was the signal that I was ready to get picked up.  


We saved a lot of dimes that way.



View Quote


Sure I’m beat, but we did a similar thing in the late 90s/early 2000s. Would make a collect call home after wrestling practice. Parents never accepted the call and associated charge, but knew it was time to drive to school to pick me up.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:10:14 PM EST
[#30]
Drop a dime, call the operator. Tell her you have .10 credit. You got your dime back and a dial tone.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:10:46 PM EST
[#31]
I always dread forgetting my phone.  At least back in the day, it didn't matter.  Their was a pay phone on every corner and gas station.  Now, if you forget your phone, you're screwed and are at the mercy of walking into a business and asking to borrow a phone.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:10:48 PM EST
[#32]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Back in the day it was the original cell phone.

What else were you going to use?
View Quote
How did we survive?



Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:15:51 PM EST
[#33]
I miss those days
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:19:01 PM EST
[#34]
I used to walk to the payphone to call my girlfriend back in 2000. Seems like forever ago. I think that's the last time I used one.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:21:24 PM EST
[#35]
Not since I was maybe 10 years old.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:21:53 PM EST
[#36]
Oh yes. High school me used to drive around town until I got the courage to call girls that were out of my league and ask for a date. Sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn't.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:22:51 PM EST
[#37]
Of course.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:23:26 PM EST
[#38]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I have.  Use to say, "It's your dime" inreference to it being a dime to make a call.

Even used one once to get a unit to take a custody I just fought to the popo house.  No cell phone (they were around, but I wouldn't have one).
View Quote
Originally it was, "it's your nickel" until they raised it to a dime.

Attachment Attached File

Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:24:58 PM EST
[#39]
Cell phones weren't really a thing much the first 30+ years of my life. I rarely used a pay phone. I just waited to call someone when I was at the house.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:41:15 PM EST
[#40]
I used to keep a film can full of quarters in my school bag for just that purpose.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:48:23 PM EST
[#41]
The original search engine.

I bet most local small businesses are not even known about these days.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:49:26 PM EST
[#42]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
i use to even have an ATT calling card too
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Those were the days.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:51:39 PM EST
[#43]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The original search engine.

I bet most local small businesses are not even known about these days.
https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2013/11/29/22/Hibu-rx.jpg?width=1200
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Remember crank calling?

Massage parlors and escort services were fun to troll.

uh, so I have heard. From other kids.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:51:52 PM EST
[#44]
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:53:01 PM EST
[#45]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
A quarter ?
I remember when it was a dime.
View Quote

This.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:53:27 PM EST
[#46]
Yes calling collect.   Many times in Middle School waiting to be picked up from Sports. When asked who was calling I would say pick me up. LOL
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:54:37 PM EST
[#47]
They used to make such handy restrooms, too.
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:55:09 PM EST
[#48]
we have one Phone booth left in town...the phone is long gone

I honestly wish we would go back to the days of pay phones, rotary dials, note pads on doors, calling the bar looking for your dad(or mom)

Link Posted: 4/27/2021 10:56:53 PM EST
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Drop a dime, call the operator. Tell her you have .10 credit. You got your dime back and a dial tone.
View Quote


Omg,  yes i totally forgot about that. Hahahaha
Link Posted: 4/27/2021 11:00:12 PM EST
[#50]
I went to a boarding high school where there was only one payphone on every floor in the dorm.  My brother would call me from home.  He would call me “collect.”  So the phone company was actually paying for the call!

College in DC we had an 800 number from someone’s mom who was a HUGE lib  senator at the time  and everybody used it for free calls.
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