PHONE FLIRTING IN THE OLDEN DAYS

PHONE FLIRTING IN THE OLDEN DAYS

A recent post and comments got me to thinking about how phones have changed since the days of my youth. 

In the olden days, when moms stayed home and dusted the furniture while wearing a fine dress and pearls, when children played outside until the bell rang for dinner and when dad sat at the head of the dinner table in a jacket and tie with the big piece of chicken; our home had only one phone.

We had one of these

 

That’s right, one phone.  A black one with a rotary dial, it was attached to the end of a cord on a small table in mom and dad’s bedroom.  We only had one phone because we didn’t own it, it was rented from AT+T for $2.35 a month.  It was an extra dollar a month for a different color and lord only knows what rich people paid for touch tone when they came along.

Grandma and Grandpa had one of these.

When the phone rang, there was no caller ID, and the ring was the same for every caller.  The ring was also impossible to ignore, it was kind of like a fire engine.  When the phone rang and no one was expecting a call, the youngest family member was chosen to answer it.  That would have been me.

Hey! How Friggin old do you think I am?

 

“Joe, get that will ya?” (That was not a question.)

There was no reason to run for the phone, it would never shut off and go to answer machine mode, it would ring until the caller decided you were not home.  If the caller knew someone must be home, he would ring forever.  It was traditional to talk to the phone on the way to answering it.

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

There were occasional wrong numbers, but no annoying solicitation calls.  If the caller was Aunt Eleanor from California, mom was summoned  post haste…long distance cost the caller big bucks.  You could always hear both ends of that call from the Aunt in California because old people were convinced that if you did not yell into the phone there was no way the sound could travel all the way across country.

As a teen, no caller ID made it possible to call a girl and hang up multiple times while getting up your courage.  For some reason when you called a girl, the father always answered, probably the multiple hang up thing got the father riled up a bit.

“Hello.”

“Ah er is Jane home.” (In the olden days girls were named Jane.)

“Who is calling?”

“Ah…Joe…from school.”

“JANE, some boy from school…says his name is Joe…calling for you.”

I always wonder why they called out “says his name is Joe” why would I lie? 

“Hello.”                                                

“Ah hi Jane, its Joe from school…the Joe in the third row behind Alice.” (In the olden days there were lots of Joes; girls were also named Alice.”)

“Oh yeah…waddaya want?”

“Oh umm did you get the answer to number seven in the math assignment?”

“Yes.”

“Ok then, thanks, see you tomorrow.”

Oh my god, (in those days we talked with full words) what have I done.  I think I may have to miss school tomorrow.

Ring Ring, Ring Ring

“Hello.”

“Twenty-six.”

“What?”

“It’s Jane, the answer to number 7 is twenty-six.”

“Oh, ok, thanks, see you tomorrow.”

Oh my god, I can’t wait to get to school tomorrow.