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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhen I was young, things didn\u2019t work that way. When I was young, there was a telephone booth on just about every corner. I remember in Maysville, we had a pay phone attached to a pole downtown. these phones looked like big black boxes, with slots at the top for nickels, dimes and quarters. They had a rotary dial and a slot at the bottom where money could be returned to the caller. The phones only accepted coins \u2014 you couldn\u2019t use paper money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You had to know everyone\u2019s telephone number, or look it up in a phone book. There was usually a big phone book hanging by a chain on the pay phone \u2014 they were usually torn and dirty because they were used by everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you didn\u2019t have money, you could \u201ccall collect.\u201d You\u2019d place a call through the operator who, in turn, asked the person on the receiving end whether he or she would accept the charge. A lot of people used the \u201ccall collect\u201d method of letting someone know they\u2019d arrived at their destination. If that was the plan, the collect call would be rejected \u2014 it was a good way to indicate that someone had arrived safely without the cost of a call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was a kid I remember going from pay phone to pay phone to see if someone had left money in the coin return slot.
Of course today, telephone booths and pay phones are quickly fading away. I\u2019ve been told there are several phone booths in our area, but I don\u2019t remember seeing them. For me, telephone booths are one of the things that bring back memories. If I could find one, and I had the room, I\u2019d like to have one in my office.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as long as pay phones and telephones still exist and for those of us who still have land line phones at home \u2014 it\u2019s a day to celebrate.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This month there are two \u201cPhone Days.\u201d Well, actually, only one day, but two separate, but related subjects. March 10 is International Find a Phone Booth Day and National Landline Day. Both events celebrate telephones that are, or soon will … Continue reading