Ask them if they've ever made or heard of a "collect call". Then explain how it worked. My kids were blown away by the fact this was recently a real thing.
Here's another good one to blow the minds of people under 30.
- Thread starter FAUlty Gator
- Start date
Damon Wayans was the first one that came to my mind.
That’s a good one.
Not long ago I mentioned prepaid calling cards and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Also were discussing having roommates in college snd afterwards and how you’d have to go over the phone bill each month and figure out which long-distance calls belonged to which roommate.
Not long ago I mentioned prepaid calling cards and they looked at me like I had two heads.
Also were discussing having roommates in college snd afterwards and how you’d have to go over the phone bill each month and figure out which long-distance calls belonged to which roommate.
Completely forgot about that. Each call showed phone number and the town the landline called was located in and that’s how you figured it out.
Another thing kids today wouldn’t understand…I was in sales out of Iowa. I had to always have a sleeve or two of quarters in my car to make phone calls when on the road.
When OP's mom calls them from prison.
At 3:00 AM my dad actually accepted a collect call from one of my friends who in Italy and extremely drunk. He actually talked to the idiot. I was living in Tulsa and was not there.
My kids couldn't believe we had 3 channels and our TV was 19". Hell my 8 year old didn't know what commercials were, he was so frustrated when they kept coming on at my parents house.
I was in high school when I saw color TV for the first time.
This has been stuck in my head since the Clinton Administration.
I was out of HS when I saw my first cell phone, and it was a motorola brick
So much retro about the telecom industry
The banks of booths with pay phones. Or the (usually) shady ass gas station with the pay phone you could use from your car.
Having a “long distance carrier”.
The landline phones with the 20’ cord that could stretch all over the kitchen.
The banks of booths with pay phones. Or the (usually) shady ass gas station with the pay phone you could use from your car.
Having a “long distance carrier”.
The landline phones with the 20’ cord that could stretch all over the kitchen.
Not sure why phone booths went away. It would be awesome to have an enclosed space where you could talk on the phone comfortably away from crowd or motor vehicle noises.
I was at a friend’s house in 8th grade. I tried really really hard not to show that I was completely amazed.
My Dad worked for “the phone company” and I vaguely recall that we temporarily relocated twice to really small towns in the 50’s when he headed up a team of installers when they finally got away from old fashioned central switchboards to dial phones you could dial directly to the persons house. The transition had been set back several years because of WWII and these small Southern towns were just catching up. I remember Daddy would call his parents after 7 PM when long distance rates went down but people always had to go through the operator.
I still remember my grandparents phone number all these years later. 📞 And all the phones were those big black desktop dial phones.
By the time I was in high school I had a private line in my bedroom with a white Princess phone. 😎
I still remember my grandparents phone number all these years later. 📞 And all the phones were those big black desktop dial phones.
By the time I was in high school I had a private line in my bedroom with a white Princess phone. 😎
Yup, 5 digit phone numbers. Ours was 28204. Had a party line with multiple users, you would have to wait until the person using it hung up to make a call. It was great for hearing other people gossip. Sort of the Facebook of the 50’s.
Ask them if they know why you used to dial zero for the operator. Or, perhaps, quiz them if they know about calling distant folks on “nights and weekends” for lower rates. Use of a pay phone…
There was some “line” that peeps at FSU could utilize that was free for long distance. My buddies would go to their parents office “after hours” to utilize it. This was a business/corporate something or other perk.
I remember those first “mobile phones” in cars. And something called “roaming charges”.
At my brother in law’s wedding reception his grandmother asked my daughter to use her camera to take photos. Daughter ran over to our table to ask how to use this “antique” and couldn’t stop laughing because it had film in it. She had never seen a camera with film. That was about 10 years ago she was 18.
Not to get all nostalgic, but this reminds me of when radio DJs were live and you could actually get through to them. Dialing in to win albums or concert tickets, song requests.
Sometimes I feel like those of us in Gen X bridged that gap between old school and new tech - it’s cool to have seen and lived both.
Sometimes I feel like those of us in Gen X bridged that gap between old school and new tech - it’s cool to have seen and lived both.
agreed but for some reason i have always had a huge problem with the term generation X . I dunno. I think it has to do with a long time ago I heard an art bell or george noory show on generations. I mean it was like early 2000's. {speaking of radio DJ's ha ha } anyway it's a long story but I never thought of myself as gen X even though I fall basically into those years of being born after 1964, and most think baby boomers are like 44-64 birth yr
A little more recent, but nostalgic.
Cell phones with free minutes after 9pm. I used a calling card to call my GF in college, until I convinced my roommate to let me use his cell that has free minutes after 9pm!
Oh and when you didn't have unlimited text. I think it was 5 cents per outgoing text, so my cheep a$$ would call everyone back that texted me! Back when you'd actually talk on your cell phone more that text...
Cell phones with free minutes after 9pm. I used a calling card to call my GF in college, until I convinced my roommate to let me use his cell that has free minutes after 9pm!
Oh and when you didn't have unlimited text. I think it was 5 cents per outgoing text, so my cheep a$$ would call everyone back that texted me! Back when you'd actually talk on your cell phone more that text...
This brings me back to the my pre-teen days where Mom would drop us off at the Old Capital Mall with 10 dollars and we would spend hours cycling between Sam Goody, Aladdin's Castle, and Arby's before running out of money and hitting up the payphones to call her back for a ride home via 1-800-COLLECT. We were royalty.
Over the holidays we had this conversation. Oldest is 21. They were laughing at having to time hitting record on a tape deck to get the song you wanted while being played on the radio. Couldn’t fathom tapes for music/movies… and that they could break or stretch when it was too hot in your car which ruined them. Or having to go to a store to buy music/movies… and when you bought music you had to buy the whole album. Phones on the walls. Writing notes to girls/boys and passing them in class or between classes. Dial up internet. Going to the video store to rent movies or games. Not being able to play games online versus other people. Writing letters and going to the post office/using stamps. I’m sure there’s more, but these are some of the stuff they thought was strange and/or funny.
I am a junk collector. one of my things is 8 track tapes. got several players and one can still buy the belts and repair them , but I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I still collect 8 track tapes from flea markets and what not. waiting till I finally repair a player someday{ probably not}
anyways just grabbed one off the top of my collection/recent finds: appears to be CARS first album, best friend's girl is first song, 1978, elektra-asylum records. black in color. cool story bro!!
anyways just grabbed one off the top of my collection/recent finds: appears to be CARS first album, best friend's girl is first song, 1978, elektra-asylum records. black in color. cool story bro!!
When I was very young we had “person-to-person” collect calls where you asked for a specific person by name. Only that person could authorize the collect charge.
It was a three hour drive to my grandparents’ house. So when we would visit and then return home, my mother would make a “person-to-person” collect call to my grandparents’ house. My grandmother would answer, the operator would inform her that she had a collect call for ‘Steve’, and my grandmother would respond “I’m sorry but there’s no one here by that name.”
Both parties would then hang up, my grandmother knew we made it home safely, and no one got charged for the call.
It was a three hour drive to my grandparents’ house. So when we would visit and then return home, my mother would make a “person-to-person” collect call to my grandparents’ house. My grandmother would answer, the operator would inform her that she had a collect call for ‘Steve’, and my grandmother would respond “I’m sorry but there’s no one here by that name.”
Both parties would then hang up, my grandmother knew we made it home safely, and no one got charged for the call.
How many of us still have CD’s and cars that no longer have CD players? Remember those CD holders you could put on the visors?
There used to be a store on Riverside drive ( recently torn down after becoming a video store ) years ago that sold pirated 8 tracks that would have all the hits on one tape, maybe 18 songs and 18 artists...
If I got in trouble away from home as a kid, collect calls were usually my only way to contact my parents and if they were mad at me it wasn't a guarantee that they would accept. I remember trying to argue with the operator to put the call through. "I'm sorry dear, he said no again".
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Back when I was a kid, my grandfather had a giant 70s buick with an 8 track player. His 8 track collection was mostly from my aunts and uncles so it was stuff like the beatles, led zeppelin, rush etc.. so my early music tastes were formed from those car rides in the summer.
When I was in college, it was cheaper for my parents to call me instead of using the U of I's calling system (remember having to dial your unique code to call long distance?). So I would call my parents collect. It was always hilarious to hear the operator's reaction when my parents refused the collect call from their son! My parents would then call me back, thus saving money.
