My family had a 4-party line with a black rotary dial desk phone back in the 1950s. I had to get permission to make a call and my mother always answered and screened incoming calls before I was allowed to talk. Those were the rules. Today every kid from 4 years old on up has unrestricted access to a smart phone and therefore to every pervert wanting to lure them into a bad situation. That's evolution at work I guess.
Knew some TPA (Telephone Pioneers of America) ladies, long retired, who told all sorts of strange and funny stories, from constant feuds heard by everyone on party line to emergency calls long before 911 or any training to handle them. One lady worked in a very rural area where the phone lines were actually miles of barbed wire fences running through fields and cattle areas.
We had our phone in the kitchen and mom answered it, all conversations were done there.... We had family friends that had a party line as late as the mid 70s.. Just like cars you could fix in your driveway those phones as basic no frills as possible.. JD
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My family had a 4-party line with a black rotary dial desk phone back in the 1950s. I had to get permission to make a call and my mother always answered and screened incoming calls before I was allowed to talk. Those were the rules. Today every kid from 4 years old on up has unrestricted access to a smart phone and therefore to every pervert wanting to lure them into a bad situation. That's evolution at work I guess.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was a Bell operator for many years. She always had the greatest stories .
ReplyDeleteOne ringy-dingy, two ringy dingy.....
DeleteIs this the party to whom I'm speaking?
DeleteKnew some TPA (Telephone Pioneers of America) ladies, long retired, who told all sorts of strange and funny stories, from constant feuds heard by everyone on party line to emergency calls long before 911 or any training to handle them. One lady worked in a very rural area where the phone lines were actually miles of barbed wire fences running through fields and cattle areas.
ReplyDeleteI still have my folks phone. Basic black, probably weighs 5 lbs, and when I had a landline, it still worked.
ReplyDelete-lg
I have the magneto out of one of those old hand crank phones and once I turned it about 1/8th of a crank while I was holding it. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteWe had our phone in the kitchen and mom answered it, all conversations were done there.... We had family friends that had a party line as late as the mid 70s.. Just like cars you could fix in your driveway those phones as basic no frills as possible..
ReplyDeleteJD