Remember Ma Bell?

[Mrs. Robinson]

The phone bill was nice and easy.

The phone bill was nice and easy.

Unless you had a teenage girl in the house in the 80s. A girl who discovered something called "Party Lines". No,not the party lines that many of us grew up with-this was a way to talk to other kids all over the Country by clicking the "hang up button" (what the heck was that called lol?) which connected several lines at once. I never did figure out how in the heck they did it. Anyway,this went on for a few weeks until our bedside phone rang one night at midnight and hubby answered it.Some guy asking for our daughter. "Who is this?" hubby demanded. "Larry," "Larry who?" "Larry from Detroit."

But that wasn`t the end of the subject. Our next phone bill arrived. It was in an expandable envelope. I thought "This is weird." Well,it had to be an expandable envelope to fit the I don`t remember how many page,$800.00 phone bill! That girl took on A LOT of babysitting jobs to pay us back for that one!

 

[JB in SC]

Ah the twisted pair....(telephone line for those that have never heard the term).

We had a local telephone company, everyone knew you and vice versa. I don’t remember our party line ring but we were on one in the 50’s. Reliable and the phone was loud enough to actually hear it ring. Long distance calls were rare and it had better be something important. When I got to college one of my buddies a EE showed me a trick or two...you former Bell folks know ‘em

 

[Aunt Marg]

We were still on a party-line into the early to mid 70's.

 

[Sunny]

"With Ma Bell, You could answer or not answer, as your mood dictates."

Gaer, you can still do that.

 

[Gaer]

Is it just me? Carrying around a cell phone makes me feel "staked out" like a horse in the pasture!
Carrying "purses" are the same way. I like to be free of encumbrances sometimes.
Yeah, Guess it's just me.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Is it just me? Carrying around a cell phone makes me feel "staked out" like a horse in the pasture!
Carrying "purses" are the same way. I like to be free of encumbrances sometimes.
Yeah, Guess it's just me.

Not just you, Gaer!

I've gotten somewhat used to a purse, but a cellphone, no thanks.

No thanks to hearing it ringing while I'm out and about, and no thanks to lugging one around.

When I'm away from the house, I can wash my hands clean of calls, ringing, and talking, and I like that. It's called freedom.

 

[Chrise]

Ma Bell Not my Mom...

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Ma Bell wasn't a real friendly girl. In the 1970s, I was in the Navy. and stationed in NYC. I lived off base. Ma wasn't too happy with me. I did a lot of creative writing with my checking account. She was always shutting the phone off.