My mom drove in yesterday from Colorado for the youngest girls graduation. She brought me this old rotary telephone that was used for many years while we were growing up. I recall this one sitting on my Dad's desk in his home office. We have told our kids about these archaic phones that you have to 'dial' each number separately. And, we have told them how you were attached to the phone by the cord. You know, no wandering around everywhere while talking on the phone. The only way to say something privately was to put your hand over your mouth and whisper. My mom actually used this phone in her bedroom until about a year ago. She knows that I like old things, so she brought it with her to pass along to me. Pretty cool !
So, after dinner last night, I pulled it out of the box and unplugged our cordless base unit and plugged this one in. It looked all retro and cute sitting on the counter. I tested it for a dial tone and yep, it was there. I then used my cell phone to call the house number to see if the "new"phone would ring. It did! So, the youngest girl, said "Yes...this is so cool! Can I try it?" "Sure I said, just call me on my cell phone and see if it works." So she did.
First try:
Me:"Wait, you have to dial 1 first for long distance" (because my cell phone still has the Colorado number). This is an interesting concept for kids that have never "dialed" a phone. She carefully dialed all the numbers.
Me: "Wait...you have to take the receiver off the hook first and listen for a dial tone."
Her: "...."
Me: "dial tone...mmmmmmmmm".
Her: "ok..." picks up receiver and listens then dials..."1 970 24...wait."
Me: " 1 970..."
Her " 1 9..."
Her: "1 wait..."
After many tries it finally worked. My cell phone rang.
Me: "Hello?"
Her: "Hello? How cool is this?!"
We hang up and by then the commercials were over for the Dancing with the Stars finale. Before I sit down the black phone rings. With our bundled telephone service we also have a feature that displays the caller and phone number on our t.v. screen. So, a number with 'Maricopa County' as the caller came on the screen. Unknown caller to us! Before I could answer, it rolled to our answering machine, which I thought was because I had unplugged the base set. So, I re-plugged our regular phone in and left the retro phone sitting on the counter. I joined everyone to watch t.v.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. Unless we are expecting one of the boyfriends...our doorbell never rings. So, I went to answer it. I open the door and did not see anyone, so I said "Hello?"
I hear a manly voice from the other side of the patio.
Him: "Hello."
I step out the door and look over and a nice sheriff's officer is walking towards me.
Me: "Hi?"
Him: "Hello Mam. I'm Officer So and So from the Maricopa County Sheriff's department."
Me: "Yyyes?"
Him: "We had a 911 hang up call from this address and I am here to check it out."
Me: "You did?" We didn't call 911."
Him: (with a look of concern) "Mam, I'm here because we had two 911 hang-up calls. Is everything ok?"
Me: "Yes."
Him: (still concerned) "Are you sure? I was called out because there was a report of two 911 hang-up calls. The dispatcher even tried to call back but it rolled over to voice mail immediately".
Me: (starting to figure out what might have happened and remembering the Maricopa County phone number on the t.v. screen) "Oh dear." (words now spilling from my mouth) "You see my Mom ( while spastically waving towards her car, with out of state plates, parked in front of the house) brought this old retro rotary phone to me and we were trying it out to see if it works." (getting a little nervous and a wee bit embarrassed by now) " And...you see my daughter was calling my cell phone... and well, the phone must not work right..."( nervous chatter and laughter).
Him: "Well, we got two 911 calls with hang-ups."
Me: " Oh gosh...I'm so sorry..." (starting to feel a little perspiration building up)
Him: "You're sure everything is ok?"
Me: "Oh yes. It's fine. See, she brought this phone and we thought it would be fun to see if it works...blah blah blah..." nervouser and nervouser.
Him: "I've been standing out here awhile checking things out. You know...listening for screams."
Me: "No screaming. We are just watching Dancing with the Stars." sheesh... babble, babble, babble.
Me: "I'm so sorry you got called out for this. We wouldn't do anything like that intentionally."
Him: "That's ok. I'd rather not have to find something terrible going on."
Just then, Reptile Wrangler finally decided to see where I was at.
Me: "Chuck, this officer was called out because I think Grandma's phone accidentally called 911."
babble, babble, babble.
Chuck: "Oh no."
Chuck: "You see, her Mom just came for a visit and brought this old rotary phone...." babble babble, babble.
Him: "Ok folks, I'm just glad everything is ok. Have a good night."
Us: (nervous laughter) "okay, yes, thanks for checking on us and again, we are sorry".
This is what I think happened when the girl was trying the phone.
Me: "1 970 240-****"
Her: "9...wait..."
Me: "1 for long distance first."
Her: "1 ...wait..."
Her: "1 9... wait..."
Her: "1...wait"
Her: "1...wait"
If you look at the order of numbers you will see 9 1 1. Twice. I forgot to tell her that when you make a mistake you have to hang up and wait for the dial tone again. Oops.
9 1 1. What's your emergency?
This is hilarious! I had to read it to Shawn so we could both share a laugh. I remember my granny having a phone just like this in her room when I was growing up. She let us call the storybook hotline (back when Barbara Bush was the first lady). I loved hearing the rotary dial sounds on the receiver. Fun stuff!
ReplyDeleteThose things happen even without a rotary phone. At school, we had to dial 9 to get an outside dial tone. Then if it was a long number, you had to dial 1 and then the number. If there was a stutter finger on the one, well, you know the rest of the story. After too many of these incidents, the district finally got wise and changed the system to a 7 to get the outside line.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to hear people's cell phone go off with the old rotary bell ring. Many people feel nostalgic over that old that technology. Wait, did they even call it technology back then?