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Excellently used alongside cell phones in the high school neo-noir film Brick.
I worked for a company back in the '00s that made most of their money off of pay phones. Even 20 years ago pay phones were obsolete so I was somewhat mystified by this during my job interview. Turns out they managed pay phones in prison - which are still a thing.
Ahhhhh that makes sense
Oh my god, this is wild! You know who would like this meme? My friend, Tony
Operator, connect me to Tony, please
I lived on a farm so it was out in the middle of nowhere, and apparently our first phone number was 3
Apparently the numbersused to just be sequential
Tony who?
- The Operator
Now, Sarah, I reckon you know plum well which Tony, seein’ as there ain’t but one in all of Mayberry…
Somebody should describe the insane hack to these youngins where you can make a collect call to your parents from a pay phone and tell them your name is “HEY COME PICK ME UP!”
It’s like you can send information to somebody across town without having coins in your pocket!
In Australia the receiving phone would “ring” even if you didnt put any money in.
You’d dial and let it ring a few times and then hang up.
The real phone “hacks” were called phreaking back in the day.
Pay phones were cool. As teens, we used to go spend the summer camping with my friends in a super remote place and the only thing available connecting us with our parents was the pay phone. We’d go there twice a week to tell them we’re still alive and will eventually come back home if we run out of food.
Living the dream
Ive seen a couple in New York and several when I visted Palestine
They’re not super uncommon in Japan still. Plus they have that cool neon green paint, making them pretty hard to miss.
Oh, Kiddy…
Hang on, I’m getting a page.
Why is there text on your page mine is only a callback no.
It was really just a pretty elaborate number code.
Signitures, locations, times
We should go back
Calling bullshit on this. I never received a telegraph, but I never assumed they were made up for the movies. This kid is either a troll or a moron.
I don’t disagree but in his defence pay phones used to be everywhere and are practically gone today vs relatively few telegraph offices.
True, but it was pretty common in old movies for someone to go down to a hotel lobby and have the clerk say, “Sir, this came for you,” then hand them a message where every 3rd word was, “stop.” It didn’t make much sense to me, but I didn’t think it was made up for the movies.
Also, kids today still know what a phone is and what its used for. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that phone boxes aren’t needed anymore now that everyone has a phone in their pocket.
I saw horses in Western movies, surely they could have just driven to the gunfight?
I saw a cool movie that had guys literally riding on the backs of the horses. It was a clever spin on the worm scene from Dune, even if it wasn’t a completely original idea.
Like, without a steering wheel!?
They’re still pretty common in Japan
I wouldn’t exactly say common. I really needed one when I was in Tokyo about 10 years back and had a hell of a time finding one. And in the countryside you can pretty much forget about it these days
I guess they seem really common if you’re not looking for them because they’re so out of place in the 2020s, but not common at all if you actually need one.
I used to give out a payphone number as my own back before i had a cell. It was close to where I hung out with friends, so there was a decent chance I would be there if you called.
You carry payphones in your pockets nowadays
About 10 years ago my kids went to a summer camp with a pay phone. The thing is they weren’t allowed to use cellphones in any public area plus reception was horrible, so they had to learn
Great, now I’m reminded of a project I abandoned and the pile of weird business cards I have in my junk drawer…
I set up a toll-free number a year or so back with the idea of finding (eventually) all remaining payphones in public spaces in my city, white listing the numbers and leaving a card inviting folks to call. I stopped after about a week and like 10 phones, meaning to get back to it and never did.
Did run into people legitimately using them while doing so though, which was slightly unexpected.
Matt Damon aging meme.
