Staying in touch
More frequently than I care to admit, I have had to call a help line in hopes of straightening out a problem with my computer. Ninety-nine percent of the time I am connected to a person whose first language is not English. I understand that the computer powers outsource in order to keep from paying decent wages to someone here in the U.S. However it is quite frustrating to me to try to explain my computer problem to someone who says things like, "And so what is your quiddy?" I have learned that "quiddy" means "query".Does that mean I'm learning to speak another language?
Anyway, having had a very frustrating and unsatisfying conversation with a person who obviously didn't understand my Texas accent, I remembered how asking for information on the phone used to be and I began to long for Ma Bell.
For those of you who do not know who Ma Bell was, I shall explain. That was the nickname given to the Bell Telephone Company when it was first in popular use. There are many claimants to the invention of the telephone, but Alexander Graham Bell evidently had the best press agent so that was the first well-known name.
My first memory of the telephone was of the one on the wall in the hall of our little rural house. It was a brown wooden box with a mouthpiece in the middle, a hand crank on the right side and and earpiece on a hook on the left side. If you wanted to make a call, you lifted the earpiece and turned the crank. A friendly voice would greet you by saying "Number please". It was emanating from a real live person who was literally at your beck and call! I remember one particular time when I told the operator that I wanted to call 737. That was the number of my father's feed store. She said, "Oh honey, he's not at the store, he's at the American Cafe. Do you want me to call him there?" Talk about reaching out and touching someone!
Our phone was on a party line with three other entities, one of which was the beer hall further out the highway. A party line means that the phone line is shared and each one has a particular identifying ring indicating who it's for. For example if we heard the phone ring one long and two short times, it was for us. Of course, anyone who had access to the line could pick up the phone and listen in, but that was considered rude. I was bored one time when my parents weren't there so I listened to a conversation between a man at the beer hall and someone in Corpus Christi. I learned a lot more than a ten year old girl should know but it kept me occupied.
Sometimes I mourn the demise of Ma Bell but she is definitely long dead and deeply buried.
Anyway, having had a very frustrating and unsatisfying conversation with a person who obviously didn't understand my Texas accent, I remembered how asking for information on the phone used to be and I began to long for Ma Bell.
For those of you who do not know who Ma Bell was, I shall explain. That was the nickname given to the Bell Telephone Company when it was first in popular use. There are many claimants to the invention of the telephone, but Alexander Graham Bell evidently had the best press agent so that was the first well-known name.
My first memory of the telephone was of the one on the wall in the hall of our little rural house. It was a brown wooden box with a mouthpiece in the middle, a hand crank on the right side and and earpiece on a hook on the left side. If you wanted to make a call, you lifted the earpiece and turned the crank. A friendly voice would greet you by saying "Number please". It was emanating from a real live person who was literally at your beck and call! I remember one particular time when I told the operator that I wanted to call 737. That was the number of my father's feed store. She said, "Oh honey, he's not at the store, he's at the American Cafe. Do you want me to call him there?" Talk about reaching out and touching someone!
Our phone was on a party line with three other entities, one of which was the beer hall further out the highway. A party line means that the phone line is shared and each one has a particular identifying ring indicating who it's for. For example if we heard the phone ring one long and two short times, it was for us. Of course, anyone who had access to the line could pick up the phone and listen in, but that was considered rude. I was bored one time when my parents weren't there so I listened to a conversation between a man at the beer hall and someone in Corpus Christi. I learned a lot more than a ten year old girl should know but it kept me occupied.
Sometimes I mourn the demise of Ma Bell but she is definitely long dead and deeply buried.
I love your clear image of what the phone looked like! How will I explain to my grandchildren that I had to have a dime to call my mother if I was going to be late???
ReplyDeleteWe shared an 8 party line growing up in what was then far north Austin. Along with our cousins next door, and various other neighbors, one of the parties had a goat raising and selling business. He monopolized the phone lines. We kids were restricted to 3 minute calls, and if we went over we got in trouble.
ReplyDeleteNow it's the government who knows where you are from your phone, haha
ReplyDeleteI remember the place where your phone was, but by the time we came along it was a bit different to the one you grew up with.