Christmas Gift Phones

[Tonyrotary]

And the good old originals are built like tanks, and are often less expensive that the Crosleys.

Very True!

[ntophones]

I'm excited, because I won a nice AE40 on Ebay and fixed it up for my sister, who lives far away. She is so excited, she called me on it 2-3 times yesterday when she opened it, just to dial and talk on it! What a wonderful
Christmas for both of us!

[HobieSport]

Heath; And That's What It's All About!

[LarryInMichigan]

I can't seem to find anyone I know whose is interested in old phones, much less rotary dials.

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

Nto, Hobie's right.  THAT is what it's all about.  Glad you sister loves her phone.

[AET]

I take a lot of teasing at work for my phones.  They say it sounds like a habit of a serial killer.  And when i said there was a lot of us doing this, they even went off more.  And said that it is one of the things that they will make sure their children never do.  Talk about a downer

I can't seem to find anyone I know whose is interested in old phones, much less rotary dials.

Larry

[Dennis Markham]

Tom, they've been around the cheese too much!  Forget what they say!

[McHeath]

Ahh, that sounds like they are simply being sour grapes Tom.  I'm sure you could dig around a bit and find that they collect things that other folks will think are odd, donkey statues, Raiders hats, baseball gloves, belt buckles, watches, old cars, etc.  Lots of people collect stuff of some sort, even movies or music or TV show DVDs, and it's pretty easy to find someone who will razz them for it. 

"You listen to that music!!?  That stuff's stupid!"

"You like the __________ (insert sports team name here)!!??  They're losers!"

"You collect _________(insert collected item name here)!!!?  That's for losers!"

People collect things that have a meaning and connection to them of some sort, harassing someone for collecting whatever it is that they like really amounts to no more than schoolyard bullying. 

[HobieSport]

Tom, maybe if you tell your co-workers about the nice "cheesy" odor of the soft plastic phones then they might start to appreciate them more?

[AET]

LOL. I know they're razzing me. I get it for my Conway Twitty fanship too.

[HobieSport]

I get razzed about my phone obsession a lot too. I guess we all do in one way or another. When a new but good friend recently came over for a visit and saw a bunch of my phones, loose or in boxes, he just got really quiet and had a rather concerned and quizzical look in his eye, and he just said softy, almost with a fearful tone...

"Matt, you seem like a nice guy, but what is it with all these phones?"

Of course when I eventually fix a phone up and give one to him and his wife as a present, he will be "singing with a different dial tone", and he'll be phoning me on it the next time the power goes out in a storm. Heh heh. Another convert.

[Tonyrotary]

Tom,

Here is a good way of looking at it. If you enjoy a hobby who cares what other people think? I recently told a buddy of mine about my phones and he thought it was funny. He said he just couldn't picture me getting into phones. Sometimes I get it from other people about my gun hobby. You know, just why do you have so many guns?

[Phonesrfun]

I have yet to have anyone tease me about my phone collecting.  They know I'd tease them back over something.  Most people I know have a hobby of some sort.

-Bill Geurts

• Telephone collector
• Ham Radio operator
• Electronics nut
• Used-to-be car restorer

[bellsystemproperty]

I got teased from the att cell phone guy at the store.If we go to the mall I always write the numbers of the display phones (they are all activated and can make and receive calls) and I told him about my rotary phones. He said why would anyone use those old pieces of junk? I think half of it is that they don't accept someone younger than they are to be using rotary phones, and I enjoy the reactions I get. Once the rotary cell phone is complete, I will look forward to even more reactions. I can walk into a store and then have someone call me and pull out my 500, fully ringing with its dual harmonic brass bells! Other than that my friends actually like my rotary phones and think they are very cool. I don't let them use their cell phones in my house, and they use the rotary phones.

[Tonyrotary]

Kyle,

Someone already came up with the idea of a 500 cell phone. The bells actually ring too! Two colors are available, red and black. Black is much cheaper.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=287