Telephone stories

[Ed D]

We moved to North Carolina in 1979.  Going from a house on a small city lot in New York to a one-and-a half acre lot proved difficult for us to hear the phone ring when we were out in the yard, even with a window open.

Dad had gotten an external ringer several years before that and never got around to using it.  Well, now we had the need, and dad had the ringer.  So he hooked it up.

Things went well for about two months until Southern Bell called one day.  Whoever called was likely the nastiest so-and-so in the world, telling dad that they were going to disconnect our service immediately because he hooked up illegal equipment, and he would be responsible for damage caused to the phone system.  No damage was done, and this bozo was really blowing smoke out his BUTT-set.  I was here listening to whatever I could make out of this conversation, and at no time did dad get mouthy or anything.

Long story short, dad called Southern Bell back and complained about how obnoxious the person who called was, and agreed to disconnect the ringer.  The person he called said it could not have damaged anything, but it ate a lot of voltage.  They said that he could have an extra ringer, but would have to pay extra for it.

Bottom line, that was the end of the ringer.

[NorthernMan]

My first brush with the telephone was in 1964. I was instructed by my parents who were going out for the evening not to let gramma call the pharmacy for anymore drugs. I guess you could call it my only job as a narc.
Well sure enough gramma at her first chance dialed the pharmacy, it caught me by surprise and she was already talking to the pharmacist. So what i did was grab a slot screwdriver and undid the single screw on the cover then unscrewed the tipside. The call was lost and i had done my job. She walked away not sure what had just happened. Because we lived in a split level and i was on a lower level she did not see me do this. Not bad for an 11 year old.

Speaking of telephone stories i bought a nice book callled Just an old telephone man. Quite a nice author and he autographed the book for me.