This was the way
It wasn’t that bad
It was exciting. No idea what the phone call could bring.
Nowadays… ‘Unknown number’ just preloads frustration because you know it’s most likely a robocall.
It didn’t ring very often.
Unless you wanted to get online. Then everyone would call in the small window you were using the line.
I’m too young to have experienced dial-up, but wouldn’t it be the case that people just wanted to go online and/or call people after school or work, so around the same time?
Yep… fun times. Unless you were rich and had a dedicated internet line, there was always someone who got mad at you for jamming the line
And every time a woman called me, my mother started going on about whether she’ll get a daughter in law soon.
The aggressive thing was not covering the receiver when yelling at your brother, who wasn’t even home “it’s your gf, you in?” Wait a few seconds then yell “no, the one with the big ears” and a few seconds later inform the poor girl on the phone that your brother wasn’t available.
Not covered in this image: having to learn how to be more discreet in your tweens and teens. You told your dad’s boss that dad “couldn’t come to the phone right now” and took a message, not that he was dropping a hot deuce and had run out of toilet paper.
A shared family phone line was basically social roulette. You never knew if you were answering for gossip, business, or pure disaster.
Jokes on you, I kept the modem connected to the BBS all day playing MUDs using *70 in the AT command.
No call waiting means I can finish that dungeon uninterrupted.
Shaniqua don’t live here no more…
If you have to yell for everyone else to hear you, you were pretty well off.
The best was when dad would yell “GET THE PHONE!!!” across the house. I’d pick it up and it would be for him. I’d yell down “IT’S FOR YOU!!!” He’d’ have to run across the house and answer the phone all winded and shit. Good times.
some folks never bothered to cover the reciever
And sometimes the parent of the person started having a full on conversation with you!
And you’d answer by reeling off your phone number. As if that was going to stop a wrong number being confused that you’re not Margaret.
That’s literally how doors work. Someone knocks and it could be your sister’s boyfriend or your dad’s boss or your best friend or a marketer.
And people used to just do that unannounced.
Now we always send a txt to be safe they won’t just ignore us
Not a fan of those either TBH
Honestly it was pretty horrible when I think about it. Both my parents were very active in sports clubs and had jobs that involved getting a lot of calls at home. I had to answer the phone several times a day, yell, take notes when my parents weren’t home and wasn’t allowed to be on the phone for “too long” because someone else could call.
