Sign of the times

[Black Bart]

Lady brought her taxes and her five-year-old to the office this past week; kid looks at my landline telephone and says -- astonishingly -- "What's that?"

It's somewhat understandable -- her raffish bunch is constantly havin' their lights cut off and may/may not have groceries, but can always afford expensive gadgets (had an I-Phone with bell, whistle, camera, internet, and beamer-upper). Before cell phones such parents just went next door and used their neighbor's phones, so there probably never was a landline in any house the kid ever lived in (their friends wouldn't have had one either). Too, at least a dozen reg'ler folks (those with sense and judgment) in the past two years told me they've discontinued their house phones and now use cells exclusively.

Lordy, I knew the times they were a'changin' and all (FE & his merry bunch of chronic electronics told me I'd better start sendin' stuff through the air), but I didn't expect the very roots of civilization to be jerked up and separate geezers from generations and ground underneath. What next?

[erchess]

Cell vs Landline

The way I look at it I'm going to have a cell phone at least until something better, possibly satellite phones, comes down into my price range. On the other hand I'll only have my land line until such time as my other phone works at my home. Right now I have two devices that allow me to have a voice conversation with someone far away. They work differently and very occasionally I have a moment of confusion. There are people who use cell phones for things other than voice talk but I am not one at least not yet. If Virgin Mobile still has their current unlimited text and web plus 300 minutes for an affordable price when my current contract expires I will go on and get into those other things.

Did you know that Western Union no longer delivers telegrams? There actually is a company that does though but they are pricey.

[Mo Sheets]

Geez....does anyone remember a party line.....

I can remember my grandmother's telephone was a "party line". She would always complain when she picked her phone up and the other lady was still on the line....brings back memories!

We still have our landline and a cell phone that we use very seldom. We don't get very good cell service in our area. Also, I after being hit by a tornado 12 years ago, I wonder what folks who only have cell service will do in the event of a natural disaster. If their local tower is affected, how will they get service?

Mo

[S T]

Land Line vs Cell phone

We had a power outage last week with a Thunderstorm and Lightning - about 4 hours. My land line and all electrical was totally non functional. I mean nothing!

Good that I had two cell phones that I could use to make calls to find out status on "power/electrical", etc

Not sure iscenario if Cell Towers went down, but I was thankful that I at least had the Cell phone service available.

Sandy

[joanmcq]

Cordless land line phones will go out if the electric goes out; but I always have at least one wired land line phone.

Now, quite a few years ago, a friend of mine's 20 year old son asked to use the phone. My ex had an old rotary phone (which we had in the hallway phone nook), and the kid looked at it and asked how to use it.

Now THAT made me laugh.

[taxxcpa]

Dialing

One thing that hasn't changed: people still say they are "dialing" a phone number. The phone company used to try to describe it as "touch" rather than dial. They may still do so, but people still use the word "dial.'

[Lion]

Power

We lost power last night from dinner through midnight. We were using our cell phones to call the power company, our daughter, etc. She has had ONLY her cell from college through her apartments and no land line since living with parents. Her older brother is in a transitional generation, sharing a cell with his wife and having a land line. I too keep one land line for my stand-alone fax (also have eFax on my computer), so I can use it with an old telephone if power is out very long. I grew up in a house with a party line, and loved it when we got a private line. Didn't even have a cordless phone until my second husband.

[Bees Knees]

I watched the movie “Bottle Shock” last night about the 1976 wine tasting contest in France where a California wine beat the best French wines in a blind taste test contest. There is one scene in the movie where the hero is trying to save his father’s vineyard from doom. The hero and his girlfriend are trying to rush back with important news to tell his father to prevent him from destroying good wine that the father thinks went bad. Just then their truck runs out of gas. On the side of the road, they are trying desperately to hitch hike back to the vineyard before it is too late. Why didn’t they just call on their cell phone to tell the dad the news? Then we remember this was 1976. How did civilization survive before cell phones?

[Snaggletooth]

Better

How did civilization survive before cell phones?

We survived, Bees, and quality of life was much better.

1) Worked productively with few interruptions.
2) No one calling you to change your schedule.
3) No hordes of family members and others who now expect you
to be at their beck & call.
4) No bosses calling you after hours to help them find something
you already delivered to them.
5) Focus on production instead of watching a phone in anticipation.
6) Better planning, and adherence to plans, knowing all parties
could not have their schedules jerked around.

on and on and on. How many of us have complained that our lives have become too complex yet do our complaining with a cell phone stuck in our ear?

[Gary2]

1)
...
6) ...

7) No having to wait in line while the person in front answers their cellphone instead of paying the cashier
8) No waiting for clients to get off the phone to tell you whether or not they have foreign bank accounts
9) No entertaining jokes about people talking on cell phones while in public restrooms

[taxea]

No child would have asked that question in my office because if my clients came to my office no kids would be allowed to tag along. And before you comment...if the clients had a problem with that rule....they would not be my clients.

[Black Bart]

Take no prisoners.

No child would have asked that question in my office because if my clients came to my office no kids would be allowed to tag along. And before you comment...if the clients had a problem with that rule....they would not be my clients.

That's tellin' em, (Laura, isn't it?). You're the only real man on the board and this guy's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soup_Nazi

got nothin' on you.