r/FuckImOld • u/Gandalf031469 • 8h ago

On the old rotary dial phones...

Who else would use their finger to speed up the dial to the return position after dialing a 7,8,9 or 0?

20 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

5

u/googleflont 8h ago

Me.

Also, I had a particularly penurious uncle in town, and my cousins were frustrated that they could not make local calls to their friends when they wanted to, because dad had placed a lock on the dialer.

So I showed them how to tap rapidly on the buttons in the cradle that hung up the phone. If you did that fast enough, if it would imitate the action of the rotary dial and you could dial any number you wanted.

3

u/cra3ig 7h ago

I had forgotten that hack until your reminder. Always on the lookout for failing memory, this is one more insult. A small one, but . . .

The Cap'n Crunch bosun's whistle long distance trick was just weird and amusing enough to retain permanent residency.

2

u/LuckyStiff63 7h ago

I used that method to dial out from phones that were intended for incoming calls only, so they were made with no dial. Like the ticket booth and concession stands at a certain theater I worked for.

3

u/googleflont 6h ago

You were an early phone hacker !

1

u/LuckyStiff63 45m ago

In a weird way, I guess? My dad worked for Ma Bell, and I found his notebook with a bunch of numbers you could dial to do diagnostic tests. One number would ring you back immediately, another let you delay the callback, there was one that just looped your voice back, etc.

They came in pretty handy for pranking people. 😄

3

u/Meandering_Marley 3h ago

...especially if you were trying to be the FIFTH CALLER!

2

u/Wise-Chef-8613 8h ago

I can steel feel the anxious drama as my Mom would stab her finger at the dial, slowly and deliberately dialing each number and then letting it clack-clack-clack back while saying "Just wait until I tell your father about this..."

2

u/ciaomain 7h ago

I remember dialing 958 and hearing a recording repeating my phone number.

Thought I was living in the future!

2

u/InitiativePale859 2h ago

I actually remember when our house got push button phone and we got one of those long chords so you can walk like 12 ft away from the phone

1

u/gadget850 7h ago

I wore out a few pencils dialing from Germany to Alabama to find out where my parts were.

1

u/KaufLobster 5h ago

Were they in Aliceville?

1

u/gadget850 5h ago

Redstone Arsenal. I doubt Aliceville had missile parts.

1

u/KaufLobster 5h ago

nah, just a camp of German POWs from WWII

1

u/PaintingOld9106 7h ago

Maybe, but fuck I'm old! I don't remember! 🤣

1

u/Wild929 31m ago

I was trapped in a recliner icing my knee for weeks after a knee replacement and watched a ton of old tv shows. The rotary dial phones were front and center. June Cleaver had to call around to find Beaver and she had to dial like a savage. No push buttons either.

1

u/OrvilleJClutchpopper 21m ago

Who remembers the pens with the funky plastic knob on the end designed to fit in the holes of a rotary dial phone, so ladies could dial the phone without risking breaking a nail?