Long Distance Information

[susandennis]

I wonder how many people heard the news about Chuck Berry's death behind the lyrics to one of his best songs "Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee. Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me."

And wondered WTF??

In the olden days, you could go to the hallway of your home (cause that's where everyone had their phone) and pick up the telephone and dial (yes, poke your finger in the hole and move the dial) 0 and get an operator. Depending on your system, you might get the local operator by default and you'd have to request the long distance operator.

And then she'd (and, yep, they were always of the female persuasion) patch you through to the operator for Memphis or where ever you wanted. And then you'd give her the info to the get the phone number. And then she would connect you. If you were cheap, you'd ask for station-to-station. That meant special long distance rates would start the minute anyone answered the phone. If you paid more you could get person to person and that meant the extra charges wouldn't kick in until you were talking to the person you wanted to call.

Information operators were kind of notorious for NOT providing info based on requests like Chuck Berry's. They'd want more than just the name Marie in Memphis.

But, one time, in the early 80's when operators were getting less and less helpful, I got one that went the extra mile when I really needed it.

My BFF Heather had gone to Lake Tahoe with her new-ish boyfriend to visit his family and while she was there, her grandfather died. Her sister called me asking if I knew how to get in touch with her to let her know. I happened to know her boyfriend's last name (which her family did not) and the Lake Tahoe clue so I got on the horn to Long Distance Information right away.

The operator could not find any Lidicoates in Lake Tahoe. I was getting panicky. I explained (with out the music ala Chuck Berry) the situation. I knew nothing about that section of the country so I asked if there were maybe nearby towns that people thought of as Lake Tahoe. And she said not really but then said 'you meant Lake Tahoe, Nevada, right? Did you try Lake Tahoe, California?' ??? No! It was in another phone district (handy) so she patched through and found the number in that second Lake Tahoe and within minutes I had my friend on the phone. I was so grateful and have never heard that Chuck Berry song the same way again...

This message has been brought to you by old people.

Comments

[kayre]

"operator" by Jim Croce is another song like that. :)

[susandennis]

Oh right!

[shutterbug.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the same thing! And now it's stuck in my head...

[fitzjameshorse.livejournal.com]

Strangely, I signed on to write a post on Chuck Berry.

[susandennis]

:)

[yesthatjill.livejournal.com]

I loved your description of dialing so much I read this out loud to my husband.

[susandennis]

hahaha

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

Great story. Both my paternal grandmother and my mother were telephone operators at one time. My mom met my dad through a mutual friend who was also an operator. As I heard the story, Mom and Dad spent a fair bit of time chatting while he waited to talk to their mutual friend.

[susandennis]

OMG THAT is a much better story!! I love that.

[rejectomorph]

You must have had party lines, too. Most people did in those days. I remember the person we first shared a party line with was an old woman named Olga who had a thick German accent. She would sometimes pick up the phone while I was talking to someone, and just start dialing without listening for the tone. She would then get very confused when she found that someone other than the person she was trying to call was on the line.

After it happened a few times I gave up trying to explain to her that the line was already in use, and I would ask whoever I was talking to to hang up and then I'd say to Olga in my best operator voice "I'm sorry, your call didn't go through. Please wait for the tone and then dial again." Then I'd hang up so she could make her call. It was just much easier than trying to explain to her what a party line was. I don't think she ever figured out that I wasn't an actual operator.

[susandennis]

Oh that's great. My aunt had a party line in Oklahoma City when I was little but we always had single party lines.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

When I was stationed in Idaho in the 70s, I would have to go through the long distance operator to call home to my folks, who lived in LA at the time. The long distance operator's name was Vonda, and she was the sister of Rhonda, who I once had a date with. It was Rhonda who turned me on to Tots, which were a kind of long rectangular tater tot that was served in every restaurant in Idaho.

[susandennis]

Oh my word! That's a very cool operator story. Vonda/Rhonda and tater tots.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I'm the only one who remembers the trick my student-age contemporaries used to use to let their parents know they'd arrived safely in some remote location: Make a person-to-person call to yourself. Whoever answered the phone would say "Sorry, (s)he's not here." No charge, but information transferred.

If the musical Bells Are Ringing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bells_Are_Ringing_(musical)) is ever revived, most people seeing it will be going "WTF?" pretty much throughout the show.

[susandennis]

Yep, lots of kids I knew did that trick a lot.

Ha yes on Bells are Ringing!

[jwg.livejournal.com]

My parents had a summer house in Stormville (Dutchess County), NY in the 50's and early 60's. It was served by a small private telephone company whose service was awful. When my father complained their response was" "We'd be happy to come and uninstall your phone service and take away the phone."

[susandennis]

That is wild. I do remember places in the midwest that had no phones at all.

[maju01.livejournal.com]

We got a phone when I was six and it was a party line with four or five other families on it. The telephone exchange was only open during business hours for calls outside your party line but you could ring others on your line at any time.

[susandennis]

That's wild and fun and a great memory.

[mixter11nm.livejournal.com]

Wow, this post certainly brings back memories.

When my kids were much younger, we would love to listen to Chuck Berry while driving on the highway with the radio on. All the windows in the car would be open and the radio was cranked as high as it would go. Sometimes people in the cars near us would beep to show their support. It was great fun.

[susandennis]

Fun!