Monday, May 07, 2018

Reminiscing (Continued)


In a prior blog, I talked about the earlier days (1950’s for me) of telephone service.  My, my, how it has changed.  Where in those days I would have given my right arm for a dial tone in my car or on my hip, now many people have never heard a dial tone.  Most of the world now has cell phones, and many have “free” phones given to them by the government so they can be connected to the outside world.
Imagine, if you will, making a long distance call in the 1950’s.  As I said in my earlier blog, to do that, one would dial “0” on the old rotary phone, wait for the operator to answer, and tell her what number in what city you wanted to call.  You would give her your own number for billing purposes; she would connect you, and you would talk to whoever was at the other end of the call.
In those days, operators had no way to know who you were when you called, unless you told her.  There was no such thing as caller ID.  The entire system was electro-mechanical, which made it impossible to tell what number the caller who was making the long distance call was calling from.
The system worked well, too.  People were very good about giving their own numbers for billing purposes.  There was virtually none of the business of giving someone else’s number, thereby avoiding having to pay for the call.
Additionally, it was relatively easy to shinny up a phone pole or attach wires to someone’s home phone line and use it for your calls.  But it just wasn’t done in any major way.
Think of today, however.  How would that kind of thing go over in today’s society?  What if today we had to tell the phone company who we were in order to be properly billed for calls?  How much fraud do you think would happen today in that scenario?  My guess is that there would be so much that the system would totally break down into chaos.
And while we’re at it, years ago, one could stay at a motel or hotel, and pay for the services when they checked out.  Now, payment up front is required, and a credit card is required to even hold a room.  What happened to society that caused an industry to effect such a change in how things are done?
And when was the last time you pumped gas, then went inside to pay for it without giving them a credit card or cash up front?  When was the last time you special-ordered something from a retail store and paid for it when you received it rather than when you ordered it?  I will ask again, what has happened to society that has caused these changes in the way things are done?
What ever happened to “key” gas pumps where you would open a 30-day account with the business and they would issue a key with which you could activate a pump that recorded the gallons of gas you pumped that month?  The station would then bill you and you’d pay the balance in full by the 10th, 15th, or 25th of the following month, depending on the specific policy of the station.  I had such a key for many years.  And, by the way, if you forgot and left your key in the pump, the next guy who came to use it would take the key out and give it to the station…and NOT use it to pump his gas.  Even key gas pumps had unwritten etiquette rules…one of which was never use someone else’s key that they inadvertently left in the pump, and instead always turn it in to the station.
My boys, by the way, could go to that same station, fill up their tanks at the self-service, tell the attendant to “Charge it to Dad” and it would appear on my bill that month.  What has happened to those days?  Why can we not do that any more?
I realize that in some smaller communities, such things still take place.  People know one-another and know who is and who isn’t reliable.  People still care for one-another in those places and look out for others.  So these things haven’t entirely gone away; but their days, I fear, are numbered.  And many there are who have never had the privilege of paying for gas after pumping it or paying a motel bill when checking out.  And what a privilege it is…to be counted as one who can be trusted.

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