ET Phone 208
Ahhh the landline. What a staple in our homes growing up. So this week’s design had me thinking back extra hard, but now that I remember, I can’t get that creepy voice out of my head—when you misdialed, and that “America’s Most Wanted” type voice would come on… “208-342” …what the heck did that even mean? It was almost as if the man was cursing your whole family, or stealing a part of your soul.
So much to do on the phone. I remember Fox Kids had a joke line that we frequented and also I could play “Help Me Rhonda” thanks to the movie Short Circuit. There was also the dark side of the phone, prank calls. The worst thing I have ever done in my life was call 911 and hang up. I had to, Kelly dared me to. I have never felt so much guilt and shame. I’d like to think that he is the one that will be eternally punished since he stole my free agency. You know how it was back then, a dare had to be accepted. I’m sure it was either accept the dare or get a knuckle to my arm.
And let’s not forget the busy signal when you were trying to get a hold of someone, this was made even worse when dial up internet came on the scene. Seriously though, one phone line in the house with 6 people?!?! I don’t know how we did it. We didn’t have any fancy features, no caller ID, long distance calling was out of the question, using *69 was punishable (there were a few times I just couldn’t help myself), and you never ever ever accepted a collect call, even if it was from a prison or my sister calling from the mall pay phone.
“Knopp residence, Heidi speaking... She’s not home right now, can I take a message?” (but I don’t write anything down, just being nosey)
—Heidi
