We are now in the transition phase of going from 7 digit phone numbers to having to use all 10 for local calls.
That means that for the next two months or so, every time you forget to dial the area code first, you'll still get your call through, but not before you listen to an incredibly loud and annoying recording telling you that soon you'll need to dial all 10 numbers--and it plays twice.
Needless to say, they'll have us all conditioned to make the change before the actual deadline when local calls won't work the old way.
I guess we've been spoiled; my home town has been doing this for at least five years.
When we were in New York in March we stayed in the Murray Hill area, and it made me think of all those old movies where someone wants to put a call through and gives a number with two words in front, like Murray Hill 48932 or something like that. I guess you used the MH letter equivalents on the old dial phones to get that particular neighborhood.
Growing up, we just had to dial 5 numbers. My home number was 5-5937. All the ones in our part of town began with 5, while those up where my grandmother lived began with 3. It was easy enough to learn all your friends' numbers.
Now our phones all have speed dial and contact lists and I realized the other day I still don't know my own kids' cell numbers--I have just been using the contacts list to call them.
Man, do I sound like a grumpy old codger in this post. Maybe I should do a rant about the good old days when I could fill up my gas tank for under 20 bucks.
2 comments:
"Scientists have discovered that even monkeys can memorize 10 numbers! Are you stupider than a monkey?"
Hmmm...filling up the gas tank for less than $20. A very distant memory. Here in the states we have "loyalty cards" that one uses when purchasing groceries for discounts; some stores also give you a gasoline discount. For example, at one store for every $100 in groceries one purchases, you receive 10 cents off a gallon. I was quite excited to fill up my tank at the low low price of $3.40 per gallon until I realized that meant I had spent over $700 in groceries. Yikes.
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