Have you ever been inside a phone booth?

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nick007
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05 Jun 2023, 7:59 pm

I don't recall ever 1ce using a pay-phone outside stores & such, let alone being inside a phone-booth. The most I ever done was check pay-phones for change at stores & my high-school. The majority of pay-phones didn't even have a small dinky divider between them & none of them had booths. I used to assume that phone-booths never existed outside Europe due to the TV shows & movies.


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Sonic200
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06 Jun 2023, 8:10 am

nick007 wrote:
I used to assume that phone-booths never existed outside Europe due to the TV shows & movies.


Phone booths were common in the United States a really long time ago, like plenty of decades ago. I have read that the reason they did away with the phone booths was because people in wheelchairs couldn't use them.



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06 Jun 2023, 5:04 pm

Been in many telephone booths in the US. Before cell phones, it was the only way some people could make calls. I remember an apartment building in a poor neighborhood. No one had phones. There was a telephone booth in the hallway.

Telephone booths could reliably be found at gas stations, in hotel lobbies, in drug stores, on street corners/sidewalks.


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CockneyRebel
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06 Jun 2023, 9:05 pm

I've been in a phonebooth a few times to change into my Monkeeman costume.


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colliegrace
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06 Jun 2023, 9:07 pm

Don't believe I have. Though they were still a thing when I was a kid.


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nick007
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07 Jun 2023, 12:40 am

Sonic200 wrote:
nick007 wrote:
I used to assume that phone-booths never existed outside Europe due to the TV shows & movies.


Phone booths were common in the United States a really long time ago, like plenty of decades ago. I have read that the reason they did away with the phone booths was because people in wheelchairs couldn't use them.
That makes sense. I'm probably too young(feels odd to say cuz I feel old lately) & my area was too rural to have them around. Cars were practically required to go from one store to another kinda next door.
I remember hearing a rumor that phone-booths were used for having sex with prostitutes & gay couples hooking up but IDK if there's any truth to that. My area was hard-core conservative so they def woulda had a major problem with that. But perhaps that was just a joke or myth or in some movie I might not of seen :?


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07 Jun 2023, 12:51 am

lostonearth35 wrote:
Yes, but only so I can change into my superhero costume.

I was going to point out that once I figured out that the understand goes on first, I no longer felt compelled to change there.



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07 Jun 2023, 12:52 am

Winters Gate wrote:
I don't think I have. I've seen phone booths on television and pictures but I can't recall ever actually seeing one in person. I'm also not someone whose gone out alot.

A decade or so ago, I saw one in an antique shop. But, being more of a Batman fan, I didn't buy it.



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07 Jun 2023, 11:09 am

The classic British red phone box was a regular sight on the streets of my youth. To this day I can perfectly recall the smell inside one. Although to be honest you can still enjoy pretty much the same smell in any public lavatory.

People buy them now and put them in their gardens as curiosities.

In my neighbouring village the phone box has been turned into a book exchange.
Image

In other places they house defibrillators.

Some even still have pay phones in them. But not many.


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07 Jun 2023, 11:12 am

Yes. I think someone shoved a pipe bomb inside one here a long time ago go fun. They're seen as targets for vandalism now sadly.



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07 Jun 2023, 11:37 am

Yes I've been in a phone box.

Interesting places. They're much bigger on the inside than you'd think.


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07 Jun 2023, 2:04 pm

Yes. They were still in widespread use when I was a kid. I can't recall the last time I've seen one or even IF there are any around here anymore. I think public pay phones would just get vandalized and cost a whole lot more to maintain than they would ever generate in phone calls.

Pretty well everyone has a cell phone these days, so no need for pay phones anymore.


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nick007
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07 Jun 2023, 3:31 pm

goldfish21 wrote:
Yes. They were still in widespread use when I was a kid. I can't recall the last time I've seen one or even IF there are any around here anymore. I think public pay phones would just get vandalized and cost a whole lot more to maintain than they would ever generate in phone calls.

Pretty well everyone has a cell phone these days, so no need for pay phones anymore.
I still seen payphones inside train & Greyhound bus stations. It's probably mostly to provide a service to their riders instead of trying to make any money. Not all cellphone companies have service & signal in every single part of the country. Plus sometimes riders forget to bring their phone chargers or their cords or phones get damaged or lost during packing & travel. It's more common thou for riders to ask to borrow cords & phones than to use the payphones. I think our mall still has some payphones inside but it's been a long time since I've been there. Having the phones inside at those places instead of phone-booths probably reduces vandalism.



babybird wrote:
They're much bigger on the inside than you'd think.
Lots of women say that :mrgreen:


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Kitty4670
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25 Jun 2023, 5:00 pm

I don’t think I used a phonebooth, but I used a pay phone before I got a cell phone.



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25 Jun 2023, 6:29 pm

I have seen a payphone in a train station. Still functioning, as far as I'm aware, but it has a sign saying it should only take you six coins to pay, along with a list of coins that it will or won't accept.

Phone booths to me, well I've seen enough of them around that they don't stand out. They removed one of them and honestly it took me a while to even notice that it was gone. Just a 'Huh, this street seems slightly different for some reason... Oh right yeah, there was booth'.

I find that I only notice them when they're gone, like a painting you've grown accustomed to but you don't even register that it's always been there until it's gone. Does that make any sense?


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26 Jun 2023, 3:22 am

Raleigh wrote:
There used to be a phone booth on my way to school as a kid.
I used to visit it every day I walked past to check if there was change in the return slot.
If so, lollies from the school shop!


Yes, I remember that well :)! The happy sound of the coins clanking down into the little shelf below the phone. Also some kids knew how to make free phonecalls from those boxes, by tapping the bar underneath the receiver in some pattern that remained a mystery to me, though it was a talent I much admired. In those far off days, the main source of funding lollies was collecting discarded coca cola and other soft drink bottles and cashing them in back at the shops that sold them, which provided me with many an icecream to eat on the long walk home!