# Did You Ever Answer A Public Pay Phone That Was Ringing?



## SeaBreeze (Nov 14, 2014)

I have a couple of times, and it's usually someone who just dialed a wrong number.


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## Justme (Nov 14, 2014)

No, it would never occur to me to do so, it wouldn't be ringing for me!


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## ronaldj (Nov 14, 2014)

no I would not want to be caught


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## Ameriscot (Nov 14, 2014)

I have but it was a long time ago (can't even find one of those now!).  Of course they asked for someone and no one was around.  Can't remember what I said.


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## Bee (Nov 14, 2014)

Being the nosey B that I am, yes I would answer a public phone that was ringing.:sobad:


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## Ameriscot (Nov 14, 2014)

Hello???  Sorry, nobody here but us sheepies!


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## Bee (Nov 14, 2014)

I could be sure of not  getting any negative answers/replies:sobad::bigwink:


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## AprilT (Nov 14, 2014)

Yes, eons ago when we had payphones, but, I can't recall what the conversations were.  I don't even remember the last time I saw a public payphone.


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## Ameriscot (Nov 14, 2014)

AprilT said:


> Yes, eons ago when we had payphones, but, I can't recall what the conversations were.  I don't even remember the last time I saw a public payphone.



We see the beautiful red phone boxes in the countryside.  Some have been turned into internet.  Some need to be there if you can't get a mobile signal and you have an emergency.  There was an outcry when the phone company talked about removing them.  The one I posted was on the Isle of Barra.


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## AprilT (Nov 14, 2014)

Ameriscot said:


> We see the beautiful red phone boxes in the countryside.  Some have been turned into internet.  Some need to be there if you can't get a mobile signal and you have an emergency.  There was an outcry when the phone company talked about removing them.  The one I posted was on the Isle of Barra.




Very cool.  It's a great idea.  I believe at some of the camping sites, they do still offer some kind of emergency phones at various locations.  There may be other phones out there, but, with everyone and their mother having a mobile, less likely to see one.  That red booth/box is really nice.


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## Ameriscot (Nov 14, 2014)

AprilT said:


> Very cool.  It's a great idea.  I believe at some of the camping sites, they do still offer some kind of emergency phones at various locations.  There may be other phones out there, but, with everyone and their mother having a mobile, less likely to see one.  That red booth/box is really nice.



They are beautiful.  Some areas are so rural that you can't get a phone signal.


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## Laurie (Nov 14, 2014)

Yeah!  Some guy shot me!


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## hollydolly (Nov 14, 2014)

Yes we have red phone boxes here in the village..and they're still in use..




However in the larger town where I work there is a modern pay phone booth right outside, and co-incidentally it was ringing as I walked past it, and I paused, and almost answered it, but then thought..hmmm..no point it won't be for me..and just walked on, but I'm nosey so I wonder who it was...lol


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## JustBonee (Nov 14, 2014)

Haven't seen a public pay phone in years! ... if I ever did see one, and heard it ringing,  I would think it's some kind of trick, like _Candid Camera_ stuff ..


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## Davey Jones (Nov 14, 2014)

The only time a pay phone call would be for me is a message from "the Machine"...Person of Interest show.


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## Butterfly (Nov 14, 2014)

No, and I can't imagine doing so. Besides that, I haven't even seen a payphone in years -- do they still have them?  Not around here.


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## Justme (Nov 15, 2014)

Ameriscot said:


> Hello???  Sorry, nobody here but us sheepies!
> 
> 
> View attachment 11072



My home island had yellow ones like that when I was young.


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## hollydolly (Nov 15, 2014)

This is our public phone box and post box on our village high street...


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## Justme (Nov 15, 2014)

It is rare to see a public phone box, red or otherwise, in the UK these days, as most people are surgically attached to their mobile phones.


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## hollydolly (Nov 15, 2014)

I agree with what you say justme, but here we're very lucky all the villages here surrounding me still have Red phone boxes..

according to this article in the  DM there are still 67,000 boxes in the UK , 8,000 alone in London...but recently they've been changing some in the city to 'Solar boxes' which are painted Green...the jury is still out..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...red-mobile-phone-chargers-streets-london.html


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## Ameriscot (Nov 15, 2014)

I still see quite a few red phone boxes in Scotland, mainly in villages or rural.


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## Pam (Nov 15, 2014)

There's a couple of red phone boxes outside the public library in my town.


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## Laurie (Nov 15, 2014)

I suppose there are always compulsive phone answerers, you know the sort, cannot hear a phone ringing without they have to sprint two hundred yards to answer it.

I can remember a colleague complaining that he was fed up of answering my office phone (in my own office, so it wasn't disturbing anybody) when I was out.  When I asked him why he did it he said to let them know I wasn't in. 

He was quite put out when I pointed out that if he let it ring they would work that out for themselves!

I would no more think of answering somebody else's phone than I would of opening their mail.


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## Pappy (Nov 15, 2014)

Maybe they have put all the old phone booths in outer space.


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## JustBonee (Nov 15, 2014)




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## littleowl (Nov 16, 2014)

Many times in the past.

Only because her husband wants to know who she is phoning.


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## Davey Jones (Nov 16, 2014)

Butterfly said:


> No, and I can't imagine doing so. Besides that, I haven't even seen a payphone in years -- do they still have them? Not around here.



There's got be some around here,I mean how is Clarke Kent suppose to change into Superman?


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## Falcon (Nov 16, 2014)

If nobody were around I'd answer it.  It COULD be an emergency for someone.

If not; no harm done.


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## Denise1952 (Nov 16, 2014)

SeaBreeze said:


> I have a couple of times, and it's usually someone who just dialed a wrong number.



My luck it would be Jeffery Dahmer with a placed cleared out for me in his freezer:upset:


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## Melody1948 (Nov 16, 2014)

One time not long ago, I went to another city and my friend asked me to call her when I arrived.  I pulled into a mall and went all over that mall looking for a phone and there wasn't one.  I don't have a cell phone.  I had to ask three different people if they would make the call for me or let me, before one of them would agree to help me out.


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## AprilT (Nov 16, 2014)

Melody1948 said:


> One time not long ago, I went to another city and my friend asked me to call her when I arrived.  I pulled into a mall and went all over that mall looking for a phone and there wasn't one.  I don't have a cell phone.  I had to ask three different people if they would make the call for me or let me, before one of them would agree to help me out.



Sad isn't it and makes it so you have no choice but to have a cell in this day and age.  I've never refused to let someone make a call from my cell when they were in such need.  And I've had no qualms about asking others if for some reason I were in an emergency situation, like times when I've left my phone in a car service and needed to locate it or other such situations.  I don't ask why they need to make the call and most times they will recite the number for me to dial and stay put and converse right in front of my eyes and earshot.  But then, I don't live in a big city and there's really no where to run off with my cheesy little phone.  That last part was an after thought, I know some people might have to be a little more cautious about handing over their iphones to a stranger on a city street or some such place.  But mostly, I've never given it a second thought, even when I did live in a larger city, still, though, had a cheapy phone.


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## Sid (Nov 16, 2014)

Can't say as I have. I have called a few in my time.


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## Ralphy1 (Nov 17, 2014)

Yes, and it was God wanting to know what was happening on earth at the time as he was busy in other parts of the universe...


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## Ameriscot (Nov 17, 2014)

Hardly anyone seemed to have a mobile phone when I left the US early in 2000.  My boss had one and maybe a few others than I knew of.  I arrived in the UK and it seemed everybody age 8 and up had a phone.  All the schoolkids on the trains had them. That's the first time I got one and it was necessary.  

And in the UK, unlike the US, you never pay for incoming calls.  I don't understand that?


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## AZ Jim (Dec 6, 2014)

I haven't seen a public pay phone in years.  They  used to be hand in a sudden rainstorm.  Also now gone are the call boxes on the freeways I drive.  Cell Phones brought about the change.


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