# Remember making crank phone càlls?



## applecruncher (Jan 28, 2021)

Do you have Prince Albert in a can? (Better let him out)

Is your refrigerator running?
(Better go catch it)


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## Aunt Marg (Jan 28, 2021)

Oh, yes, I remember crank telephone calls back in the day.

Call-tracing, call display, call blocking, none of that existed back then, so the poor people on the receiving end of crank calls were doomed and at the mercy of those doing the crank calling.

A big one I remember was calling a bar or pub and asking if "_Jack was there_".

99% of the time the person you were cranking would ask, "_Jack who_".

So you'd tell them, "_last name - Meoff_", then the bar-tender would holler out to the crowd... "_is Jack Meoff here, there's a call for you_", and the people in the bar/pub would roar, laughing the poor unsuspecting bar tender to pieces.

So many others, too, but have forgotten them.


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## Sassycakes (Jan 28, 2021)

*When I was a kid me and my cousin and my sister. would go to a payphone and my cousin would say "Operator, give me 222 and another one"then we would run as fast as we could because we were afraid we would get arrested. Oh, they were the good old days !*


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## Pepper (Jan 28, 2021)

My friend and I used the phone book and picked the name Whitehead.  We called, asking for Mr. Blackhead.  When Mr. Whitehead said it was the wrong number, we said:  Sorry, Wrong Pimple!


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## fmdog44 (Jan 28, 2021)

C'mon, what can kids today do to match having that much fun?


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## Leonie (Jan 28, 2021)

Never made one but working as a telephonist for a number of years I received more than a few.  One I remember came from within.  A sales rep asked me to ring a Mr. Bear for him at a number he gave me.   I dutifully rang the number and asked for Mr. Bear for Mr. 'S', only to be told I had called the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  The receptionist was very gracious given it was April 1st and it was far from the first time she had taken such a call.


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## Gary O' (Jan 28, 2021)

Oh yeah

My big sis turned me on to that (heh, she was supposed to watch me)




Sassycakes said:


> then we would run as fast as we could


That's the thing.....nowhere to run
So we just jumped up and down or ROTFLOAO

Funny, that prank call thing kinda followed me into adulthood

Remember those pink phone message slips?

Any new hire would get wunna those if they left the office for lunch





Of coarse the phone number was the City zoo



And I was VP of operations....heh.....perks


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## Gaer (Jan 28, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Oh, yes, I remember crank telephone calls back in the day.
> 
> Call-tracing, call display, call blocking, none of that existed back then, so the poor people on the receiving end of crank calls were doomed and at the mercy of those doing the crank calling.
> 
> ...


Marg!  What a naughty little girl!   (tee hee)


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## jujube (Jan 28, 2021)

Prank phone calls were a staple of pajama parties back in the day.  I made my share of them.


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## Jules (Jan 28, 2021)

A policeman showed up at my door 35 years ago.  Seems my DD & friend had been using my phone to call XXX-1234.  The poor woman couldn’t take it any more.  They weren’t the first doing this, just the ones caught.  They both caught something else at home.  I must remind her of this story.


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## Jeweltea (Jan 28, 2021)

Yes, I remember doing that with friends...we had so much fun.


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## applecruncher (Jan 29, 2021)

I remember my dad coming home from work & telling us to stop playing on the phone, so someone had said something.


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## OneEyedDiva (Jan 29, 2021)

I remember when we had party lines, one of the boys, never found out who, called the girl who's parents were our landlords. The boy threatened to kill her or something like that. I believe she got scared but before it was all over she found out it was a crank call. I never made a crank call.


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## fuzzybuddy (Jan 30, 2021)

When I was in the  US Navy, in the 70s, a bunch of us were  out bar hopping. We were supposed to go to a party at Steve Smith's house, but we lost the directions. So I put a dime in the pay phone and got "Information". The operator gave me Steve's number. I was too wasted to remember all the numbers she rattled off.. I asked the operator to dial it for me. She said, "Sir, I'm only permitted to do that if you are handicapped" I told her I was handicapped. She said, " What's your handicap?" I thought fast, "I'm deaf." Click.


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## HoneyNut (Jan 30, 2021)

We used to do prank calls when we were having sleepovers.  The only one I remember is calling people and asking for John, and when they said there was no John, we'd say 'I thought everyone had a john!' and hang up.
Kids nowadays are missing out, but they can still afflict people, my kid was always asking what was under there and when anyone fell for it and asked 'under where?' she would just crack up (because 'you said underwear').  Boy that joke got old before she finally outgrew it.


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## Fyrefox (Feb 1, 2021)

I never did a prank phone call, but my baby sitter did!  I remember one New Year's Eve, she called the Police Dept., hollared "Happy New Year" into the phone, and hung up!  That was before the days of caller ID and routine call tracing, and I doubt the stunt would be appreciated today...


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