Earrings on the phone
Posted by No-Conference-3306@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 43 comments
When I was a kid, I thought taking off an earring to answer the phone was going to be more common than it was. On soap operas, the women ALWAYS took off an earring when they went to answer the phone. Does anyone actually do that???
LevelPerception4@reddit
I did find earrings very uncomfortable in my teen years when I could spend a few hours a day with the handset clamped to my ear. I just let the holes close up and have proudly flouted naked lobes my entire adult life.
Handbag_Lady@reddit
It was DRAMA and gave the actress something to do. I have ten ear piercings and that would take a weekend to answer a call.
CompanyOther2608@reddit
Clip-ons
Vodka_For_Breakfast@reddit
I've got 1 inch plugs in my lobes. If I don't take one out it makes a bunch of noise clattering against my phone.
Fit_Poetry_267@reddit
I cant stand hearing my earring tap the phone so I frequently take it off
But I do it all fancy with a hair flip like Im on a soap opera
LadyNorbert@reddit
I only ever saw it on television - soap operas, and also on Murder She Wrote. I guess if your earrings were large enough to make using the phone uncomfortable, it made sense. What I could never work out was how they pulled them out with only one hand!
Sea_Strawberry_6398@reddit
They did that when wearing clip-on earrings, which are easy to remove with one hand. Are clip-on earrings even a thing anymore?
LadyNorbert@reddit
They still exist, if that's what you mean. They're the only kind I can wear, but I usually don't bother.
Chemical_Author7880@reddit
Keep in mind all calls meant your ear was pressed against the ear piece.
Wrong_Pen6179@reddit
Never!
SouthernWalk1928@reddit
Sometimes depends on how big the earrings are
TypePuzzleheaded6228@reddit
in the 80's for a while we wore those big crystal earrings that were so heavy they only sold them as clip-ons those were perfect to do the soap star move and pull it off to answer the phone. these days our earrings are usually much more lightweight and our phones have speakers!
springsummerfall2016@reddit
I wfh and I have a headset to use when I have to make phone calls. Some of my earrings need to be taken off because it's irritating to wear them and the headset.
Reasonable_Bid3311@reddit
In the old days while watching a soap, my mother and I always wondered why the women took their earrings off while answering the phone. We did not think it made sense. They also removed them with one hand which means they were clipping On’s, again making no sense to us.
hapster85@reddit
Not a woman, but no, I never remove my earrings to answer the phone.
QueenScorp@reddit
I've never done it once on my life. Granted, I never wore big chunky earrings that would clank against the phone and now I usually use speaker phone anyway
DoookieMaxx@reddit
The older phones had handsets that had the microphone and speakers covered in that really hard plastic/metal.
The earrings bumping into the plastic interfered with sound on both ends of the call.
Newer phones don’t share that particular issue …so it’s become a dormant habit of necessity from a bygone era.
ThenOneDaySheWokeUp@reddit
Exactly, using interpreter phones when I became a nurse is what broke me out of the lifelong habit of wearing earrings. Those old fashioned phones were annoying when earring knocked against it. So I stopped wearing earrings to work and ended up stopping all together as they now feel “weird” to me.
Doja_Gnat@reddit
Every single day of my life (I wear clip ons mainly so easy to slip off)
The way I recall it like in Dynasty or sm, they would have been clip ons too, I collect them from that era
Kymkryptic@reddit
No but I do remember Mrs. Slocombe doing it on Are You Being Served.
RedSparrow1971@reddit
Women on soaps back then are wearing clip ons, usually, so it’s helpful and easy to remove them. Never done it myself, but I also haven’t seen an old timey handset in eons and rarely wore clip ons
SuitablyFakeUsername@reddit
Susan Lucci/Erika Kane was the queen!
SuitablyFakeUsername@reddit
https://i.redd.it/m78y5yk0d01h1.gif
Money_Engineering_59@reddit
A lot of them were big bulky clip on earrings. Those things sucked! My grandmother always did it. One quick tug and they’re off.
Fan_Winston@reddit
Lol. I remember this habit with chunky clip-ons was a major plot point in an episode of Murder She Wrote .
Money_Engineering_59@reddit
I need to know what the plot was! I watched it all the time as a kid but can’t remember clip ons being a plot…. Now I’m curious!
ThePythiaofApollo@reddit
Wait… you actually talk on the phone? On purpose?
Nordilanche@reddit
Only if they're either huge or clip-ons.
IT_Librarian@reddit
I still take off an earring when talking directly into a phone.
HeWritesALine@reddit
My mom was on the phone a lot for work and her piercing hole elongated from pressing against the earpiece.
Starkravingbrie@reddit
Mine too. Hers almost went all the way through and she stopped wearing earrings
meandhimandthose2@reddit
I take out dangling earrings before running as they hit my headphones and make a clicking sounds!
wawa2022@reddit
We also had sticks that were made specifically for dialing rotary phones so you didn’t mess up your nails.
HR-Puffenstuff@reddit
You mean pens?
wawa2022@reddit
No fancy people had real phone sticks
KookyComfortable6709@reddit
Eraser end of a pencil
ave427@reddit
I didn’t know about those.
archedhighbrow@reddit
I remember doing it, and the sound of the earring against the earpiece was irritating.
mjh8212@reddit
Now days my lobes are 16mm and I take out one plug when I’m on the phone. It bumps against the screen. Back then I wore small studs but knew a lot of women who took out those huge earrings that were in style back then.
Sea_Staff9963@reddit
Old phones had that circular receiver that would pull on your earring or jam it into your head. It was more comfortable to talk on the phone without an earring.
AnfreloSt-Da@reddit
Nope.
It’s the difference between pierced earrings and clip. Most people don’t take pierced earrings off one-handed. You’d drop the backing.
Lumpy-Detective-1978@reddit
This was important when large, bulky earrings were popular and so was talking on the phone.
It's uncomfortable for the wearer and the other line can hear the earring rub the telephone earpiece.
Nowadays, none of these things are culturally relevant. I feel old.
MapPuzzleheaded4983@reddit
LOL - I used to do it at work after talking on the phone for a long time. On the soaps they were always clip ons.