Back then, how many phone numbers had you memorized?

[-]

Insomniac_80@reddit

Hmm play with them with your kids, if you take them somewhere and they get lost it is good if they know their phone numbers!

[-]

throwingwater14@reddit

My dad is a phone man. My bro and I would take one of these in for show and tell all through elem school. Bakelight with the bells. Heavy and cool. Kids loved it.

[-]

I don't remember what I did last weekend, but I remember that the code for the break room at the Barnes & Noble I worked at 25 years ago was 8675. And yes I did sing the 309 part every time I went on break.

[-]

eufooted@reddit

Jenny? I’ve been calling and calling…

[-]

xtlhogciao@reddit

I discovered caller ID existed after dialing that (when you still didn’t have to dial the area code), the got grounded bc I stupidly gave my dad the phone after the person immediately called back and asked if my father was home instead of just telling him “no” and hanging up.

[-]

Get_Breakfast_Done@reddit

You still don’t have to dial the area code in some places

[-]

1ConsiderateAsshole@reddit

This is the number I give when they ask for it at businesses. Lot of Jenny’s out there.

[-]

Metamorphica_0226@reddit

I still have my first childhood number and address memorized

[-]

mightysockelf@reddit

Same. I use that old phone number as a password sometimes.

[-]

MtnDewCodeRedFreak@reddit

It’d be worthless if other family members can easily guess it.

[-]

mightysockelf@reddit

None of them remember it unless I rattle it off. Then they're like, "Ooooohh yeahhhh, now I remember!" But fret not, because I add letters and symbols to it that no one else knows.

[-]

MtnDewCodeRedFreak@reddit

Good. Glad to hear that.

[-]

mightysockelf@reddit

I also sometimes use the 16 digit number from my dad's old Visa card that expired in 1999. I memorized it as a teenager in order to make clandestine online purchases, my dumb ass not realizing that he got a statement every month 😑

[-]

DanAnbormal@reddit

Affirmative

[-]

murdock86@reddit

The back of the phone book here had a page to write down numbers. That got filled up, ripped out, and pinned to the wall for years and years.

[-]

No-Difference-1351@reddit

gif

[-]

DrawingTypical5804@reddit

I was sooo excited the first time grandma let me call a neighbor. She stressed I needed to be fast, otherwise I wouldn’t get to finish. I didn’t understand. I wasn’t fast enough and the destination phone started ringing before I had finished the last two digits. I wasn’t fast enough old enough and rural enough that you didn’t even need the whole number…

[-]

MtnDewCodeRedFreak@reddit

Yes.

[-]

No-Acanthisitta8803@reddit

It was always fun and so satisfying dialing numbers on one of these....

Until you're dialing in a hurry and dial the wrong number halfway through and have to start over 🙄

[-]

A_Coin_Toss_Friendo@reddit

867-5309

[-]

Rob_Bligidy@reddit

Home, both sets of grandparents, nearest aunt, best friend

[-]

No_Listen5389@reddit

I was so upset when they added area codes for local numbers (because I kept forgetting) "this is a local call...."

[-]

jar36@reddit

I still remember the first phone number I got from a girl I was interested in back in 1989

[-]

Ted_Fleming@reddit

Still have them memorized

[-]

CloseButNoChicory@reddit

Maybe 15.

[-]

percephony@reddit

I still have a ton of numbers memorized, just in case ☆

[-]

Suitable_Garlic_1186@reddit

The phones with Buttons where the high tech shit back then.. 😃

[-]

babydriver81@reddit

1981-I have several memorized. From my mom's job to both grandparents to pizza places to my best friends

[-]

New123K@reddit

Probably around 15–20.

Not because I sat down to memorize them, but because you had to dial them so often. Home, grandparents, friends, aunts and uncles... after a while they just stuck in your head.

Now I can barely remember a few numbers because my phone does all the remembering for me.

[-]

Traditional_Entry183@reddit

I am that old. My house didn't have a push button phone until the 90s, and even then for a while it was rotary. You'd push the button then wait as it did the clicks.

[-]

PennydumbTheClown@reddit

[-]

Accadius@reddit

I remember my parents and grandparents numbers to this day. Grandparents had the same yellow rotary phone hanging in the kitchen all my childhood in the 90s all the way until Grandpa passed and Grandma could no longer dial and had to get one of those phones with extra large buttons in the early 2010s. My dad said they had that phone since the 70s.

[-]

jackoos88@reddit

Remember the phones in Lassie?

[-]

Old-Tea1980@reddit

Still have a number of them memorized

[-]

New_Stats@reddit

They're now part of my passwords because I refuse to have useless knowledge rattling around in my brain while I can't remember what I had for dinner last night

Space is limited, gotta use it all

[-]

Big_Somewhere9230@reddit

This is good. I like to pull 80s baseball players with their jersey numbers in the middle somewhere.

[-]

OmegaRainicorn@reddit

Yep, they make great passwords. I do the same thing.

[-]

Fianna9@reddit

I can still remember my grandmothers and my childhood home.

I’ve since made a point of memorizing my mother’s current number. I knew someone who was in an accident and their phone was smashed so they couldn’t contact anyone to come help them!

[-]

RU33ERBULLETS@reddit

Yeah but only remember when I’m stealing my parents’ gas rewards.

[-]

Old-Tea1980@reddit

I remember numbers of childhood friends that I haven’t seen in 30 years. 😂

[-]

Enge712@reddit

My grandfathers number has not changed since I was born. I think it’s the only one I remember that still works

[-]

toomuchtv987@reddit

The dial is backwards.

[-]

Jean_Mak@reddit (OP)

According to Wikipedia, it’s a New Zealand one.
Makes sense: it’s the Southern Hemisphere!

[-]

Left_Interaction_288@reddit

Yeah, it's a while since i used one, but it looks right to me.

[-]

Top_Carpet_7866@reddit

I think I hear an Emu eating your baby

[-]

mightysockelf@reddit

You know that's a true story? Lady lost her kid. You're about to cross some fuckin' lines.

[-]

CorgiMonsoon@reddit

Which way do their toilets flush?

[-]

Logical-Albatross-82@reddit

Wait, I hope they flush downwards! Everything else would be gross!

[-]

squarebodynewb@reddit

They still use a handle its just on the other side.

[-]

Emannuelle-in-space@reddit

Phew I thought I was having a Mandela moment

[-]

digitaljestin@reddit

My guy, it just clicks the signal at a regular interval as it spins back to its resting state. This my not be standard orientation, but it works just the same.

[-]

nzungu69@reddit

˙ʇɔǝɹɹoɔuᴉ ≠ ʇuǝɹǝɟɟᴉp ˙ɥʇᴉʍ dn ʍǝɹƃ ᴉ ʇɐɥʇ ǝuoɥd zu pɹɐpuɐʇs ɐ s,ʇᴉ

[-]

realitythreek@reddit

Glad you corrected that it would NOT work the same. Not surprised there’s variation in other countries.

[-]

timsea99@reddit

The cradle doesn't look right either. Did OP do an AI?

[-]

nzungu69@reddit

˙ʇsᴉxǝ ʎllɐǝɹ ʇou sǝop puɐ ᴉɐ sᴉ ɐoɹɐǝʇoɐ ˙sǝʎ

[-]

59apache01@reddit

The form factor is definitely European, though as another poster said, the dial being backwards would not send the correct pulses needed to dial a number. This had to have been for an internal phone system of some kind.

[-]

nzungu69@reddit

˙opɹᴉǝʍ 'spɹɐʍʞɔɐq ǝɹ,noʎ

[-]

Roland-Of-Eld-19@reddit

0 is supposed to be after the 9 haha this one is definitely weird

[-]

Schooblah@reddit

This is not an American telephone.

[-]

tmotytmoty@reddit

I was able to write 8 that I remember from like 30 years ago. I thought i could do more. Oh welll.

[-]

OmegaRainicorn@reddit

Who here can still dial Pizza Hut and Movie Phone from memory?

[-]

burgundyblue@reddit

Partly because I come from a very small town, not only did we have a rotary phone, but there was a party line phone in my parents bedroom. You could pick it up and hear all the old ladies in the neighborhood gossip.

[-]

McCale@reddit

Ours had about 25' of cord.

[-]

Positron14@reddit

We had a rotary phone in the office at my grade school. That's my only experience with one. I suppose I only dialed home on that one.

[-]

Rooster_Fish-II@reddit

My friend’s phone number ended with 000. Took a full minute to dial.

[-]

AllThe--SmallThings@reddit

Probably 15-20 between family and friends. Wild that I can still rattle off my best friend's house number from 1998 but couldn't tell you my wife's cell without checking my phone.

[-]

ArtDecoSkillet@reddit

Would prefer this sub not descend into recycled boomer memes :/

[-]

Apprehensive_Hat8986@reddit

Why does this phone look weird? All the ones I grew up with had the lower numbers closest to the stop.

[-]

WaterAirSoil@reddit

Parents had one still in late 80’s early 90’s

[-]

Appropriate-Diver301@reddit

Old phone numbers of random people I knew are an great source of PINS

[-]

TrustAffectionate966@reddit

Home number, work number, and one of my friend's number.

[-]

iheartbaconsalt@reddit

How else would we call for pizza? I remmber all the numbers.

454-7272 best pizza in town. - Mr Gattis.

[-]

jackfaire@reddit

My own. I've never been good with phone numbers I used to keep a written address book

[-]

NoobSaibot69@reddit

Ordering a pizza while super stoned was an ordeal

[-]

insurancequestionguy@reddit

Only a few friends and family.

[-]

Striking-Win-3239@reddit

Yep. My parents had this exact same one.

[-]

Lateralus46N2@reddit

Oh I miss the days when you could violently slam the receiver down when hanging up on someone. Doing it on a flat phone just doesn't have the same impact. 🤣🤣

gif

[-]

Spartan04@reddit

While not quite the same flip phones at least let us slam the phone closed to hang up.

[-]

Emannuelle-in-space@reddit

Throwing your cell at the wall to hang up on someone feels great, but kinda pricey

[-]

squarebodynewb@reddit

45? 50?

[-]

GravyPainter@reddit

Come back when they were mounted on the wall youngin

[-]

someguyfromsk@reddit

The same 10 I still remember, even though none of those people live there anymore

[-]

AtaracticGoat@reddit

This was the main phone in my house until I was around 10 years old, I used it all the time. I even remember calling a place and they wanted me to press 1 for this and 2 for that.

The rotary numbers did not work for that lol

[-]

Top-Difficulty5202@reddit

Yup

[-]

HaterTot@reddit

remember how the transition to the grid of mushy push button numbers was like this technological advancement? Then the "touch tone phone" became necessary to navigate phone system menus, infomercials would say to call them using one specifically.

[-]

GenghisConnieChung@reddit

I still remember more peoples phone numbers from back then than I do peoples current phone numbers.

[-]

rincon_orange@reddit

I’m this old ☺️

[-]

59apache01@reddit

Definitely an Australian/New Zealand phone. European in style with a backwards dial. We had the venerable Western Electric 500 phones in our house.

But back to the original question, I had many phone numbers memorized. And for the ones I didn't, there was a pad on the wall behind the phone with numbers on it.

[-]

SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

At least 20-30.

[-]

FunksGroove@reddit

I don’t remember how many numbers I remembered.

[-]

uncle_monty@reddit

I still remember the numbers of all my childhood friends.

[-]

PaleoSpeedwagon@reddit

I still remember my home number from when I was 6.

[-]

Original-Let8340@reddit

I still have them all remembered. It's just any number since 2001 or so that I have never and never will be able to commit to memory.

[-]

BeefwagonDiscs@reddit

AI slop

[-]

Jean_Mak@reddit (OP)

This photo is from Wikipedia.

[-]

Actual_Appearance246@reddit

My grandma had one in her kitchen but it was hanging on the wall.

[-]

Nneliss@reddit

My best friend’s phone number had two 0’s and two 9’s in it. I hated calling it because it took ages 😂

[-]

Eazy12345678@reddit

grandparents had a phone like that.

not sure if i ever did

i remember corded phones with touchpads

[-]

Pretend-Menu-8660@reddit

I have all my best friends’ phone numbers and my high school sweetheart’s phone number still memorized!

[-]

AshDogBucket@reddit

I can still tell you that Lauren was 251-7133 even though i don't think i really called her much.

[-]

jibaro1953@reddit

Older

[-]

GuitarPlayingGuy71@reddit

Yesss

[-]

Fuckspez42@reddit

I still remember phone numbers from people I haven’t seen in 30 years, many of whom are no longer alive.

[-]

RickardsRed77@reddit

On a party line.

[-]

Ordinary-Hunt-3659@reddit

We had this and a party line until I was 3.

[-]

DontYuckMyYum@reddit

I only ever had 3 numbers memorized. My home number, my aunt's number and my grandma's number. Any other number was written down or is look it up in the phone book.

Over the years the only number thats stuck in my head is my aunt's number for some reason. Haven't dialed it in maybe 20+ years but I can spit it out no problem. Even used it as a password a few times.

[-]

machacker89@reddit

Unfortunately! YES

[-]

rootbeer277@reddit

My grandmother had one, and my parents had one of those old-fashioned wall-mount phones with a separate earpiece from the receiver you see in the really, really old movies, but that was a modern novelty item.

I rarely memorized my friends' actual phone numbers, I knew them by the pattern on the keypad.

[-]

MrsBridgerton@reddit

I knew mine, my grandparents, aunts and uncles and my friends. Sadly, these days i know about 2 or 3 phone numbers.

[-]

Jean_Mak@reddit (OP)

It came with this:

Remember?

[-]