MMeM, Vol.13 Issue 35 – 2017 Change Part 1 of ?

Enter, the pay phone graveyard.

Change. It’s usually thought of as disruptive and unsettling. Then again, change takes place constantly and at such a rapid pace today that you almost don’t notice it. I used to think that I hated change, but technology and innovation have helped to slowly change (pun intended) my mind.

Taking a look back at how things were always done before can be valuable perspective on ways to do things better in the future. Learning from history and past  failures so as to not repeat them again is one of the adages we often hear, and more often ignore.

At any rate, when one looks around there are reminders of the not so distant past everywhere. Moreover, there are absences of what used to be all too common everyday conveniences of the day. Take pay phones. We know where they’ve gone figuratively, but where do the actual phones go when they die? Nobody needs pay phones today. Need to make a nefarious somewhat anonymous phone call now? No pay phone? No problem. Get a burner phone, use it, toss it.

Enter the pay phone graveyard.

Ah, the public pay phone. Who could ever forget all of the convenience, the increase in cost, the switch from coins to swiping cards, the GERMS? Back when you used actual currency with a pay phone, didn’t you always check the coin return at the end of a call to see if you got change for some reason? Then, there was the urban legend that someone was putting HIV laced needles in coin returns of pay phones. That legend almost rivaled razor blades in candy bars at Halloween.

Yes, the pay phone will always hold a special place in our hearts as can be seen in the museums above.

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Blogger, in search of humor, always. Writer of MidwesternMeditations.com, formerly hosted on Blogger.