a new kind of video

Once upon a time, a phone bill was a simple thing: a small flat fee for local calls, and a listing and associated charges for long distance ones. 

Growing up, long distance calls were taboo in our household. 

At home, if I were on the phone, my mom would say, “Who are you talking to?”  My mom wasn’t nosy, and she was respectful of my privacy.  She just wanted to make sure I wasn’t on a long-distance call.  If I were, it was either, “Can they call you back?” or “Are you going to be much longer?”

It was a difficult time.  We had to develop strategies for overcoming this hardship.

My college boyfriend lived in New Jersey.  During the summer, we would arrange our calls pay phone-to-pay phone.  I don't remember exactly what was involved but I do know that we talked for hours and hours and neither of us paid for these calls.

And then there were the strategies to insure my parents paid for any calls their daughters made to them.  If I were out of town, I would call collect and my mom would not accept, then she’d call me back.  Later, we refined this embarrassing strategy to my calling, letting it ring once, and my mom would know to call me back.  There was no caller ID, so I imagine my sisters were assigned two or three rings before hanging up; there had to be a system for distinguishing which of my mom’s three daughters was calling.

Oh, and what about when you just had to speak to your friend and they were talking to someone else (meaning you’d get a busy signal)?  That was easy.  You’d just call the operator and say, “Hi.  I’m trying to call phone number such and such and I can’t get through.  Can you check the line and see if it’s working?”  Then, the parties on the phone would hear a click.  They wouldn’t know who was calling and they also wouldn’t know if the call was for them or the person they were talking to.  But they would know to hang up, and voilà, you could then reach your friend.

Call forwarding didn’t exist, and that was a dilemma.  I think many plans with my friends were shortchanged so I could be home — just in case that cute boy actually called. 

We’ve come a long way since those days.  Long-distance is cheaper.  Options are many.  But bills have gotten complicated.

Today, I get this from AT&T. Set to music no less.  And a sweet little voice-over telling me it's complimentary. I can only wonder, “Have we come too far?”