I have a strange story for you.

[LuckyCharms]

I was 12 years old. Soon to be 13.

My older sister's friend said to her one day..."You know, your brother Lucky is a really nice boy, but why do I see him in every phone booth in town"?

Back then, the phone system had some kind of glitch. This glitch became known as the "Hot Line". I have no idea who discovered this, but here is how it worked...

Find a phone booth. Go in and drop a dime to make a call.

Dial the number "2".

You would then get a recording that said "I'm sorry, the number you have reached is not in service" (I still have that message as an earworm because I heard it literally thousands of times).

The recording would play continuously, but there was about a 10 second period of silence in between each of the repeated recordings.

During that silent period, if you were a guy, you would yell into the phone (you had to yell to be heard) ANY GIRLS? or, if you were a girl, you would yell out "ANY GUYS".

If there were any girls in some other phone booth doing the same thing that you were, they would yell out the phone number of the phone booth they were in.

So, if I yelled ANY GIRLS into the phone, and someone yelled out their phone number, I would call them and arrange to meet.

This is how I met a girl that I dated from age 12 to age 20. We almost got married for fuck's sake! We met, fell in love, and dated for that long period. At age 12! My mother loved her, and her parents treated me like their son.

Can you imagine? 12 years old? Riding your bike to a phone booth with a hand full of dimes?

ANY GIRLLLLSSSSSS?

The phone company finally figured out and fixed this glitch, because things got way out of hand. There would be 20 to 30 kids at every phone booth. But I got in before it got popular.

[UpInArms]

1. That's a cool story, lucky

We were on a party line when I was a kid …

My dad hated that everyone listened in on his business calls

[LuckyCharms]

2. I remember those!

Damn! That was a long time ago!

[BeneteauBum]

14. We too were on a party line

You picked up, heard someone talking, apologized, and tried again later.

Peace ☮️

[cachukis]

3. Great story. Heard about you guys.

[Niagara]

4. But you didn't attempt to cram a bunch of people in the telephone booth?

Where's your will to be weird??

[LuckyCharms]

5. Back then, they were actual glass booths.

I would go in and shut the door, and there would be a line of guys with their dimes, kicking the door and yelling "Hurry the fuck up"!

[Niagara]

6. Tough neighborhood

You're suppose to cram a bunch of people in the booth with you, Lucky.

[LuckyCharms]

7. I remember that fad, Niagara!

That was when I was REALLY young though! Google says around 1959 or so...I was just a baby!

[Niagara]

8. I'm betting we could stuff some people in there, Lucky

Although we'll be searching for a full sized glass phone booth forever!

[nuxvomica]

9. I never heard of this and I remember the old phone booths

But I grew up in the suburb of small town. I'm surprised I've never seen it in a movie because it's a profoundly cinematic premise.

[70sEraVet]

10. The next time I'm 12 years old, I'm coming to you for pointers, Lucky!

What a wonderful story!

[dlbell]

11. This whole thread is hilarious

We were part of a party line when I was young. One of the two Operators rented from my folks so we were always cautious about what we said. She would sometimes make small comments before putting your call through.

We were all happy when private lines finally came in.

[slightlv]

12. Does everybody remember their phone number from back in those days?

I do! And, although I can tell you what the entire number was (including the name reference in front of the number), I can't tell you WHAT my cell phone number is today. Some things never leave your memory, I guess! (LOL) My prefix was EM7 (short for Emerson 7)...

[Bristlecone]

15. My parents still have the same number I grew up with.

It’s just 10 digit now (add the area code), rather than 7.

I do not know 1 of my kids’ cell phone numbers by heart. Probably not good. My wife’s I know.

[slightlv]

20. Of all of them to remember, I think you're doing

good by remembering your wife's! (LOL)

[Bristlecone]

13. I think that is a great story. Not strange at all

[NJCher]

16. Here's the strange part

snip
This is how I met a girl that I dated from age 12 to age 20. We almost got married for fuck's sake! We met, fell in love, and dated for that long period. At age 12! My mother loved her, and her parents treated me like their son.
snip

That's an 8-year relationship. A big percentage of marriages don't last that long.

On top of all that, his mother loved the girlfriend and the girlfriend's parents treated him like a son.

That's very rare.

[LuckyCharms]

18. More...

My wife's family was neighbors with a man who was close friend's with my old girlfriend's father. They worked together, side by side.

My wife's neighbor was very protective of my wife. When it was obvious that things were getting serious with our relationship, my wife's neighbor went to my old girlfriend's father and asked him "What about this LuckyCharms guy, is he a good guy"? I think he's going to marry my neighbor.

My old girlfriend's father told him "Yes. No worries. He's good".

So I got his blessing!

[Marthe48]

17. We had the click line in Cleveland

I was 13 or 14, long time ago. You dialed an ext and maybe real fast clicked the cradle, to get onto a sub line. Some of the extensions were hotter than others, and I remember having some long chats with people I didn't know and wouldn't meet.

We could do this at home, using the clunky bakelite phones. Our parents were always yelling at us to get off the phone, but we didn't have long lines waiting to get on. I'd like to know more how it worked.

[LuckyCharms]

19. You know, that sounds vaguely familiar!

Strange what you could do with those old phones, Marthe!

One thing I forgot to mention...No one was going to agree to meet a 12 year old kid. 14 seemed to be the right age, so I used to lie and say I was 14!

I still feel bad about it! But the girl I dated knew my right age...she was almost 2 years older than me. She was very sweet, and she had a wonderful family.