Years ago, my grandma told me she used to carry a dime in her bra, just in case she needed to make an emergency call. I remember dropping a quarter into my shoe a few times as kid, just in case I needed to make a call from a pay phone.
Needless to say, now that most people have cell phones, the pay phone is basically a dinosaur with a dial tone. That said, last night I tried to remember when I last used a pay phone and, although I have vague memories of using one at various malls, I really can't remember. So I asked my husband when he last used a pay phone, and he couldn't remember, either.
I do, however, remember the frustration of trying to look up a number in the pay phone phonebook, and the page I needed was torn out. In 1994, I remember using them a lot in England -- you know, the iconic red phone booth -- which was right before the cell phone craze hit the United States.
At the end of 2007, according to my genius friend, Wikipedia, AT&T sold all of its pay phones. Regardless, public telephones remain a vital form of communication for a portion of the population, even though I really don't see many around anymore.
Although now that I wrote this blog, I'll probably see them everywhere.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
