Not only were there public pay phones everywhere, but if you dialed zero, a person we called The Operator would immediately answer and you could ask them to look up a phone number for you or ask them to dial a number for you.
This operator would pick up when you dialed zero from your home landline too.
Wait until you find out about all the free water fountains literally everywhere so if you were thirsty you could just stop and get an ice cold drink of water and go about your day.
In the UK you could also sign up for a thing where you dialed 144 and then an account number and you could call anywhere without coins and it would charge it to your home phone bill. I still have that ~15-digit phone number memorized from when I was a kid lol.
Free water fountains still exist but good luck finding a public bathroom in walking distance of said fountain. I literally have every port a potty mesmerized in my city because no one will let you use the bathroom, even then some get locked up or completely removed 🥲
Well I pass one on my bike and make a mental note. I live in smallish city so for me its essential to know. I have peed in alleyways and bushes off the trails but I much prefer the privacy of the port a potty, or an actual bathroom. There use to be some by the hotels and recently renovated buildings, also in some parks. I been out of commission cause I broke my collarbone, biking, so I don’t know a lot of the recent spots admittedly
I love the public washrooms in parks that are closed ‘after hours’, despite the park facilities being rented out for adult sports outside of those hours
they’re really streamlining that sex offender pipeline by telling adults to piss in the woods next to a park, often near a school
Not where I am. They turned off the old ones–even the ones that were in parks. I see one here and there but they used to be literally everywhere. Every store had one either inside or out front. Every park had them. Every downtown area had them at every block.
Not only were there public pay phones everywhere, but if you dialed zero, a person we called The Operator would immediately answer and you could ask them to look up a phone number for you or ask them to dial a number for you. This operator would pick up when you dialed zero from your home landline too.
Wait until you find out about all the free water fountains literally everywhere so if you were thirsty you could just stop and get an ice cold drink of water and go about your day.
In the UK you could also sign up for a thing where you dialed 144 and then an account number and you could call anywhere without coins and it would charge it to your home phone bill. I still have that ~15-digit phone number memorized from when I was a kid lol.
Go back far enough and they were even color-coded! So handy …
no the free water fountains still exist…
Free water fountains still exist but good luck finding a public bathroom in walking distance of said fountain. I literally have every port a potty mesmerized in my city because no one will let you use the bathroom, even then some get locked up or completely removed 🥲
How do you mesmerize a port a potty? I’m almost afraid to ask, but here I am lol
You look deep into it’s soul… “porta-potty, I’m going to count back from ten to one, when I reach one, you will be a coffee shop… ten, nine…”
There’s a mobile game in there somewhere…
Well I pass one on my bike and make a mental note. I live in smallish city so for me its essential to know. I have peed in alleyways and bushes off the trails but I much prefer the privacy of the port a potty, or an actual bathroom. There use to be some by the hotels and recently renovated buildings, also in some parks. I been out of commission cause I broke my collarbone, biking, so I don’t know a lot of the recent spots admittedly
I love the public washrooms in parks that are closed ‘after hours’, despite the park facilities being rented out for adult sports outside of those hours
they’re really streamlining that sex offender pipeline by telling adults to piss in the woods next to a park, often near a school
Not where I am. They turned off the old ones–even the ones that were in parks. I see one here and there but they used to be literally everywhere. Every store had one either inside or out front. Every park had them. Every downtown area had them at every block.
so do payphones, but most of them have been disconnected/abandoned