Stupid Guest Tricks

hobie16 wrote:Is anyone here old enough to remember rotary dials?

I remember rotary dials. Heck, I remember when we first got them! Big improvement being able to dial your own calls instead of waiting for an operator each time.

Reminds me of one place I worked back in the 60s. They got fed up with paying for all the phone calls, so replaced the house phone with one with no dial. They figured we could thus still receive calls, but not make them.

Now, who knows enough about step-by-step telephone relays to know what comes next in this story?

StupidGuestTricks.com... where very few threads stay on topic more than a couple posts.

Zazu that was before they invented an autodialer. My dad would hold an autodialer up to the mouth piece of any phone and it would dial for him. It was the size of a small pocket calculator. That would have worked on a phone with no dial, lol.

Zazu wrote:Now, who knows enough about step-by-step telephone relays to know what comes next in this story?

I could bench, lube, and replace the pawls in a SXS finder, selector or connector in half an hour.

Who invented the SXS and why did he do it?

Monorail_Red wrote:I get a kick out of how many SGs I see being sent back after jumping over from the stand-by line to the FastPass line...

That greatly annoys me, as does the point the OP made. It always seems to happen, especially on Mission: SPACE, Rock'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Once, on the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, a group got caught. A CM spotted them earlier, waited for them to get to the loading platform, them frogmarched them through the exit.

There is a difference in cutting in line and catching up to your party.

Our last trip. (for example) I went to get FP's for Star Tours while my wife and brother got in line for Indy. When I got back they were well into the line. I told the CM there that my group was in line and that I needed to get catch up to them. The CM moved the rope and let me into the middle opening to watch for them to pass by where I joined them. IMO this is not line cutting. The same would be if a family with children and while in line one of the kids needs to go to the bathroom, if they are not too close to the front of the line, then I say it is ok for mom or dad to take said child while the rest stay in line holding the place. Now if the group gets to the front before the others can catch up, then I think they should get on, or step aside and let the line move on while they wait.

I have heard some people say that if part of your group needs to leave the line for some reason, that the rest should step aside where they are and let the line pass them until the party gets back, then jump in line where they stand. TO me this IS line cutting. the people that were behind you when you left know you left and that some of your group stayed. The people you are now jumping in front of have no idea who you are or why you are jumping in front of them.

Ah, yes, rotary dials. I grew up with rotary dials, but thankfully after the age where people gave their phone numbers as a combination of an exchange word plus five digits. (Though I did learn my first phone number could be said as either 962-8780 or WO2-8780.)

mechurchlady wrote:Zazu that was before they invented an autodialer. My dad would hold an autodialer up to the mouth piece of any phone and it would dial for him. It was the size of a small pocket calculator. That would have worked on a phone with no dial, lol.

And I'm guessing it clicked, not beeped? :)

BRWombat wrote:Ah, yes, rotary dials. I grew up with rotary dials, but thankfully after the age where people gave their phone numbers as a combination of an exchange word plus five digits. (Though I did learn my first phone number could be said as either 962-8780 or WO2-8780.)

And I'm guessing it clicked, not beeped? :)

It would have to be tones and the switching equipment would have to be configured to process tone.

The clicks heard when using a rotary dial phone are the circuit being broken. Dial a 5 and the dial breaks the circuit five times. The dial has to move at 10 pulses per second (PPS) for the switching equipment to accept the breaks. It the dial is too fast or slow you'll get a wrong number.

hobie16 wrote:The clicks heard when using a rotary dial phone are the circuit being broken. Dial a 5 and the dial breaks the circuit five times. The dial has to move at 10 pulses per second (PPS) for the switching equipment to accept the breaks. It the dial is too fast or slow you'll get a wrong number.

Which is why being able to rapidly press the hangup sensor is useful :twisted:

Another thing about the party line system is that the only way you knew if a call was for you or not was you had to count the rings, and in certain systems not just the number, but whether they were long or short rings. You had to listen for your ring pattern before lifting the handset. And if you had an emergency and someone else was on the line, they were required to hang up immediately or face huge fines/jail time/both.

I once read a story in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine about a woman who lived in a rural area with a party line. It seems she had been exchanging recipes with a neighbor when someone with an emergency called, but allegedly this woman and the one she was talking to wouldn't give up the line, and the person trying to get through's husband died as a result. Unfortunately, this lady was uncivil to someone who called after an attorney called about the incident, and this resulted in an intruder attacking her, and when she tried to call for help, the neighbor she'd insulted and the other woman did to her as she had done to them. Kinda makes you glad party lines no longer exist.