I was talking to a coworker about these new phishing attacks that send your name and address and sometimes a picture of your house, and I was saying how creepy it is, and they told me that phonebooks were delivered to everyone and used to have like literally everyone in a city listed by last name with their phone number and address. Is that for real?

  • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
    10·
    2 months ago

    No joke! I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen a phone book. How would they even fit? Seems like they would have been enormous.

    I did see a payphone in a restaurant once but it didn’t work. I saw another one outside of a gas station on a road trip in the south. That one had a dial tone, but I think you had to pay more to call anyone we knew, so we just took selfies pretending to use it.

    • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
      24·
      2 months ago

      Residential listings were “white pages” and businesses were “yellow pages.”

      Yes, they were big, printed on very thin paper, with small typeface.

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
        12·
        2 months ago

        OMG 🤣🤣🤣

        Edit: is Hershey where they make the chocolate? Didn’t realize that was a town and not just a company. I’m learning so much today

          • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
            2·
            2 months ago

            Like in the town town or the amusement thing.

            Did this dude enslave small-statured orange people by chance?

            • Geekocracy@lemmy.world
              4·
              2 months ago

              The town, or at least the main street that goes by the factory. As far as I know, no orange people were enslaved.
              Seriously though, Milton Hershey was surprisingly progressive for his time. He built affordable homes for his workers and helped them become home owners. The school he built was originally for orphaned boys.

              • Andy@slrpnk.net
                4·
                2 months ago

                I’m from Pittsburgh. I think we ran a cross country meet in Hershey once.

                The amusement park and factory tour are all quite charming. It’s hard to recommend one make a dedicated trip, but if anyone is ever on a road trip nearby, it’s worth the detour to stop by for a day.

                Then again, my recommendation is 20 years old. It could be either better or worse now.

                • Geekocracy@lemmy.world
                  2·
                  5 days ago

                  I’m from Pittsburgh. I think we ran a cross country meet It’s been maybe a little longer for me :)

                  But in the meantime the park has grown from a neighborhood attraction to an east coast destination. I am always a bit amused when my coworkers vacation there.

          • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
            2·
            2 months ago

            Looked it up, that school seems very cool. It does sound like you’re describing Willy Wonka though.

            • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
              3·
              2 months ago

              Wonka vibes intensify

              Oh and a really good hospital too it looks like. Because he made chocolate shaped like a drop?? Dang

              • jqubed@lemmy.world
                2·
                2 months ago

                His real innovation was a less expensive method to produce milk chocolate (although this process seems to produce butyric acid which is an unpleasant taste in chocolate if you’re not used to it) and becoming the first mass-produced chocolate in the US. The Hershey Kiss was just one of many products he made.

    • wallybeavis@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      Did the voice on the payphone say: You must please deposit 25 cents to place your call LOL I think that’s engrained in my memory

      Fun fact:
      Once touch tone phones became the norm there were actually games you could play by just calling a number. There was also a number you could call and get the local time and temperature. Oh, and lets not forget Mr. MoviePhone!

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.worldOP
        3·
        2 months ago

        I don’t remember a voice, but maybe! I just remember the tone because we were excited that it worked. Someone came out of the gas station and saw us taking pictures and stuff and they told us that it’s there because until recently (and even still) cell coverage was really bad or nonexistent in the area, so a lot of people still used landlines.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      2 months ago

      One use for a phone book was to prop a little kid in a regular chair so they could eat at the table. Like, after they outgrew a baby highchair and could balance on their own. Also you could prove your strength by ripping one in half.

      Listings were usually under the name of the adult male, for safety as well as sexism. A woman living alone would probably use just her initials for safety.

    • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      They were quite big, but used super thin paper and small font. There were books thicker still, but still the phrase “thick as a phone book” was used.

      There were also Yellow Pages (same format as phone books, but entirely yellow) which listed businesess and stuff.

      Pre-internet these were the household essentials.

      There was also a number you could call to ask for phone numbers or other stuff. Basically a call in google.