# Long-gone department store bongs - what did they mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052 "2004-10-13T18:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/1 "2004-10-13T18:52:45Z")
“Dude, let’s go to Dillards, and get ourselves a mighty hookah!” No, I’m not talking about that sort of bong. When I was a child, my mother would often drag me shopping to AM&A’s, her favorite department store in Buffalo. Id didn’t matter if you went to the AM&A’s downtown, in Univiersity Plaza, or at Eastern Hills Mall; throughout the store, you would hear the call of the store’s trademark bells. Bong! Bong bong bong! Bong bong! Bong! Bong bong bong bong! The number of bongs in a call seemed random, and the interval between calls was between 10 and 30 seconds; quite irregular. Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Did the bongs mean anything? Is this a “dead media,” or is there still a department stores somewhere that has bong calls? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/2 "2004-10-13T19:07:11Z")
Some “in house” code to summon a specific sales representative to a specific department? Perhaps more professional sounding than a PA system. ---
**Author:** ![Redsland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/3 "2004-10-13T19:08:19Z")
They were calls. Three bongs might mean “Security.” A pause and then two bongs might mean “go to the second floor.” Others with bong codes would include floor supervisors, change runners, stock boys, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/4 "2004-10-13T19:10:58Z")
I would’ve been to AM&As (at the Eastern Hills Mall – never in downtown Buffalo) a few times in the mid-to-late 80s, and I don’t remember the bells. It might have been a way of communicating – calling employees or something – but I can’t think of many different messages you could send with one tone. Old department stores would be more likely to have pneumatic tubes for that purpose. Particularly if AM&As had commissioned salespeople, it may have indicated the size of a sale. One bell for every $50 or $100 or something like that. Car dealerships sometimes have a gong that they ring when they make a sale; I’ve heard the same thing with a bicycle horn at Best Buy. I’m not sure what the minimum amount was, but I recall multiple honks for plasma TVs and that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/5 "2004-10-13T19:30:01Z")
The bicycle horn at Best Buy has nothing to do with sales. It’s a to let security know that you (as an associate) have done your walkthrough of media (DVDs and CDs) and prevented ‘shrink’. You sign a clipboard and honk the horn. Best Buy employees don’t work on commission. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/6 "2004-10-13T20:13:33Z")
When I was teener working at Foley\*s, the bongs/bells were specific manager codes. Instead of having to actually annouce, “Housewares needs a manger for a return” over the PA, the bongs would let a manger know to calll the store operator and see where s/he needed to go. Diffenrent managers had different bell patterns. I guess they felt it made the store more “upscale” feeling. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/7 "2004-10-13T20:16:13Z")
See? My keyboard EATS letters, I’m telling you! Manager, not manger. Like you couldn’t figure that out, eh? Still, being the Dope, you know someone would pounce on it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/8 "2004-10-13T20:30:50Z")
> [@Roches](#): > > I would’ve been to AM&As (at the Eastern Hills Mall – never in downtown Buffalo) a few times in the mid-to-late 80s, and I don’t remember the bells. That’s why. The bongs (not bells, but probably little xylophone-style bars struck by a mallet, like the old N-B-C logo) were an older device used just as others have said as a signaling system. The huge multi-story grand downtown department stores of the pre-auto era would have had them, but they were being phased out by the time the suburban stores were being built. Pneumatic tubes were normally used to send money to a central processing center and change back to a clerk. They would have made a terrible signaling device. The point of the bongs was that they could be heard by managers who were never in one place, but doing their jobs strolling the floors. Robert Klein had a great bit on them on one of his early albums. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/9 "2004-10-13T20:48:24Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > See? My keyboard EATS letters, I’m telling you! > > Manager, not manger. > > Like you couldn’t figure that out, eh? Still, being the Dope, you know someone would pounce on it. Yeah, and it’s “announce,” not “annouce,” and “call,” not “calll,” and “different,” not “diffenrent.” I know you’d be disappointed if no one did that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/10 "2004-10-13T22:44:58Z")
Gallagher also had a comedy riff on the bongs. He described them as female mind-control. bong bong I’m shopping! bong bong bong I need more shoes! ---
**Author:** ![melondeca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@melondeca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melondeca)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/11 "2004-10-14T05:08:52Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > Yeah, and it’s “announce,” not “annouce,” and “call,” not “calll,” and “different,” not “diffenrent.” > > I know you’d be disappointed if no one did that. 😃 It is also “teenager”, not “teener”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/12 "2004-10-14T09:29:27Z")
I remember the signal bells being used at Marshall Field’s in Chicago in the 1960s. Certainly P.A. systems were available then, but as **NoClueBoy** said, the signal bells did lend an upscale feel to the store. P.A. systems were for discounters like Kmart or Treasure Island. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/13 "2004-10-14T14:40:21Z")
> [@Roches](#): > > – but I can’t think of many different messages you could send with one tone… :rolleyes: ::Morse rolls over in grave:: ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/14 "2004-10-15T00:07:16Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > “Housewares needs a manger for a return”. A **manger** would be returned to the Garden Department. Or perhaps Pets. Of course, when I first saw the thread title I wondered what long-ago department store sold bongs; back in the seventies we used to have to go to the smaller headshops… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/15 "2004-10-15T02:31:49Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I remember the signal bells being used at Marshall Field’s in Chicago in the 1960s. Certainly P.A. systems were available then, but as **NoClueBoy** said, the signal bells did lend an upscale feel to the store. P.A. systems were for discounters like Kmart or Treasure Island. Not to mention, with an older department store, why bother to go to the expense of installing a P.A. system when you already had a perfectly good paging system already in place. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/16 "2004-10-15T04:55:25Z")
This thread has dredged up a memory that I’d like to run past the community at large. In the somewhat-distant past (before cash registers were a common fixture in department stores), the sales clerk would write up a slip, put slip and cash in a carrier, and stuff said carrier into a pneumatic tube that swept it off to a central money-handling office. The carrier would come back with receipt and change, and the customer would go on his or her merry way. This process is, I think, fairly well known/remembered. What I recall—not “like it was yesterday,” since it must have been at least 45-50 years ago—was going to a local store with (I believe) my grandmother. In this store, rather than putting the slip and payment in a carrier, the clerk put them in a wire basket and pulled a lever which raised the basket to the ceiling and sent it scurrying off on a track to a mysterious office on a balcony to the rear of the store. Later, the basket came back with receipt and change. As I said, this isn’t a “like-yesterday” memory (although oddly enough, I do recall the approximate location of the store). My question: has anyone else ever seen/heard of this sort of mechanism? Or are all the mind-altering substances that I didn’t take during my college years finally starting to kick in? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/17 "2004-10-15T05:23:21Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > My question: has anyone else ever seen/heard of this sort of mechanism? [The cash railway system.](http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/LocationsUSW.htm) And some of its [locations](http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/locations.htm). ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/18 "2004-10-15T12:04:09Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > [The cash railway system.](http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/LocationsUSW.htm) And some of its [locations](http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/locations.htm). Ahhhhhh. Although Tacoma is not listed among the locations, it would appear that what I recall was a [cable system](http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/cable.htm)—the pulleys seem familiar, as does the description of the sound effects. _Muchas gracias_ (or in keeping with the college years / mind-altering substance theme. “much grass”). We now return to the discussion in progress, “The Bongs of Yesteryear.” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/19 "2004-10-15T17:05:22Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > , the sales clerk would write up a slip, put slip and cash in a carrier, and stuff said carrier into a pneumatic tube that swept it off to a central money-handling office. The carrier would come back with receipt and change, and the customer would go on his or her merry way. This process is, I think, fairly well known/remembered. > > My question: has anyone else ever seen/heard of this sort of mechanism? Or are all the mind-altering substances that I didn’t take during my college years finally starting to kick in? You can see the set up on the dept store featured in the Drew Carey show. Also, The Home Depots in my area use them. ---
**Author:** ![mcollins5813](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@mcollins5813](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcollins5813)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052/20 "2021-06-18T19:39:35Z")
Does anyone know where I can download these chimes? I have been chasing my tail all over Google, but can’t find it. Thanks! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-gone-department-store-bongs-what-did-they-mean/269052.md?page=2)