I used to use them all the time but since I got a cell phone, I can’t recall the last time that I’ve had to drop money into a pay telephone.
Anyone dropped a dime lately? (or would that be fifty cents?)
It’s 40c here and I used one last week. I don’t like mobiles.
last week to check my email.
i very rarely use them to make calls, but many of the BT ones over this side of the pond now allow you to access the internet - i use them for that purpose occasionally (a couple of times i’ve even browsed the SDMB from Waterloo station whilst waiting for a delayed train).
High school, 6 years ago. I’m no germophobe, but the idea of taking an object which the general population has breathed in and pressing it to my face doesn’t exactly fill me with joy.
thats precisely why i dumped my last girlfriend.
boom-tsh! thankyouverymuch i’m here till wednesday!
[sub]sorry[/sub]
The last time I used a pay phone was September 28th, 2003.
I was on my way home from a dopefest with Wikkit and withaK. We broke down and I wanted to go home.
It was just a few weeks ago and it cost 50 cents. I needed to make an anonymous call.
Haj
Yesterday morning from a laundromat. Called work to tell them I would be a half-hour late…ended up being told to take the whole morning off.
It was one of those call anywhere for a buck or 50 cents for a local call payphones.
ROFL! I think it was to call GaWd to pick him up for a DopeFest and I was lost. I was never a big payphone user to begin with (and I seldom use my cell now) but it tickles me to think of that now. “Are you there GaWd? It’s me, voguevixen and I’m in Palo Alto for some reason!”
Apparently, hajario is one of those heavy breathers that Jervoise is concerned about. 
In BWI Airport a few months ago to let my spousal unit know that I’d arrived and to tell him where to pick me up. I think it cost half a buck.
I’m one of those dinosaurs without a cell phone.
Whenever it was I hope it worked out better for you than for this guy.
About 6 months ago, on my way home from a day trip to the Big City (aka Sacramento), I tried to call mr. genie and tell him we were running late. The phone would not let me call another city in the same area code–and I tried two phones–so I had to call my SIL in the Big City and ask her to call my husband for me. This was a factor in the decision to get a cell phone.
What good timing for this thread. I was stranded at a not-so local mall about a month ago. There were payphones everywhere. I couldn’t properly work a single one.
They were all “Ameritech” phones, whatever that is. I read the instructions on the face. Did what it told me to do. Put money in. No dice.
I finally got home by running into a FOAF and using their cell phone.
A couple of weeks ago.
I was out at the sports bar and needed to call my wife. Realizing I had left my cellphone at home, I headed for the payphone. Didn’t even think about it; it was a snap reaction: “Damn! Left the cell at home. Where’s the payphone?”
I wonder if the aversion to public phones that’s been brought up here is just a sign of the times? In the days before cellphones, I used payphones as necessary without thinking about it–if I needed to make a phone call while out somewhere, then I’d use a payphone. No big deal and no real concern, unless a call cost a dime and I only had a quarter (our payphones didn’t give change).
But nowadays, it seems some people have never known what it’s like to be without a personal/cell/mobile telephone that only they (and perhaps others knows to the person) have used. I can certainly understand their reluctance to use something that others have breathed on, but I wonder–is this common? Do we see a difference in attitudes between those who remember the days before cellphones (“Where’s the payphone; I have no cell and I need to make a call”), and those who have never known anything else (“Use a public phone that strangers have used? No way!”)?
I don’t have a cell phone either, so I end up using payphones from time to time. I usually wipe the receiver with a shirt tail first, but I don’t think anything of it. I’m 25, and I realize sometimes you need to make a call from a public place.
However, they are much harder to find now, especially here in Miami where everybody and their mother has cell phones. Half the time I need one, I can’t even find one. And I’m talking about airports and malls, public places!
Took one car to the shop and went over to the local casino.
After about two hours, went to the pay phone in the casino and made the local call to the car shop. Used my credit card, as I didn’t have any change on me.
The call was short: “Car fixed? Yep. When can I pick it up? Anytime. I’ll be there in an hour.”
Two weeks later the bill on my card for that one call was $5.75
That will be the last time I use a pay phone unless it is a matter of life or death.
Can’t remember the date exactly but it involved a trip to the grocery store, a dead cellphone, and a need to discuss what food to buy.
Gee, maybe it would help to say “I can’t remember the date exactly, but it was maybe 2 months ago.” Sheesh, way to leave things vague…
Yesterday. I have a calling card. I do not own a cell phone.
hate phones. stupid things.