Who remembers this fun from the 80s?

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I'm a dinosaur!! I don't have a cell either. lol
I remember all the different answering machine voices and stuff. Lame now, but, at the time were so funny!!
 
I remember those, they were all the rage for awhile. They also had celebrity voices for awhile that you could get, I always wanted "Capt. Kirk" on mine.
Now I only have cell phones, no land line or answering machine.
 
We have a land-line and an answering machine (digital though, no tape). Personally, I hate calling someone else's house and hearing a prerecorded voice that is not the person I am calling. I have a minor phone phobia when it comes to calling people I don't know, and even if I am calling someone I know (unless it is close family or my best friend), I worry that I am calling too late or during supper, or some other bad time. I remember years ago calling my aunt and uncle. I had never called them before (they usually called, or my mom called them--I was home while my parents were visiting them out-of-state). Answering machines were really a fairly new thing at that time, and when I called, I got the voice of a stranger saying "We're unable to take your call..." I was very confused and hung up.

I don't give a lot of information on our message, but I do include our first names. We get A LOT of wrong numbers (for a local lawyer and for a beauty salon), and I also want to let our friends know they got the right number. I have heard a lot of cute messages that people put on theirs, but since there is no telling who might be calling, I keep it boring and basic. Ours just says, "You've reached James and Barbara. We can't come to the phone right now, so if you leave your name, number, and a message, we'll get back to you." Some people still leave messages for the lawyer or beauty salon!

I do one thing that is probably a little strange. I keep certain messages and won't ever delete them. I have also found that, so far, our phones seem to last just about the length of time it takes to fill up with the messages I save. Why do I save messages? Some of the messages from my daughter and grandkids are too cute to get rid of. I also am collecting voices. My mom and aunt are both gone now, but I have their voices on an old phone. I have at least one of most family members (all but some cousins and an aunt) and some close friends. I have my best friend singing Happy Birthday to me. I have James's voice on there, and mine is also on there. I have my grandson at about age 5 singing a song to me. When it looks like the phone is getting close to the end of its usefulness as a phone, I have my daughter and grandkids call and fill the rest of the answering machine space up.

:)Barbara
 
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Lmbo Lori and I were talking about this the other day at work. She actually had her message to the theme of The Munsters. It was great !
 
my son has the most annoying answering machine recording i have ever heard.

makes me mad everytime i hear it.

basically some rube wants to give me a whipping if i don't leave a message. there are words (not that bad) that i can't say here. makes me not even care if i talk to them.

i don't own one. they can always call back.

babe:-p
 
I remember once, back the in '80's, when a friend of mine told me that he had been trying all afternoon to call his other friends, and got nothing but answering machines. Finally, in desperation, he left this message:

"This is Melvin's Calling Machine. You have 30 seconds to return this call before your answering machine self-destructs."

Sure enough, a minute later, one of our other friends called him back.
 
I recently called a friend and got her answering machine. It was her silly husband doing his best impression of one of those game-show announcers from the 70s ("tell 'em what they've won, Bob!") I couldn't stop laughing.

Years ago my Dad's work phone (in our house) was one digit off from the local am radio station. It was the one most teens listened to, and we'd get calls pretty often for it. After too many wrong numbers, I remember hearing my Dad tell the caller, "You're the winner!! You've just won an all-expenses paid trip to........Hawaii!! Just come down to the station and get your prize!"
ha!

The other one we got some years ago - we got a person who called and asked for Steve. Then another person called for Steve. After about 5 calls within 20 minutes, we got a call: "Hi, this is Steve. Do I have any messages?"
 
jkath said:
I recently called a friend and got her answering machine. It was her silly husband doing his best impression of one of those game-show announcers from the 70s ("tell 'em what they've won, Bob!") I couldn't stop laughing.

Years ago my Dad's work phone (in our house) was one digit off from the local am radio station. It was the one most teens listened to, and we'd get calls pretty often for it. After too many wrong numbers, I remember hearing my Dad tell the caller, "You're the winner!! You've just won an all-expenses paid trip to........Hawaii!! Just come down to the station and get your prize!"
ha!

The other one we got some years ago - we got a person who called and asked for Steve. Then another person called for Steve. After about 5 calls within 20 minutes, we got a call: "Hi, this is Steve. Do I have any messages?"
Click to expand...
How funny! My uncle got tired of getting calls for a local pizza place, so he finally started taking orders! When I lived at home, we kept getting calls for some place with Exotica in its name. We had no idea what it was, and we weren't sure we wanted to know, lol, but we found out it was an exotic plant nursery. Most of the time when we have messages on our answering machine that were intended for other people, they aren't a big deal. One time some big beauty supply place in another state left a message for the beauty salon that was pretty important. I didn't know the number of the beauty salon, so I called that place and told them they had left their information on my machine. They were really appreciative. I believe there was another time we called someone back because it sounded really important that they get through to the people they thought they were calling.

Until we got DSL we had two phone lines. The one we used for the phones was unlisted. The one that was listed in the book was only attached to my computer, not to any phones. That made for some interesting situations, like when my dad couldn't find my phone number and looked it up. He was getting ready to call the police department in our town to find out if we were ok! Most of the time (when I was on the computer) it was busy, and the rest of the time it just rang!

:)Barbara
 
I guess I am a dinosaur too We have a land line, answering machine, and a cell phone each. The cell phone are only used when we are traveling or I am at work, otherwise they are off. We use the landlines for everthing else. I won't switch to VIOP because when the power goes out so does VIOP, but the landline still works.

Last time we had a hurrican pass through here folks were w/out power for days, no VIOP and no way to recharge the cell phones. I'll stay a dino thanks ... :glare:
 
I'm a dinosaur that likes to use new technology too. :cool: The way I look at it is there is a lot of great techology out there, but there is an old saying that makes sense here. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because something new works shouldn't mean that you just throw something out just because it is old. You don't need to start fresh every time something new comes out. I believe in using what works for you.

:cool:Barbara
 
Barbara L said:
How funny! My uncle got tired of getting calls for a local pizza place, so he finally started taking orders! When I lived at home, we kept getting calls for some place with Exotica in its name. We had no idea what it was, and we weren't sure we wanted to know, lol, but we found out it was an exotic plant nursery. Most of the time when we have messages on our answering machine that were intended for other people, they aren't a big deal. One time some big beauty supply place in another state left a message for the beauty salon that was pretty important. I didn't know the number of the beauty salon, so I called that place and told them they had left their information on my machine. They were really appreciative. I believe there was another time we called someone back because it sounded really important that they get through to the people they thought they were calling.

:)Barbara
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Our number is one digit off from a call-in radio program. Seriously. I didn't believe it either until I heard the first answering machine message. The radio station is a local one(the historic KDKA) and people get so heated. They must not pay attention to what our answering machine says because usually we get this... "Uh, hello? Uh, yes, I'm calling in response to your show tonight on the glamorization of television violence blah blah blah blah.. it can go on for several minutes..":wacko::huh:

I feel so bad that they get it all off their chest and it doesn't count for anything. Too bad.
 
jkath said:
The other one we got some years ago - we got a person who called and asked for Steve. Then another person called for Steve. After about 5 calls within 20 minutes, we got a call: "Hi, this is Steve. Do I have any messages?"
Click to expand...

Yea, we were guilty of playing that prank ourselves as kids. You get a group of your friends together, and pick one to go last. Everyone else then calls one number asking for the one you picked to go last. When they have all called, the one that was picked to go last calls and asks for his messages.

We thought it was funny at the time...:ermm:
 
The funniest response we ever got was "Yes, two messages. One from your mother saying wait until I tell your father what you have been doing. And one from your father says wait until he gets home."
We just laughed, gave em credit for their creativity, and hung up.
 
I don't have a cell phone.:ohmy: Unbelievable, I know. After I got married I realized that no one called me anymore. :mellow: So DH and I ditched our cell phones, and yes, got a land line. But I don't think we're real out of the loop for it--we communicate by instant messaging. :-p

What I hate when I call others is when you get their automated voice mail that comes up and gives a bunch of directions about dial this if that, dial this if that--and all you really want is to hear the stupid beep and leave your message.

My best friend has this message though--kind of rude but kind of funny: "This is a telepathic answering device. Please think about your name and number and we'll think about calling you back."
 
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