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| What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - wizrdofoz27 02:13 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I have a general idea, but I don't know that I understand the full uses of a service, based upon what's been written below. How did they work? What did people use them for? Was it a place where people would swap messages or send messages to each other specifically? What level of information would you leave with your service? What sort of messages would you get? Was it like a mid-century group chat? | |
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| Did you ever call a doctor after hours? | |
| Posted by: seeseveryshow 05:01 pm EST 12/18/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| When you call a doctor after hours, usually you get the answering service, a live person who will take your message and convey it, if need be, to the doctor. | |
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| Wow! Do I feel old | |
| Posted by: SamIAm 02:17 pm EST 12/17/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Back in the days of the rotary phone, to be followed by the princess phone...back in the days where we had no remote for our TV. Back in the day...once there was a 'service' | |
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| Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 06:13 pm EST 12/16/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Linked Times article from September 2016 about The Belles Receptionists & Answering Service. Sondheim is still among their clients, or at least he was at the time the article appeared. In case this wasn't clear from the responses below — and this relates back to the OP's post — the better (or more expensive) answering services would convey messages to callers. While most people probably primarily used answering services so that people could leave messages for them, which they would call in to receive, some services were willing to take messages from clients and pass them on to people who called for that client, including probably very specific messages for specific people. So that (I presume) someone who wasn't a client could call the service and say something like, "This is Rhoda Morgenstern. Did Mary Richards leave a message for me?" |
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| Link | Celebrity Answering Service Endures |
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| re: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 12:19 pm EST 12/17/17 | |
| In reply to: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain - AlanScott 06:13 pm EST 12/16/17 | |
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| Thanks for the link! And thanks to everyone who replied... I need to hunt down a copy of "Bells Are Ringing". | |
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| re: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain | |
| Last Edit: RelaxnNYC 11:12 am EST 12/18/17 | |
| Posted by: RelaxnNYC 11:09 am EST 12/18/17 | |
| In reply to: re: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain - Singapore/Fling 12:19 pm EST 12/17/17 | |
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| For another glimpse into life before cell phones - I was an actor in NYC starting in the late 80s. Cell phones didn't exist, at least not for "regular" people. Up until then everyone in "the biz" had a "service number." You actually listed it on your resume instead of a home/cell phone number because even answering machines weren't very prolific and you didn't want to leave your home phone number laying around all over town anyway. It was basically like how voicemail on your cell phone works now. You recorded a message that could be changed/updated however you wanted, but it wasn't connected to your home phone number. Since you'd be out all day at auditions or work, you'd have to call from a ... wait for it ... pay phone on the street (!!!) to check your messages to see if you had a gotten a callback or if your agent had gotten you an audition. We used it sort of how people use texts now. If the person you were meeting for dinner was already 15 minutes late, you'd find the nearest pay phone (every restaurant and corner had one) and check your service to see if they had left a message. Likewise, if you were running late, you'd call your friend's service to let them know and hoped that they would check it. I always carried a pocket full of change just to check my service when I was out and about. I also toured in the early 90s (bus-and-truck) and NO ONE had a cell or a lap top. We'd read (actual books LOL - usually a library was kept under the bus so you could swap books), listen to music, watch movies on the VCR (we'd vote as a group if we would watch something and on what we would watch). When we'd have a lunch stop at a mall or downtown area, everyone would line up at the pay phones to check their service. And yes, I find that the cell phone/texting age has made people much less committed to keeping appointments and showing up on time for social occasions (and even professional ones) because they can just text you in real time with an excuse. When it took some effort and a third party to excuse your lateness, you tried very hard not to be late. |
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| re: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain | |
| Posted by: garyd 10:40 pm EST 12/16/17 | |
| In reply to: Look, I'll call you in the morning or this Times piece will explain - AlanScott 06:13 pm EST 12/16/17 | |
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| We still have an answering service though we don't use it much. This whole thread answers a lot of questions about the site. Guess I don't belong here. | |
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| re: What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: MarjorieMae 11:43 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Hasn't anyone seen Bells Are Ringing? | |
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| re: What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: davei2000 10:46 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| They still exist - for businesses that never want to leave a call unanswered, but can't afford employees 24 hours a day. Even at the time I believe it was mainly a tool of professional businesspeople - and actors, awaiting calls for auditions. And gamblers, of course. (See Bells Are Ringing!) |
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| Link | https://www.callruby.com/services/services-features/ |
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| re: What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 04:19 pm EST 12/16/17 | |
| In reply to: re: What actually was a service? - davei2000 10:46 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Also, doctors--and they still use them, as the service can sometimes make a judgment call about whether contacting the physician after hours is urgent or whether simply to refer the caller to whichever other doctor is "on call." | |
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| re: What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: bobby2 10:15 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: What actually was a service? - Singapore/Fling 09:54 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| You need to watch the movie of Bells are Ringing. It is about an answering service operator. This was back before answering machines. The services would answer your phone calls and take messages for you. (one thing I never understood was if you had a special phone number you gave out that only the service would answer or if even back then there was a call forwarding type feature where they could intercept your home phone calls.) | |
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| re: What actually was a service? | |
| Posted by: Thom915 11:01 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: What actually was a service? - bobby2 10:15 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| When I first started we actually answered the phone numbers of people during certain times or after a certain number of rings. I do not know exactly how this was accomplished but it was limited to the people being in a certain geographic area. These were for special clients, doctors lawyers, producers, the occasional star, etc. Most of our clients however had a general number that we would answer and then hold the message for them to call in or in some cases we would contact them (extra fee) at a number they gave us. shortly after I moved to the second answering company, call forwarding was introduced and except for one or two clients, all of our clients used that in addition to a general number they could give out if they did not wish to give out their personal number. By the time I moved to the third service, everything was on call forwarding. | |
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