One of the problems of those party lines, of course,Audemars Piguet Replica Watches was that privacy was impossible. Whenenver you rang someone on your party line everyone else on that party line heard the ring, not just the person who was being called. This meant that everyone knew who was being called.

This situation lead to a phenomenom known as "rubbering" in which people other than those for whom the call was intended would pick up the phone and listen in on the conversation. I guess the term "rubbering" came from the work "rubberneck" which means someone who sticks their neck out in other people's business.

While "rubbering" may not have been ethical, it certainly wasn't illegal either since an awful lot of people did it. Remember, this was before television and people had to use their imagination in order to provide themselves with entertainment. And what could be more entertaining than listening in on someone else's conversation, especially if you suspect that there is some trouble or hanky panky going on?

I remember playing in my Aunt Fanny's kitchen when I was a child and the phone would ring for someone else other than Aunt Fanny. Often times she would put her finger to her mouth and tell me to hush and be quiet. She would then gingerly pick up the receiver and cover up the mouthpiece to keep the other party from hearing her. This effort to cover up your eaves dropping didn't fool anyone, however. When you were on the phone and someone else picks up on the line, you could hear a click. So, you knew if someone was listening. You just didn't know who.

Sometimes though, a person listening in a conversation would become so engrossed in the conversation between the two other parties, that the rubberneck would cut into the conversation and give their two cents worth.

The procedure for making a call required that you first pick up the receiver and listen to see if anyone is talking. If no one is talking you were supposed to ask if anyone is on the line. If no one responds, you can then go ahead and make your call. According to the 1919 Minonk Telephone Directory you were supposed to limit your calls to 3 minutes. After finishing your call, you were supposed to make one turn of the crank for disconnection.

If you needed to call someone outside of your party line,IWC Replica you had to ring the operator with one long ring. This was called "ringing Central". You could then give the operator the person or number to be called and she would ring the person on the appropriate party line.

Usually two or more operators would be handling the phone lines. Irma (Barth) Baker was one of the last operators to work in the office. Minnie Oyen and Mary Kasha worked there for many years. The late Carola Antons worked as an operator in the 1920's and 1930's. Below are some comments from her diary about life as a telephone operator.

These announcements weren't always about emergencies either. The operator sometimes would make an announcement that a shipment of strawberries had just come in to the Vissering Mercantile Store. Other similiar commercial announcements were made and I assume that the telephone company was paid for these announcements.

The telephone connection at the switchboard for all of the firemen had a blue tag next to it for quick identification. Whenever a fire was reported, the firemen were called first by the switchboard operator. The blue tags allowed her to quickly find the fireman's connection plug for making the call.

People with telephones in the city of Minonk were assigned a number that could be 2, 3, or 4 digits. My father's number when he lived at 524 Johnson Street was 313J. The J meant that he was on a party line. If your number ended with an alphabetical character it meant that you were on a party line, else you were on a private line.

To call someone in the city, you merely picked up the phone and the operator would ask, "Number please?". You would give her the number and she would then ring the party. If after 3 or 4 rings no one answered, the operator would tell you, "No one is answering the phone. Please try later." You didn't have the option of leaving a recorded message as we now can do.