Comment on Was it possible to get locked in a telephone booth?
NormDeplume@lemmy.world 9 months ago
There were no locks of the booths, and phones were in fact occasionally stolen. But it was generally not worth the hassle, and so there were no locks. Plus they were meant to be accessible 24/7.
Finally, many times the phones weren’t in the booth and we’re just mounted to a wall. The booth was to give you some theoretical privacy and reduce background noise, that’s about it.
ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Thanks! Fwiw in this context I’m thinking of the outdoor, completely(?) enclosed type of booths, but your reply includes those as well I gather.
Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 9 months ago
In Australia, our telephone booths didn’t have doors at all. Just a box like the size of a portaloo with s phone in it
fubo@lemmy.world 9 months ago
A “porta-potty” to Americans; not a relative of the vindaloo.
m_r_butts@kbin.social 9 months ago
Any curry dish is a relative of the porta-potty to me.
ALostInquirer@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Wait, Australia, the place notorious for dangerous critters, made small, public enclosed spaces…Without doors? 😂 I’m guessing these were mainly in cities, so maybe the critter problem wasn’t as much of a concern, but I love the image this produces of an Aussie going to make a call and some snake or spider is sitting there around the phone.
T156@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Would you rather be inside with the dangerous critter? Particularly if they thought they were cornered, and became aggressive.
People tend to be quite tetchy about having a spider land on them while they’re driving. Having one fall on them after they’ve just shut themselves into the phone booth may result in both abject terror, and casualties.