Person to Person

We spend a lot of time driving. Sometimes, we have intersting discussions.

Recently, we were talking about the telephone system from days of yore. Dad mentioned a concept that is completely alien to me: The person to person call.

Here's how it works. I call the operator and tell her I want to talk to RKCP at a given number. She would call the number and ask for RKCP. If she was there, I'd be connected and pay a higher rate. If she wasn't there, I'd pay nothing.

I will leave it to the reader to determine if this was an interesting conversation or not.

Hey, you can still do this! Why can you still do this? When would you use it?

The charge for a person-to-person call to another state is $1.15 a minute with a $12.50 operator service charge.

For your reference, here's what you do:

• Dial '00.'
• Enter the 10-digit number you're calling, starting with the area code. (It is not necessary to enter 1 or 0 before the area code.)
• You will then hear prompts telling you to say "person-to-person."
• The operator will come on the line to assist you in reaching the specific person or department.