Telephone Skills

It's funny to think of what the world was like before the telephone came into existence. It's especially difficult to imagine today when everyone and their dog has a cellphone (we'll get to that another time). This a manual, presumably from the 1940s, that explains the right way to use a telephone and proper telephone etiquette. It's called "How To Make Friends by Telephone" and comes complete with those zany old-style caricature drawings to illustrate proper telephone use. Some of the pointers include:

- Be sure of the number ("it's best to look it up or you may get a wrong number, which irritates you and the person you call by mistake.")
- Allow time to answer ("wait at least a full minute.")
- Use a normal tone of voice ("shouting distorts your voice and it is not pleasant.")
- Visualize the person you call ("speak to the person at the other end of the line - not to the telephone.")
- Hang up gently ("a receiver banged down may seem like slamming the door in someone's face.")

There's also a handy visual diagram for how to correctly hold the receiver. I suppose we shouldn't laugh. I'm sure one day in the distant future our great (great great great great?) grandchildren will laugh at us for needing a "How To Make Friends by Transporter" proper etiquette manual. See the whole thing here.