Tahd Frentzel Portfolio

My son and I drove past an old phone booth a few weeks ago, and I very old-man commented: “I can’t even remember the last time I used one of those… probably over 20 years ago! Or maybe only 15. I don’t know!”

Today at Chabot Space & Science Center I saw this phone and thought well, I can change that! It would be kind of fun to be able to know the exact last time I’d used a pay phone.

So, I took 75 cents of change from my pocket, picked up the receiver, put in the amount requested from the “LOCAL CALLS, 50 Cents, Fifteen Minutes” notice, dialed my wife’s cell phone number, a 415 number, and heard a voice say:

“Please deposit 20 cents for the next 15 minutes.” So I did.

Then the same voice said: “Please deposit 15 cents for the next 15 minutes.” Which I didn’t have. So I had to hang up.

Then I figured since it was a 415 area code, it charged more. So I went to the car, found another 20 cents in the glove box, and dialed my friend Greg’s 510 number.

Only to hear that same voice say:

“Please deposit 40 cents for the next 15 minutes.” So, I sighed and complied.

Once again I hear the same voice say: “Please deposit 35 cents for the next 15 minutes. At that point I said “you win!” But it did return all my money. Thanks, phone.

And since I technically did USE it, and it did appear to work, so long as you had endless amounts of change, I will take it as a win, too.