On 6/17/2014 4:46 PM, Chris Roper wrote:
> Slightly off topic but I recall, also about 35 years ago, whilst doing
> national service in a long forgotten African country, the local Telecom
> Technician got so sick of having to get "long Tikkies" (the local name fo=
r
> a coin attached to a thread) outh of the mechanical coin reader that he
> disabled the coin box entirely and informed me that the men could use the
> public phone outside the base for free as long as they didn't abuse it or
> tell his superiors. From that day on he got free drinks in our mess
> whenever he visited.

We used a plastic soda straw, flattened out, to stick down the coin op=20
phone slot, get the dial tone and then pull it back out.  But that was=20
50 years ago or so... but we didn't get any free drinks.

--=20
http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
.