Philly Today

When I was a kid, I used to call the phone company to find out the time. I am not sure why I did. I was probably trying to synchronize my watch or something else dorky. It would beep every ten seconds so I could always be sure it was right. Well, next week Verizon is doing away with that phone number (846-1212) in Pennsylvania. They are also getting rid of the line to call to get the weather (936-1212). I actually used a different phone number to get the time. That was TIME-??? where you could dial whatever last three numbers you wanted. The combinations were endless. Oh wait, no they weren’t.

The numbers have been around for decades, but it turns out nobody uses these services anymore. I guess if your cell phone has a clock that’s always correct even if you fly around the world, you won’t be picking it up to find out what time it is. A lot of people probably don’t even know these numbers exist. Honestly, I didn’t even know about the weather one until now. Either way, these numbers are going the way of the pay phone. I think I may call them up one more time just for fun. I also think the robotic lady’s voice should say something Wednesday at midnight as a kind of sign-off. Like “thanks for the memories, it’s been fun.” That would be awesome. I will have to stay on the line until then to find out.

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