My dad was a telephone engineer/manager with GTE in the US. As a kid in the mid 1970s he used to take me with him to the local exchange building to deliver donuts to the guys on duty (he was that kind of boss). The security was interesting - there was a tube built into the masonry with a 90 degree angle that had a mirror. He would pick up the phone on the outside wall and say his name and an identifying number and then the door would buzz open. The building was a few stories tall and had no windows, which I think was a Cold War thing.
We would deliver the donuts to the break room which usually had at least one guy smoking in it (it was the '70s). A couple of times we went into the switching room which still had rotary dial switches clacking away as people dialed in numbers. There was an overwhelming smell of ozone in the room. It was all very cool to 5 year old me.
We would deliver the donuts to the break room which usually had at least one guy smoking in it (it was the '70s). A couple of times we went into the switching room which still had rotary dial switches clacking away as people dialed in numbers. There was an overwhelming smell of ozone in the room. It was all very cool to 5 year old me.