Collect calls had a hefty surcharge. But because the operator initiated the call, information could be transmitted before anything was charged. So, we would call collect, the operator asking the other party—generally our parents—if they would accept a collect call from us. Our parents would say no and then return the call at standard, less expensive, rates. This kind of thing could be made more efficient. Some families had a list of names to tell the operator; they were all coded messages of some sort: “Bruce” meant “arrived safely,” “Steve” meant “call back,” and so on. (The operator had no
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