0:00

Hey, Prime members. You can listen to this

0:02

job as history early and ad free

0:04

on Amazon Music. Download the

0:06

app today. You

0:15

know, we take our communication for granted

0:17

these days. We can pull out our cell

0:19

phones and call whoever we want, wherever

0:21

we are, friends, family, food

0:24

delivery, but not long ago.

0:26

If you wanted to make a call out side of your home

0:28

or work, you had to find a phone booth.

0:30

The pay phone was as necessary as a

0:33

mailbox for more than a Wondery, and

0:35

to keep those pay phones all working, you

0:37

needed the phone booth repairman. Today,

0:39

we're going to be talking to the man

0:41

himself. Hey,

0:43

Chris. Sorry. Two things.

0:45

First off, you're interviewing a phone booth

0:47

repair woman.

0:49

Shoot. Thanks. What did I say, man?

0:51

You

0:51

definitely said, man. And while I have

0:53

you, what's this box of junk

0:55

on my desk? Uh-huh. And some of my childhood

0:58

stuff. My mom's been holding onto

1:00

it forever. I I said she could send it here so

1:02

I can go through it.

1:04

Oh. Hey, there's actually some

1:06

pretty cool stuff in here, a pet

1:08

rock, a

1:09

macrame, owl. Oh, yeah.

1:12

Oh, this is cute, a plastic snoopy

1:15

lying on his hack. Is this a

1:17

fucking or a piggy bank?

1:18

What?

1:19

That's in there? I mean,

1:22

that's actually my Snoopy Novelty Telephone.

1:25

haven't seen it in years. My parents

1:27

took it away when I thirteen said

1:29

I lost my Snoopy phone privileges. Can

1:31

you believe that? Oh. Oh. Let me see if

1:34

it still works. Let's plug it into our landline. God,

1:36

we still have one of

1:37

those. There's no time for that, Chris.

1:41

Darn it. It's broken.

1:44

Never mind. Hold on. Maybe

1:46

we can have the repair person

1:48

take a look.

1:49

Please do not use the guests

1:51

for free repair labor. How do you

1:53

make a call on the

1:54

thing?

1:54

You listen to the back of his head and talk into

1:58

his butt. Yes. I'll show you.

2:00

No. Thanks. Let's just start the show.

2:02

Yeah. That's a good call.

2:06

You see what I did there? Is

2:07

this gonna happen a lot during this interview?

2:09

Yes, Linda. Yes, it is.

2:12

In a

2:14

world before cellphones, the phone

2:16

booth was a place of refuge in connection.

2:18

A sanctuary from the busy streets and

2:21

prying ears of curious strangers. So

2:23

who took care of all those phone booths?

2:26

Well, today, we're getting the four directly

2:29

from a phone booth repair

2:30

woman. Or should I say repair

2:32

person, Linda?

2:34

Good call, Chris. From

2:38

I'm Parnell. And this is this

2:40

job is history. Each week, I

2:43

interview actual people from the actual

2:45

past work some of the strangest and

2:47

most unexpected jobs in history,

2:49

from alchemists to Pigeniavenir. We

2:52

bring the past to life literally. On

2:56

this week's episode, last

2:58

call.

3:02

I'm supposed to be studying for midterms, but finding

3:04

way more interesting stuff listening to podcasts. Have

3:07

you heard all the good ones on Amazon music?

3:09

I know know all about the sex lives of people

3:11

during the middle ages and it's crazy, but they

3:13

were gonna, like, way more action than we do know.

3:16

Or, like, how astronauts use the bathroom and space?

3:19

Yeah. You don't wanna know. I'm

3:21

also learning how to make money and retire young,

3:23

and I'd never have to worry about

3:24

midterms. Hey, your girl can dream.

3:26

Right? Amazon music. All the

3:28

music and top podcast, ad free.

3:30

Now included with Prime. Hey,

3:33

I'm Cassie de Peckel, the host of Wondery

3:35

Podcast Against The Odds. In

3:37

our next season, a team of American and Indian

3:39

climbers are on a top secret cold war

3:41

mission to place a nuclear powered spine

3:44

device atop a deadly Himalayan mountain.

3:46

Listen to against the odds on Amazon Music

3:49

or wherever you get your podcasts.

3:59

Welcome to this job is history. I'm

4:01

so excited that our guest today answered

4:03

our call. Nailed

4:05

it again. All the way

4:07

from nineteen seventy eight, New York City

4:10

I'd like to welcome to the

4:11

show, Angie Nowak. Thanks for having

4:13

me, Chris. I'm usually in phone booths

4:16

all day, so it's nice being in a recording

4:18

booth for a

4:18

change. Before we get started, I just have

4:20

to say, my mom had those same

4:22

platform work boots and she did her hair

4:25

like yours too with a therafosset wings on the

4:27

side.

4:27

Thanks. I figured I'd get all dolds up.

4:30

And let me just say, Chris, that I

4:32

love the mustard shag carpet

4:34

you got in

4:35

here.

4:35

No. That's all Linda. She is a woman

4:37

of many talents. Well, thank you for noticing.

4:40

The shag helps to absorb the sound and

4:42

mustard was the cheapest color.

4:44

Next, Avocado Green.

4:46

Tasteful and practical. And

4:48

it

4:48

warms my guts to see it got a

4:50

woman run-in the show. Fame

4:52

into that. Angie, I noticed

4:55

you still have your tool belt on. No one

4:57

should have to sit on a ballot for half an

4:59

hour. Feel free to pick it off. I don't even feel

5:01

it anymore. I mean, we gotta maintain

5:03

seventy nine thousand pay

5:05

phones and phone booths in New York

5:07

City. This belt never comes

5:09

off.

5:10

Seventy nine thousand that's a lot

5:12

of phones.

5:13

The most of any US city.

5:16

Now

5:16

Angie, you're not gonna believe this, but

5:18

we might have some listeners who've never

5:20

used a phone booth. What do you mean?

5:22

Are they babies or amish?

5:25

Or hippies living in a commune? Those

5:27

are still around you

5:28

now. Read about it in life magazine. For

5:30

now, let's just say communications technology

5:32

has evolved. So for them,

5:34

can you describe a phone booth, please?

5:38

Okay. I mean, I guess,

5:41

it's a glass box on the sidewalk,

5:44

like a little room, big enough for

5:46

like one person or maybe toe with

5:48

a folding door. And the telephone

5:50

is mounted inside so you can close

5:52

the door and have some privacy for your

5:54

call. And You

5:56

want me to explain a pay phone too.

5:59

Oh, please. So if you wanna make a

6:01

call, you put your dime in little slot,

6:03

you punch in the phone number, you wanna call,

6:05

obviously, or you can call collect.

6:08

That's when the other person pays for the

6:10

call. I'm

6:10

sorry. Are these people living under a rock or

6:12

something?

6:13

No. But that's a very clear description. For anyone

6:16

who has only ever used a smartphone.

6:18

A what? Now Angie, without many phone

6:20

booths in New York City, I'm sure there's

6:22

a lot to fix. Exactly what kind

6:24

of repairs do you

6:25

do? What don't I do? For

6:27

this gig, you gotta be an electrician,

6:30

an engineer, a safety inspector

6:32

FRICKEN CANADA ALL ROLLED INTO

6:34

ONE. Reporter:

6:35

SO YOU'RE A REAL RENASSADTS WOMAN

6:37

LIKE MELIO NARD D'VINCI?

6:39

OR

6:40

A REAL PERSON. Like, UnifLark, the

6:42

first woman electrical engineer in the US?

6:45

Oh, you do this a lot. You married

6:47

or something? No.

6:49

No. No. No. So

6:51

have you always been in the repair and maintenance

6:53

game? Nah. I started as

6:55

a secretary at New York Tower

6:57

if you can believe it. Stuffed myself

6:59

into pantyhoes and pencil skirts

7:02

every day. But type in

7:04

mommalls and plan and office parties

7:06

didn't exactly curl my palm.

7:08

Well, for

7:08

a handy woman like you, that sounds like torture.

7:11

Damn right, and I wasn't the only

7:13

one. lot of women wanted something

7:15

different and to get paid more for

7:17

doing it. So we went on strike.

7:20

Back in August nineteen seventy, knee

7:22

and fifth three thousand other

7:24

women. We marched down Fifth

7:26

Avenue and everything. Really?

7:30

You were there. Chris, this was the

7:32

strike for equality, and it was the largest

7:34

women's rights rally since the suffragettes.

7:36

You said it, Sister. And

7:39

it was worth it because in seventy

7:41

two, Bell started this new initiative to

7:43

put more women in trade

7:45

work. So I jumped at the chance.

7:47

I love to fix things. You know?

7:49

Did your dad teach you to be handy? Isn't

7:52

that just like a man? Assuming

7:54

it had to be a man to teach

7:56

me. I swear.

7:59

I didn't mean it that way. I'm sorry. Apology

8:01

accepted. So my dad taught me how

8:03

to out swim alone shock, and that's about

8:05

it. My mom is the anti one

8:07

in the family. Apologies again.

8:10

Of course. That makes sense. Her

8:12

first job was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

8:14

during World War two. She could

8:16

slice up sheet

8:17

metal. Like it was a famous

8:20

raised pie.

8:21

Really? Like Rosie the riveter?

8:23

Yep. Her and six million

8:25

women were wool workers. And then after

8:28

Vijay Day, she lost a manufacturing gig

8:31

to a vet. So she went into

8:33

nursing. She sounds amazing. See, it

8:35

wasn't about the praise for her.

8:37

Was all about doing her job,

8:39

her civic duty, the big of

8:41

the challenge, the

8:42

better. She sounds like woman ahead of her

8:44

time. Kinda like you, Angie?

8:47

So what exactly does a foam booth repair

8:49

person

8:49

do? What don't we do? Anything

8:51

that needs fixing in the foam booth is

8:53

my jurisdiction.

8:55

The lighting, the door keeping the

8:57

thing bolted to the sidewalk. Well,

8:59

that's

9:00

pretty neat. I never even thought about how they stay

9:02

in place. Yeah. Well, some take a cement

9:04

based frame. Others just get anchor brackets

9:06

and A11 quarter hex head

9:08

bolts.

9:08

You really know your bolts. If you're interested,

9:11

you can read section 508 dash

9:13

354 dash two hundred of

9:15

the KS19580

9:17

outdoor both installation manual

9:20

Oh, it is riveting. I

9:21

do enjoy light bedtime reading. So what

9:23

else is there to fix in a phone booth?

9:25

The guts of the phone might need to rewire I

9:27

replaced a lot of broken receivers too.

9:30

People take out their anchor on

9:32

these things. Let me tell you, I saw

9:35

guy once ripped the whole receiver off

9:37

during the market crashes seventy three.

9:39

The phone's down in Wall

9:40

Street. Oh, they really take a beating.

9:42

can only imagine. You know, I'm curious.

9:45

When did pay phones get their start?

9:46

Ask professors at city college. I'm not a historian.

9:49

I just fixed the dang things. I

9:52

got this one. America's first public

9:54

phone booth was in stalled in eighteen seventy

9:56

eight in Connecticut between the towns of BlackRock

9:58

and

9:59

Bridgeport. And then in nineteen o five,

10:01

Cincinnati got the first outdoor

10:03

coin pay phone. Yeah. And I bet

10:05

a week later, it was broken.

10:07

You know, one in ten outdoor pay

10:10

phones in Manhattan are out of order

10:12

and just eaten dimes. No,

10:14

you're not saying you're responsible for every

10:16

phone in New York. Right? Who do I look

10:18

like, Linda Carter? I'm no

10:20

one to woman. It's me and seventy

10:22

others cover

10:23

Manhattan. I'm mainly in Midtown, you know.

10:25

I'm in and around Times Square.

10:28

Times Square. Home of the ball drop

10:30

and Broadway. And my

10:32

favorite three story

10:33

applebee's. That must be pretty

10:35

exciting. Exciting. Let

10:38

me give you some real talk here, Chris. Okay?

10:41

The dose, as we call it,

10:43

is the devil's playgrounds. You

10:45

got Parnell liquor stores.

10:47

Drug dealers strip joints and dive bars.

10:50

It's brutal. Although I will

10:52

say, the lollipop lounge on forty

10:54

second poisoned Tasty Glass a coconut

10:57

champagne.

10:58

Wow. That's lot more x rated than

11:00

I remember. Oh,

11:01

yeah. Chris, most of New York was in a rough

11:03

spot in the nineteen seventies. Unemployment,

11:05

high inflation, and rising

11:07

crime. It really pushed the city to

11:09

the edge. In nineteen seventy five, it

11:11

almost went bankrupt. Couch.

11:14

Well, it's back, baby. And Times

11:16

Square is squeaky clean these days. There's even

11:18

a Disney

11:18

store.

11:19

Well, I'll be a rat on a pizza. Never

11:22

would have imagined that. You

11:24

know Angie, since you're a whiz with broken

11:26

phones, I might have something that would interest

11:28

you.

11:29

Chris, don't.

11:31

Well, look at that. It's a

11:33

smoky phone.

11:34

Yeah. Mom just sent that. It's

11:36

not

11:37

working. Probably just junk, but Junk

11:39

Schmunk. There's always a sex, hand

11:41

them over. Come on. Okay. But

11:43

Do I have the time out of your dead

11:45

hands? Come on.

11:46

Yes. Come over. To

11:47

me. Just treat it like fine China.

11:49

I got it.

11:50

This little guy and I have been through

11:52

a lot together. So does it

11:54

work now? Hold on. Sometimes

11:56

stand under the dial. Okay. The

11:58

casing's loose enough to just

12:01

cry

12:01

off, you know, a little challenging but nothing

12:04

crazy. Well,

12:06

let's talk about challenges because I

12:08

imagine being a woman jumping into

12:10

a quote unquote man's job wasn't

12:12

easy for

12:13

you. In a sugar coated. It was tough and

12:15

still is. Did you know less than five

12:17

percent of foam booth repair people are women?

12:20

When I first applied, the foreman, his

12:22

name was Bob, Bob says to me. He says,

12:24

you don't belong

12:25

here. You should be at home wearing one of

12:27

them frilly aprons cooking up a

12:29

steak for your husband.

12:31

Jeez Louise. Lou Grant would

12:33

never say that to Mary Tyler Moore.

12:35

Don't worry. I got back at him.

12:37

When I was training with the jerk over by

12:39

Brian Park, I accidentally locked

12:42

him in a booth. It just happened

12:44

to be where some rich ladies wine marinas had

12:47

dropped a bunch of juices. Oh, right.

12:50

I'm just gonna put it out there, Angie. I will

12:52

never cross you. Okay.

12:54

The receiver on the old Snoopy

12:57

looks good. The light bulb might need to

12:59

replace a nose so the nose can light up.

13:01

Angie, you're amazing. Is

13:03

there any part of your job that

13:05

you really don't like? Well, for starters,

13:08

we don't have enough workers to fix all the broken

13:10

phones, but I got one word for

13:12

you. Staffers.

13:15

When you say Stefan is my mind goes to Christmas,

13:17

but I'm guessing it's something much more

13:19

awful. Stefan is a kind of like Sienna,

13:21

but instead of him leaving a presence, It's

13:24

a bunch of chumps jamming the coin

13:26

slot so they can steal people's money.

13:28

So really not like Santa.

13:31

But wait, how does that even work? They put

13:33

all sorts of weird stuff in the coin

13:35

shoot that people can't see, gum,

13:37

matchbooks, old Kleenex, Customer

13:40

drops in a dime, but the phone

13:42

doesn't work. Then later the stuff has

13:44

come back, pull out the crap bola

13:46

and collect their wings. It can

13:48

be as much as two hundred bucks a

13:50

day. That's

13:51

a lot of dimes to roll. They all

13:53

have their own MO too. I had

13:55

bunch of kids a while back. Who you'll

13:57

never believe what they

13:58

use. Raw eggs.

14:01

Ugh. I'm sorry. Raw eggs

14:03

in the coin slot that is disgusting. I

14:06

finally caught Wondery, and he explained

14:08

it was because customers wouldn't know what the

14:11

goo was, so they'd leave the

14:13

slat alone. Then the kids could

14:15

come back and get the coins. I

14:17

told him I'd fry him myself

14:20

if I caught him again. I don't

14:22

care he's

14:22

eleven. That's twenty two in Manhattan years.

14:25

He stopped.

14:26

Smart did. So have they figured

14:28

out how to stop the stuffers? Sure.

14:31

They made an anti stuffing device to block

14:33

the coin shoot. Of course, you

14:35

fix one

14:36

problem. There's always more. Meaning.

14:40

Road dealers, pimps, and bookies think

14:42

and booze are their own personal sidewalk

14:44

offices. Cops just busted

14:46

up a gambling ring using housewives to

14:48

take their bets, and they call the bookies

14:51

back on pay

14:52

phones. Wait.

14:53

I feel like I saw that on an episode of Charlie's

14:55

angels. Then if you're woman doing it,

14:57

you got guys shouting at you while you're trying

14:59

to do your job. Some guys yelling,

15:02

hey, proxy, mama, press your

15:04

buttons, or I gotta handle

15:06

these

15:07

fixing. Or they thought you can do

15:09

the job at all.

15:11

Yeah. That's just a whole bowl of

15:13

wrong. I just wanna say,

15:15

Angie, things have gotten somewhat

15:17

better for women. Emphasis

15:19

on them

15:20

somewhat.

15:21

Do you ever think about doing something else? It's gonna

15:23

be hard to stay motivated. Sure. Except,

15:25

Chris, This is gonna sound like the end

15:28

of a sappy movie, but

15:30

the fun booth is the heart and

15:32

soul of this city. Without

15:35

these phones, this town wouldn't

15:37

run. You ever wonder how many waxy

15:40

ears and what lips have

15:42

just been pressed up against those receivers?

15:46

I didn't,

15:46

but now that is the only thing I can

15:48

think about. So many germs.

15:51

These boos. They witnessed it

15:53

all. Love a fierce job

15:55

offers breakups, break

15:57

downs, cries for help.

15:59

They've been in movies and on TV.

16:02

So, yeah, I take their heads because

16:05

this job is bigger than me.

16:08

Wow. Such passion. And

16:10

I never thought about phone booths like that.

16:12

Well, I can't say I always did either,

16:14

but then there was one day last year.

16:17

When I understood what my job really

16:19

meant to

16:20

people. Oh, let's hold right

16:22

there and we'll hear all about this

16:24

life changing day right after we take a

16:26

quick break.

16:34

For the seventh year on the Code Switch podcast,

16:37

conversations about race and identity go

16:39

way beyond the day's headlines. Because

16:41

we know what's part of every person is

16:44

part of every story. We're bringing

16:46

that perspective with new episodes every

16:48

week. Listen on the code switch podcast

16:50

from NPR.

17:01

Welcome back to this job is history.

17:04

Today, I'm speaking with Angie Nowak,

17:06

a phone booth repair woman from nineteen

17:08

seventy's New York. In fact, she's

17:10

repairing a phone for me as I speak. It's

17:12

a phone I haven't used in decades.

17:14

How how's it going with Snoopy?

17:17

You gotta stuff. Really? Like

17:19

the ones who jam the coin slots, but

17:22

Snoopy doesn't have a coin

17:23

slot. That didn't have someone who jamming

17:26

up. Aren't you pay for it? The Zooka

17:28

joke comics in sorry, the

17:29

base.

17:30

I'll probably whippled some wizlers. A

17:33

few more wax dill it.

17:35

If it's disrupting the interview, Chris, I'm going

17:37

to contuscate that phone again just

17:39

like your mom did.

17:40

Okay. Okay. Angie, while

17:43

you do that, you were gonna tell us about the time

17:45

when you realized that your job was more than

17:47

just a job. Right. Well,

17:49

it was July fourteenth nineteen

17:51

seventy seven. I'll never forget

17:53

the day because the whole city broke

17:56

into the Bronx had lost power

17:58

the night before. Things were

18:00

a mask. Woo

18:02

hoo chaos. was panic

18:04

in the naked

18:05

city. Not to mention

18:07

that Nutjob Berkowitz was still

18:09

running around loose. That would

18:12

be David Berkowitz, the serial killer

18:14

known as son of Sam. He was

18:16

terrorizing the city during the infamous summer

18:18

of Sam.

18:19

Okay. That's legitimately very scary.

18:21

No kidding. It felt like New York

18:23

might not make it through the summer. So imagine

18:26

my ear. The white when I

18:28

get sent on a cool down to eighth

18:30

and forty second street in the middle

18:32

of this mission

18:33

gas. Was

18:33

the phone booth not working because of the black No.

18:36

Landlines run on their own power. They don't

18:38

mean much. Only about forty eight volts. Most

18:41

of the phones needed standard repairs and

18:43

It being a

18:44

blackout, humans were wreaking

18:46

havoc on them. Yeah.

18:47

No respect. No joke. It

18:50

was wild down here. But

18:52

I strutted up to that booth like I

18:54

was Trafalgar in Saturday Night

18:56

Eva. No one was gonna

18:58

mess with me. Across the

19:00

street, there were a couple of creeps with baseball

19:02

bats standing god over the

19:04

boat, they got on the corner because of the looting.

19:07

The old owner called over to me.

19:10

Hey, sweet I got something you could

19:12

fix right here. Yeah. Your

19:14

nuts do look a little loose. I

19:16

tighten them back down, but I don't carry

19:19

wretches that small. That

19:21

is so badass. Thanks, Linda.

19:24

So I shot him a hairy eye bowl,

19:27

stepped into the booth, and closed the door.

19:30

Someone had tried to open the phone and busted

19:32

the TotalISA. That's the thing that makes

19:34

sure you put your money in before it'll connect the

19:36

call. Fifth time in a month,

19:38

I'd fix that phone. I mean,

19:40

how much more can you take? I

19:43

know. Right. I was pee owed.

19:45

Everything was so broken. No

19:48

respect for phones. No respect for

19:50

me. What was he even doing? I'm

19:52

thinking maybe it's time to give up.

19:54

I was about to do my test call. And honestly,

19:57

I'm wondering if it's my last one ever.

20:00

And that's when I hear a passion on

20:02

the door. More nonsense.

20:06

Yeah. I'm working here. I'm

20:08

quite safe. I had my socket

20:10

wrench in my hands ready to show this

20:13

shmuck. What's what? So imagine

20:15

my surprise when I find

20:17

a pregnant ladies staring at

20:19

me looking real

20:20

scared. Barely able to stand up.

20:22

I slid the door open. Hey.

20:25

Hey, I'm so sorry, but can I bump

20:28

some change? Your dial in local

20:30

along this then? It's it's

20:33

fair enough. Any

20:35

ambulance?

20:37

And that's when I noticed, hand

20:39

rub in a big belly, eyebrows pinch

20:41

so tight. They could hold a pin.

20:44

Hold up. You're going into labor or something?

20:48

Yes. I'm

20:50

sorry. She was going into labor. On

20:52

the street next to a foam booth?

20:54

Hey, like I said, all kinds of shenanigans

20:56

happen in foam booths, hot attacks

20:58

ransomes in sixty

21:00

six, some Jabronie abandoned

21:02

a couple of stolen chimps and a booth

21:04

in Brooklyn. Now

21:05

that has to be an urban legend.

21:07

Let's see. That is Absolutely

21:10

trickled.

21:11

Wow. Now this woman, she's playing it pretty

21:13

cool, but me. I was

21:15

freaking out. Oh, you

21:17

say you had some change? Changing.

21:20

Yeah. You you don't need to pay for a

21:22

service call. You can dial nine eleven

21:24

or four eleven or hold the one eleven for

21:26

your badge. Oh, that's

21:28

good to know. She

21:32

doubled over so I picked up the receiver and

21:34

I punched in nine eleven as fast. As I could.

21:37

Thank god it wasn't a rotary phone.

21:40

I stood there hot beaten out of my

21:42

chest waiting as the phone rang

21:45

and rang. And when

21:49

NYCEMS. It's about time.

21:52

I don't know what Rocky been lady, but it's

21:54

blackout. We're getting two thousand calls an

21:56

hour

21:56

today. Yeah. Well, there's a woman. There is a woman. There

21:58

is a There is this here

22:00

about the papa baby in the middle forty

22:02

seconds recording of each have.

22:04

Okay. We're dispatching an ambulance. May

22:06

take a minute or a couple hours. She's

22:09

my fourth pregnant lady

22:10

today. Oh, what if the baby comes?

22:12

What am I headed?

22:18

I hung up and looked back at Teresa.

22:21

I couldn't tell who wasgotten more. Me or her.

22:23

Had you ever delivered a baby?

22:25

Do I look like I work at general hospital?

22:28

Oh,

22:28

my favorite soap. Denno. Anyway,

22:31

if a coin relay terminal needs to be installed,

22:33

a overhead lighting rewind, I am

22:35

Yigal. But a baby's, no

22:37

coin relay terminal. You know what I mean?

22:40

Yeah. Come sit in the booth. It's clean.

22:43

Like, they're all down myself a half hour ago.

22:45

You should have seen them mess someone left in

22:47

here. Actually, let's not think about

22:49

that.

22:49

Okay. Okay. Wow.

22:52

Wow. Okay. Something's

22:54

happening. That's

22:59

good. That's good. I knew

23:01

I needed help, so I may be only cool

23:03

I could think of.

23:09

Hello? Oh,

23:11

hey, hon. You coming over later. I

23:13

make cabbage rolls and this cold chain

23:15

dropped off. The rules are now. My

23:18

god. Listen. Listen. She's got

23:20

a microphone.

23:21

Listen. Listen. I need to help this

23:23

woman. She's in lay but in the balls.

23:26

And III The balls.

23:28

How far along is she? How am I supposed

23:30

to

23:30

know that? Take a look at our diet lady to

23:32

kids.

23:33

You mean, look down there.

23:35

No. I mean, look at your pocketbook. Of course,

23:37

I mean, look down there. God look. Okay.

23:40

Hold on. Teresa? Do

23:42

you mind if I just take a look under

23:44

the hood? There I was. Middle

23:46

of time square, yellow caps wizzened

23:49

by live mood signs, flash above

23:51

me, the crowded look you loose, and me,

23:53

Neland down on the floor of a telephone booth

23:56

trying to figure out how did the liver a

23:58

baby. Now that is a real

24:00

New York moment.

24:01

I was gonna say a freaking disaster, but

24:03

yeah. Let's go with yours. Okay. I think I

24:05

see the head. Wait. Wait. Wait. She's

24:07

grounding. Yeah. I said she's going into

24:09

labor. Grounding is not labor sweetie. Grounding

24:12

the bird. Wow. That

24:14

why is that from the Bodega? Fainted when

24:16

he saw what was going down. I'd like to say

24:18

I was made of strongest

24:19

stuff, but I was woozy myself.

24:22

Okay. Go grab ever a pretty clean

24:24

rag. You got your van and something

24:26

to cut the umbilical cord with.

24:28

Sheila, I got some wire

24:30

snips in my tool belt. That'll do.

24:32

Oh, no. You didn't. Did you?

24:34

Hey. With this job, you gotta be ready

24:36

to improvise.

24:38

Again, so badass. My

24:41

I don't think I can do this. Wondery,

24:44

you're telling me you can memorize the

24:46

wiring schematic on a Western Electric

24:49

Wondery, but you can't help a woman do

24:51

what nature intended. Now take

24:53

a hand, count the

24:54

three, and tell it a push.

24:56

Okay. Thanks, Moe.

24:59

Here

24:59

goes nothing. Hey,

25:02

Theresa. We're gonna take a bit for us

25:04

and then we're gonna pause. On three.

25:07

Okay. Okay. One.

25:26

Wow. Yeah. I seconded

25:28

that wow. So was everyone

25:31

okay? Everyone was

25:33

perfect. Ambulance got there

25:35

eventually to take Teresa and a baby girl

25:38

to the hospital. She even named

25:40

her Angela. Oh,

25:42

nice love happy and nice. That makes

25:44

two of us, but that day

25:47

really gave me a fresh set of eyes

25:49

because no matter how many times I have

25:51

to swap out a busted receiver or

25:54

scrape gum off the floor or Take

25:56

down a wannabe Muggle with a second wrench.

25:59

It's all worth it. If someone

26:01

needs that phone. Wow. It's

26:03

beautiful. Except for the mugger

26:06

part. That was the disturbing.

26:08

That's okay, Chris. I carry mugging money.

26:10

Everybody in New York does.

26:12

Alrighty. We're gonna take a quick break. And

26:14

when we come back, we will reveal the

26:16

fate of the phone booth repair person.

26:19

Beacon of happy endings. Well,

26:22

we'll see. Welcome

26:33

back to

26:37

this job is history. I'm here with

26:39

Angie Nowak. Nowak. We're

26:45

back. Yeah. Something else

26:47

is jammed in snow, please, bud. There

26:52

we go. Just some more trash. Now

26:55

I can reconnect some of these. Why is

26:58

and we can't Okay. Thank you

27:00

so much for working on it, but it's actually

27:02

that time when we find out if

27:04

your job is

27:05

history. Are you ready? Oh, sure. Just

27:07

don't tell me New York added hundred thousand

27:09

more phones. I can't handle

27:11

any more walk

27:12

in. I got bunions, the size

27:14

of grabstoppers. Well,

27:16

I'm very sorry to say it's the opposite.

27:19

No one uses them anymore. In

27:21

twenty twenty two, the last street

27:24

pay phone in New York City was removed for

27:26

good. It was near Seventh Avenue and

27:28

West fiftieth Street. Oh,

27:30

that's so funny. Yeah. You're like a regular

27:33

Chinese guy. Enough idea.

27:36

That can't be true. I've seen lines

27:38

waiting to use a pay phone like it's

27:40

studio fifty

27:41

four. Well, the number of pay phones

27:43

in the United States did keep growing. It

27:45

peaked in the nineteen nineties. There were two

27:47

point six million, but

27:50

it was getting to be too expensive to maintain

27:52

them all. And it didn't help that phone booths

27:54

had become so linked to vandalism and crime

27:57

that many people just didn't want them in their neighborhoods.

28:00

So I don't get it.

28:02

What happens if you're out and about and you need

28:04

to make a call? Phone booths

28:06

may be gone, but pay phones are still around

28:08

in some places. STILL SOMETHING

28:11

CALL THE Cell PHONE BEGAN TO REPLACE

28:13

THEM. Reporter: Cell PHONE,

28:15

I WHAT, LIKE JALE

28:17

SALES? Oh, not a prison cell,

28:20

cellular network. Oh, look,

28:22

here here's my phone, if you're

28:23

curious. Oh, looks like something at a

28:25

star trek. So everybody

28:28

is just walking around like

28:30

the Captain Kirk or whatever. Oh,

28:32

god. I wish I had Shatner's bone structure.

28:35

He isn't icon. Oh, you

28:36

don't have to tell me. I got eyeballs.

28:38

Wow. Wow. Getting

28:41

back to phones. This year, they

28:43

reported that there are seven billion mobile

28:46

phone users, that's almost ninety percent of

28:48

the world. And in twenty eighteen, there were

28:50

only about a hundred thousand pay phones

28:52

left in the whole

28:53

US. And that right there is why the cell

28:55

phone was the final nail in the coffin

28:57

for the phone booth. How are you

28:59

feeling, Angie?

29:01

Well, I'm bummed out,

29:03

Chris. Yeah.

29:05

I figured that was the case.

29:06

Not only are you telling me that the

29:08

heart of this city is gone,

29:11

but the people who make sure it's still

29:13

beating are gone

29:14

too. I mean,

29:17

what do I matter now? A,

29:20

I just wanted to pop in to say that

29:22

A, you're my new hero and B,

29:24

I think you can give yourself more

29:26

credit.

29:26

How do you mean? Because you're not

29:28

just fixing phones or delivering

29:31

babies, I mean, that alone is

29:33

insane. But You're showing a generation

29:35

of women. They don't have to follow the script.

29:37

They can rise to any challenge.

29:40

Well,

29:40

I don't know about that. I'm just doing

29:42

my job. Oh, I agree with Linda.

29:44

You were definitely a role model, just

29:47

like your mom was. I think she passed that

29:49

strength onto Little Angela.

29:51

I mean, my mom was my inspiration.

29:54

Yeah. Maybe you're right.

29:56

Maybe what I do isn't gonna

29:58

go down in the history books, but I'll

30:01

be in my book. Oh, like

30:03

a phone book, but memories.

30:06

And

30:06

look, even though no one uses a phone booth

30:08

to make calls anymore, phone booths do

30:10

live on. They've been up cycled into

30:12

everything from food vendors to Wi Fi

30:14

hotspots. Okay. You talk in,

30:17

but I am not understanding any words that

30:19

are coming out of your mouth. I get

30:21

that a lot. Okay. So

30:23

people now use phone booths for other

30:25

things, creative

30:26

things. They converted a phone booth in

30:28

England into the world's smallest nightclub.

30:30

Well, that is just ridiculous. How

30:33

are you supposed to do the hustle in a three by

30:35

three box. Like, my arms

30:37

go all over the place when I'm

30:39

dancing. It's like limbs everywhere.

30:41

You

30:42

just have to limit your steps and your gestures,

30:44

I guess. Yeah.

30:44

I mean, I like to usually keep little

30:47

bit of personal space around myself when I'm dancing.

30:49

So I

30:49

need to do it. It would be more like a shuffle.

30:52

Maybe? Okay,

30:57

Angie. We're at the last part of the

30:59

interview. I'm gonna ask you five questions.

31:01

Just give me the answer that first comes to mind.

31:03

Sure thing. I may finally let loose

31:05

with some curse words. I have been doing really

31:08

well and just really trying to hold back.

31:10

Well,

31:11

that's what bleeps her boomer.

31:13

Okay. What's the biggest misconception about

31:15

your job? That it doesn't

31:18

take any brain power because it's

31:20

blue collar. You think it's easy

31:22

taking apart the guts of a phone and putting

31:24

it back together again. We're

31:26

like the surgeons of the telecommunications field.

31:29

I tell you that.

31:31

Loading. What's your biggest

31:33

failure? Not catching the lower east

31:35

side Rippa.

31:37

Oh, my god. Is that another

31:39

serial killer? Nah. Some schmuck

31:41

was going around ripping out pages of the

31:43

phone books, once I missed him by

31:45

Mia seconds, arrived and the book

31:47

was still swinging. I could smell

31:49

his high karate Cologne. I was just

31:51

close. Now, what was the best

31:54

compliment you ever received? Oh,

31:56

I just finished spit polishing a booth

31:58

in the village, gave it extra special

32:00

TLC after some kid had spray

32:02

painted the plexy.

32:04

Well, who should walk into the booth

32:06

just as I was doing a final wipe down?

32:09

But Travis Bickel from

32:11

taxi driver himself, Robert

32:14

DeNiro. He looks at the booth,

32:16

and then you look at me. And

32:18

he says, this working.

32:20

And I say, you're talking to

32:22

me. I don't think everyone's ever said

32:24

that to him before. And

32:27

so that that was the compliment. Yeah.

32:29

Nice. Right? Sure.

32:32

So what traits make a good telephone

32:35

repair person? You gotta be patient

32:37

and curious. Maybe it's

32:39

wanting to know how things work or

32:42

maybe it's hearing that phone ring and

32:44

knowing you gotta answer even

32:46

if it's just a heavy breather. Anyway,

32:50

how do you want people to remember you? I'd

32:53

say, remember me as someone

32:55

who did their job, gave something

32:57

back and tried to pay it forward. And

33:00

for all the stuffas and bookies and

33:02

boffers out there, I wanna

33:04

hug their nightmares forever. Hey,

33:07

you made it through without swearing? Yeah.

33:09

I did. Angie,

33:12

it was great to talk to you today. And and thank

33:14

you for trying to fix my phone.

33:16

Of course, I I'm sorry I couldn't get it working.

33:19

It's okay. I got a lot of Bazooka Joe comics

33:21

and trash out of it. So it's wait.

33:23

Hold on a sec. What

33:24

is it, Chris? This isn't trash.

33:27

It's a list of my old prank phone call aliases.

33:30

There's Crispy Chicken, Al

33:32

Khaholic, IB freely.

33:35

I've on a tingle.

33:36

Okay. I think more bus.

33:38

Yeah. Let's move it along.

33:39

Okay. I got a lot more.

33:41

I'm sure So you were one of those

33:43

little punks. I suspected as

33:45

much. To be clear, I was 12, but

33:48

Snoopy and I, or should I say,

33:50

snoopy and roof as

33:51

leaking. Really terrorized

33:53

some local businesses back in the day. That

33:55

means you're gonna keep them.

33:56

I'm kidding. This was some formative

33:59

comedy for me. In a way, he's part of

34:01

my legacy. Yeah, it

34:03

is. I'm

34:04

sorry, guys. You're lucky. I only slipped up twice.

34:06

Oh,

34:06

don't worry about it. I slip up sometimes.

34:08

Yeah. Don't worry. We can always bleep it

34:10

in post.

34:11

So

34:11

we can say bitch. I

34:13

mean, I wouldn't.

34:16

You know, whether we realize it or not.

34:18

We all have a legacy and impact that

34:20

might be easy to overlook. For

34:23

Angie was being a role model, not just for

34:25

phone booth repair people, for women

34:27

of all trades. And for me, it was

34:29

understanding that yesterday's trash just

34:31

might be today's treasure.

34:33

Oh my gosh. It's fourteen.

34:35

I plugged it in just for fun. Aren't

34:38

you gonna answer? Okay.

34:42

Hello? Oh, this is

34:44

gymnasium.

34:46

Get it? Hello? Anybody there?

34:48

If you'd like to make a call, please hang

34:50

up and try again. If you need

34:52

help, hang up and then dial your

34:54

operator.

35:06

From Wondery, this is this

35:08

job is history, and this is

35:10

last call written by Andrew

35:12

Barbo. I'm your host, Chris Parnell.

35:15

Linda, Teresa, and Angie's mom were

35:17

played by Elise Morales. Angie,

35:20

the phone booth repair woman, was played by

35:22

Allie contrast. Sound design is

35:24

by Andre Pluce. Our audio engineers

35:26

are Austin Lim and Yurash Yovanovitch.

35:29

Additional audio assistance by Adrian

35:31

Tapio. Laura Donna Palav Boda

35:33

and Mikayla Bly are our story editors.

35:36

Emma Reynolds is our associate producer. Our

35:38

managing producer is Ryan Lohr.

35:41

Chinway Aboto and Sofia Martin are

35:43

our coordinating producers. Matt

35:45

Beagle is our postproduction producer. Matt

35:47

Wise is our senior producer. Our

35:50

executive producer are sochi Dorsey,

35:52

Stephanie Gens, and Marshall Louie for

35:54

wondering.