Telephones & Shoes

There was another one of those wacky holidays earlier this week. It was “Inane Answering Machine Message Day.”

Boy, did that ever bring back memories, mostly funny ones.

Back before just about everybody had a cell phone, we had an answering machine on the home phone.



Now, bear in mind that I’ve always believed in having fun in life, turning the bland and ordinary into something to smile – or even laugh – about.

For a long time, the message folks heard on our answering machine when they called in asked them to leave name, phone number and shoe size. You simply would not believe the number of people who left shoe sizes. One person even explained her shoe sizes.

One Sunday, the vicar at our church asked if I had a collection of shoes that I was looking to match up with people!

One caller left a message explaining that her shoe size depended on what kind of shoe it was, and she went into a lot more detail. That was one hilarious message.

An old friend I’d not talked to in ages, left his response, revealing his shoe size, then adding, “Sherry, you’re just as crazy as ever. You haven’t changed a bit.”

I returned his call the following day. When he answered the phone, I simply asked, “Is this shoe size 11?” He laughed and laughed.

Oh, yes, I had fun with this, but there was a negative side. I spent a lot of time looking at people’s feet after that, especially if someone revealed an especially large shoe size or a size that seemed exceptionally small or wide or whatever.

One thing’s for sure: this made listening to messages at the end of the day something enjoyable rather than something to dread.



*                              *                          *                        *