snipped-for-privacy@bbs.cpcn.com wrote in _news:9a688aeb-3356-4cda-9ae4_
(news:9a688aeb-3356-4cda-9ae4) -
eb080053df09@
> 60g2000hsy.googlegroups.com:
>> [*McDonald's, by policy, did not want pay phones to discourage teens
>> from hanging out. But diners and other restaurants always had pay
>> phones, perhaps a booth in the parking lot and some by the restrooms.
>> Some luncheonettes had a semi-public pay phone that doubled as the
>> business phone.]
>>
>> That's funny, around here McDonalds is one of the few places where I have
>> noticed public phones, but they are always in the parking lot, away from
>> the building.
>>
>> --
>> Paul
Payphones at McDonald's are a fairly recent development. Some grocery chains also would not allow payphones within the store (only outside) for the same reason cited: to discourage people from hanging out. I was in a meeting once where a representative of some chain was explaining their policy, and seemed to be unable to understand why many of us (generally husbands) thought it was unreasonable to have to go outside in a blizzard to ask a question about something on the list. This was before cellular, of course, which has virtually eliminated the problem. Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@aol.com snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com