And if your local number was busy and you dialed another, it could cost a metric shitload of money, because long-distance was apparently transmitted on the finest golden threads honed by fifth-generation artisans.
One of the weirdest generational gaps we almost never talk about is how we got to ‘of course you can talk to anyone anytime’ immediately after decades of ‘hey you wanna meet up for a burger?’ costing more than the burger.