Yondering

Some time around 20 B.C. before cell phones, my wife and I were both working night shift. Sleep was important, but so was catching calls. She was a nurse, and often times they would change her schedule. We were in a dilemma, If we shut off the phone, we might miss a schedule change, but if we left it on, we would get our sleep interrupted. A LOT.
Well, it so happened a new devise on the market was becoming affordable,  and practical, the answering machine.
There were two types available, single tape systems, and double tape systems. The singe tape would play your greeting, then fast forward to the end of messages, and then beep. If you got  lot of calls, that could be a long span. We opted for the double tape one instead. It came with the standard "No one is at home. Please leave a message" and instructions on how to personalize your greeting.
That got the wheels spinning, and I chose immediately my greeting. simple and to the point, one word, WHAT? not much at all. For nearly a week my wife was amazed that no one bothered to leave messages. She had her day off though, and I awoke to her gone shopping. I noticed that some one had finally left a message, the light was blinking! Well, I played it. It was from the wife. Four words, "Change the greeting. NOW!"
Busted!
I had been thinking about what to make it. Back then, you could dial your own number and get a busy signal. I did that, then recorded about ten seconds of it, then, "OK, you didn't buy it, leave a message." I also set the thing to answer on the first ring. The other option was four rings.
That lasted until the mother in law complained that she always got a busy signal. She called about a hundred times..... a day...... before we got the answering machine.
Good times. My father's generation went from walking under the moon to walking on the moon. I've gone from smart ass to smart phones. I'm still a smart ass, but you can walk under the moon all night.