Mr Watson, Come Here
It happened like this:
...Bell experimented with a water transmitter, using an acid-water mixture. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water which varied the electrical resistance in the circuit. When Bell spoke the famous sentence "Mr Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the liquid transmitter, Watson, listening at the receiving end, heard the words clearly.
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But what if...
Al (to his friends) had been asked to hold?
He got a busy signal?
He dialed himself? "Oh crap I dialed 1, I meant to dial 2..." *click*
He got that, "Doo-doo doot! We're sorry. The number you have dialed is no longer in service..." Watson shouts from down the hall, "Hey man, I changed my number to 3".
He got an answering machine? {Scott Joplin music plays then fades out...} Hey man! You're tryin' to call me, but I aint in right now. I'm probably strung out on opium in some den right now... But I'll call you back if you leave a message at the sound of the bell! *DING!*
(Remember, at this time, the "beep" hadn't been invented yet, not til people started swearing on tv, then it went on to find other uses in daily life, like on answering machines...)
Anyway, what if...
There was a phone tree? "To ask Mr. Watson to come here, dial one. If you want to see Mr. Waston, dial two. For both, dial three. To hear this message in Scottish, say, 'Aye'. If you're calling from a telegraph, please tap twice...
It was a 900 number? "You've called the hottest line in the country for hot 1 on 1 electrical designer action! Calls will be billed at 9¢ a minute with a 2¢ connect fee..." (It was the 19th century, every thing was cheaper then).
What if? Any others?
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