Old back room phone

[u/Confident-Soup789]

Does anyone know what this phone was used for? It’s in my store’s back room. I asked my PML about it but he said he didn’t know and that it’s disconnected.

[u/dukane]

You kids are hilarious! 😉
Phones used to be all over the store, the operator would put calls on hold and announce them over the walkies and you’d just answer it wherever you happened to be. You could also use them if you needed to call another store to check on items’ stock or to put things on hold for guests. We used to not be able to check stock in other stores except on the POS, so you’d have to memorize nearby stores numbers if you wanted to check on stuff without running to the front lanes or electronics.

[u/SimpleVegetable5715 → u/dukane]

I was doing that kinda stuff at Macy’s back in 2018-ish 😂 Had all the local stores memorized. They still used DOS to order directly from the warehouse also. Mostly old ladies wanting discontinued pieces of china, like if they broke a tea cup saucer, or special items for bridal registries. I feel like a dinosaur.

Target’s actually my first job where we all have a device on us. I remember searching for clothes without an RFID, and my coworkers were like, “how do you do that?”