History Main / ShortDistancePhoneCall

* An {{omake}} on one of the ''{{Maria-sama Ga Miteru}}'' [=DVDs=] has Yumi and Yoshino doing a phone call scene from an episode, until the director yells "Cut!" at which point the camera pulls back to show them on a set right near each other. After the scene ends they continue chattering on the phones while an amused Rei [[DeadpanSnarker snarks]] about it.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Today at school my teacher picked up the telephone and called another staff member, whose office was literally only a few steps away from the classroom. And both doors were open, so I could actually see (and hear) her answer the phone.
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[[quoteright:247:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shortdistcall_5061.png]]

-->-- ''{{Firefly}}'', "Serenity"[[hottip:The pilot of the TV series, that is, not the BigDamnMovie.]]

-->-- ''{{Firefly}}'', "Serenity"

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* An {{omake}} on one of the ''Maria-samaGaMiteru'' DVDs has Yumi and Yoshino doing a phone call scene from an episode, until the director yells "Cut!" at which point the camera pulls back to show them on a set right near each other. After the scene ends they continue chattering on the phones while an amused Rei {{DeadpanSnarker snarks}} about it.

* An {[Omake}} on one of the ''Maria-samaGaMiteru'' DVDs has Yumi and Yoshino doing a phone call scene from an episode, until the director yells "Cut!" at which point the camera pulls back to show them on a set right near each other. After the scene ends they continue chattering on the phones while an amused Rei {{DeadpanSnarker snarks}} about it.

* Early in the "threeboot" version of ''LegionOfSuperheroes'', two of the adults discuss the young rebels over teleconference--and are then revealed to be sitting back to back. It's meant to symbolize how isolated from each other the human society has become.

* Call centers have escalation lines where the manager is just across the desk from you, but they make you use them anyway.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/21388_image.gif

* A gag in one episode of ''{{SheepInTheBigCity}}'' when talking about 'technology in the Big City' had this exchange:

* ''MetalGearSolid 2'' did this a lot when characters next to each other engaged in lengthy dialogue, they start talking to each other in person, and then switched to the codec, which in character was supposed to prevent people from listening in on your conversation. It's therefore implied that you think your message out loud for it to be transmitted, and it's explicitly said that the codec directly stimulates the small bones in your ear. The codec screen is just two talking heads and a bit in the middle that shows the frequency, and thus whilst it works for contacting people when you want to, it doesn't make for interesting {{cutscene}}s, especially when they get way too long. Note that it doesn't work that way for enemies, whose radio dialogue you can hear in gameplay and {{cutscene}}s.

* In an advertisement, a mother is in a Skype conversation with her (college-age?) daughter. The mother is carrying her laptop around to show the daughter the house. Upon opening the front door, she finds the daughter is standing outside, unexpectedly having arrived at home for a visit.

* ''{{Clueless}}'' did this, to show how bloody spoiled the main characters are that they talk on cell instead of walking down the hallway. (Of course, it was made before cell phones became ubiquitous.)

* Justified in {{Rent}}. Collins called from a payphone to ask Roger and Mark to throw him the keys so he could come up and talk to them.

** E.E. is surprised when she finds Raiden is Codec-capable, so it can be assumed that the standard {{Mooks}} don't get the shots. Also, it allows the player to shoot out the guards' radios and prevent them from communicating with anyone outside of the room.

* On ''KimPossible'', a fourth season episode finds Dr. Drakken running a successful legitimate start-up company as a front with his business manager, Hank Perkins. Shego walks in on Hank and Drakken to try and get Doc refocused on the secret plan, but they're wearing headsets for a conference call. After a minute Shego realizes that Hank and Drakken are the only ones on said call.
* In an episode of ''PinkyAndTheBrain'', a parody of Bill Gates has his board of directors sit down around a conference table, while holding a webcam teleconference. This was around the time that the first version of NetMeeting was brand new.