A tweet from an Edmonton Police Service officer prompted an investigation of sorts, into why a common communication tool from days gone by had been installed on the balcony of a downtown office tower.

EPS Sgt. David Jones tweeted about the phone booth on Thursday, March 23 – prompting a bit of a social media flurry over the phone booth’s odd placement.

 

 

“Anything that’s out of the ordinary like that, I think piques people’s interest,” Jones said.

Jones was walking around downtown when he saw the phone booth – and decided to take a picture and send it out.

“The benefit of working by foot is you get to be a little bit more familiar about the small things that are around you, and I happened to glance up at the right time and I saw the phone booth,” Jones said.

The balcony is part of office space occupied by tech company Accenture – the company wouldn’t allow CTV reporter Jeremy Thompson, or a videographer on site, saying it was a secure location.

However, the company issued a statement to CTV News via email. The company said the unit was used for years by staff, but it was no longer in use, and the phone booth’s time on the balcony was limited:

“We have been reconfiguring our office over the winter, and no longer use the fun feature as we have evolved away from landline phones to a Skype system for voice calls. We’ll be removing the booth soon, to make way for our employee barbeque area for the summer.”

With files from Jeremy Thompson