Ask the ex phone sex operator

[norinew]

In this thread, I mentioned my years as a phone sex operator (post 87) because I thought it somewhat relevant to the discussion. In post 94, jsgoddess requested that I host a thread on the subject, so here it is.

I worked as a phone sex operator from roughly '94-'97. The most commonly asked question is: what's a nice girl like you doing in a profession like that? The two answers, that actually go hand-in-hand are: the money was better than anything else I was qualified to do (or at least anything else that was legal), and, hey, as far as I was concerned, it was an acting job. Anyone who had actually seen me playing solitaire on my computer, sipping coffee and wearing a cotton nightshirt with little duckies all over it when I worked would never have doubted that. My FIL always held the opinion that what I was doing was actually more legitimate than the psychic hotlines, 'cuz at least with me, the customer was actually getting something for their money.

Note to mods: the company I worked for shouldn't be named, I think; but they were a perfectly legitimate company, in compliance with all Federal laws, taking taxes out of our paychecks, etc.

So, any questions? Shoot (heh).

[tim314]

These will be really basic questions, because I'm totally ignorant of the workings of the phone sex industry (although I'm not sure that that's a bad thing). The closest thing I have any real knowledge of is crisis hotlines . . . not quite the same thing, I suppose.

Were you working off a script, improvising within some specific guidelines, just totally making it up as you went along? How much training was there, if any? How much variety was there in the kinds of callers you got? Ever have a call that didn't go at all the way you expected?

[Ender_Will]

What was the strangest call you ever had?

[norinew]

Originally Posted by Ender_Will

What was the strangest call you ever had?

Well, there were a few that had the potential to be really strange, but broke Federal laws, so I couldn't do them (not that I wanted to), but outside of that, I had one regular customer who wanted me to tell him about having sex with dogs; not so strange, you say? Well, yeah, until you consider that he wasn't talking about Great Danes and German Shepherds. He was more into chihuauas and Shar Peis .

Then there was the one guy who wanted to talk to an overweight, 30ish housewife. And I thought to myself, "Boy is he in luck! ).

There might have been stranger (all my notes are in storage right now), but these are the two that come to mind.

[catsix]

Without going into too much detail that would obviously be unacceptable on the 'Dope and/or legally, what kinds of things would be against federal law?

[tim314]

Originally Posted by catsix

Without going into too much detail that would obviously be unacceptable on the 'Dope and/or legally, what kinds of things would be against federal law?

I was wondering that too. All I could think of was conspiring to commit a crime, which seems like a bit of an odd thing to do with a phone sex operator.

[Shodan]

Can I ask how you got hired? I mean, how did you hear about the job, and was there an interview? A resume?

TIA for any answers, and my apologies if I sound naive.

Regards,
Shodan

[Alice The Goon]

Did you ever actually get into it, or did you always fake your enthusiasm?

[norinew]

Originally Posted by catsix

Without going into too much detail that would obviously be unacceptable on the 'Dope and/or legally, what kinds of things would be against federal law?

Wow. I've obviously made it sound like a much bigger deal than it is. The number one Fed law concerned child pornography. I could not, at any time, portray someone who was under 18 years of age; I couldn't talk about a time when I was under 18 and had sex (if a customer asked when I lost my virginity, the answer had to be 18 or over). Obviously, if a customer requested someone underage from the operator, they were told that we couldn't do that; but sometimes I'd be talking to them already when they'd mention it. I would try to steer them away from that, to something permissible, and if that failed, I was to hang up on them. I also was not required (by the company) to participate in rape or forced sex fantasies. Although that was up to me.

[The King of Soup]

Originally Posted by norinew

...(all my notes are in storage right now), but these are the two that come to mind.

Did you keep notes for your own amusement, because you were afraid of stalkers, because you were required to? Because it made it feel more like a regular job? To reuse particularly effective lines? Have you talked to a literary agent? The idea of taking notes is the most (to me) surprising and endearing thing about the whole business.

Also, do you know anything about your co-workers? Were they kids without education, grandmothers supplementing their pensions, men using vocoders?

Did you get better with practice? Did you research and study? And if the point is to extend the calls as long as possible, what were your strategies for accomplishing that?

[liirogue]

How much did it pay?

And to echo some of the other posters, tell us some of your weirdest!

[Eleusis]

Originally Posted by norinew

There might have been stranger (all my notes are in storage right now), but these are the two that come to mind.

Boring! The phonesluts I've met at bars always tell the "Oh yes, shit on me, Jesus" story.

[shijinn]

Originally Posted by norinew

... Yeah, he knows the pics were a model; I've never sent him real pics of myself, but he does a lot of high security kind of work, and knows lots of folks. My guess is that if he really wanted to find out what I look like, he would. He's never talked about a real meeting in person (for now) because he knows I'm totally devoted to my husband and would never cheat on him (not only does he know I'm married, but recognizes my husband's voice and both of my older daughter's voices on the phone, and is very cordial to them). He has said, however, that if anything ever happens to my husband, he hopes I would consider him an option. Hey, the dude has a 9,000 sq. ft. house in Tampa and a yacht; a girl could do worse . He's not bad looking, either.
MY husband is cool with the relationship because, for one thing, it pays well; for another thing, he trusts me 100%. ...

ok. let us get paranoid for a moment. we have a guy from an uncertain background who spends a hundred dollars per hour on sex calls doing some sort of high security kind of work who knows lots of folks in interesting places.. your husband have no reason not to trust you, but the guy on the other hand..

[norinew]

Originally Posted by tim314

Were you working off a script, improvising within some specific guidelines, just totally making it up as you went along? How much training was there, if any? How much variety was there in the kinds of callers you got? Ever have a call that didn't go at all the way you expected?

There was no script, it was all improv. We did have some general idea, though, because the call always went to an operator first, who found out what kind of woman the guy was looking for, and if he was interested in anything specific; then the operator would call me and say something like "I have a guy who wants a blonde with big tits; he likes it rough" or whatever. Then, when she patched the guy through, I already had an idea of what he was looking for. The rest, I was pretty good at drawing out.

There was a pretty good variety. Probably about 75% of my calls were what I abbreviated on my notes as S&F. The S stood for suck, and the F stood for a rhyming word we're not supposed to use outside of the pit. Just standard stuff, with a sexy girl, albeit over the phone. But the other 25%, wow. I had guys who would call with their girlfriends; I'd have women who may have been gay, or may have just been investigating aspects of sexuality; I had guys who were into animals, bodily functions, married women who cheat on their husbands, whatever. Yup. Lots of variety.

A call that didn't go the way I expected? Well, probably the closest would be that, a couple of times, the guy didn't so much want to talk about sex as he just wanted to talk. I was pretty good at that, too.

[Bruce_Daddy]

Originally Posted by norinew

the F stood for a rhyming word we're not supposed to use outside of the pit.

Not true.

Originally Posted by C K Dexter Haven

Other forums prohibit direct personal insults against other members, some stricter than others, but that's the broad insult, regardless of vulgarity.

In most forums, a tiny bit of vulgarity is often useful to emphasize a point or stress something, but most long-time posters figure out that vulgarity generally detracts from their debating position, or from their response, or whatever. We've thus sometimes clamped down on excessive vulgarity -- admittedly, a somewhat subjective perspective, but the cases have been pretty obvious. I mean, when "fuck" or some derivation thereof is used three times in every sentence, one draws the line.

However, we've never put any restrictions on language usage, so far as I recall.

Here
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. See?

My questions. Did you have set hours? A separate phone line? Did you ever get into it, like, you know, get into it? Give an example of a 'wtf?' comment or request from a customer. Ever get pissed off?