Written on the wall, I mean. I always figured those were mean pranks, done by ex-boyfriends or guys who got turned down for dates. I’ve gone so far as to wipe the number off the wall. One guy told me, though, that he’s gotten some hot dates from off-the-wall phone calls.
Never seen them? Wow. Well if you’re really interested, I find that the highest concentration of such numbers can be found at rest stops on Interstates. I’ve never even considered calling one, though.
When I was in college, I did a feature story on phone numbers scrawled in bathroom stalls. One woman I called was definitely not happy about it, and she was pretty sure she knew who did it, too.
I remember one time my friends and I were all sitting in the backseat of a car being driven by my mother-there were four of us and I was fourteen (it was my birthday in fact). While sitting at a red light, this guy jumps out of this car full of teenage guys, sticks his hand in the back seat window of OUR car, and drops a piece of paper in my friend’s lap. It was a bunch of guys’ phone numbers. My mother, when we got to my house, said, “let me see.” My friend gave it to her and my mom tore it up.
We were pissed, because we were gonna call for a lark and prank them. But now, come to think of it, mom was right.
I’ve never called one, but apparently my brother-in-law has gone so far as to write his number at the time in the women’s room at his workplace. A client busted him on it… but called him up later anyway. This from Mrs. O herself. So sometimes they are legit, I guess.
I’ve seen them on occasion, although not as much as I used to (probably because a lot of places are more diligent about cleaning restrooms now).
The funny thing is, not only did I not find them offensive (aside from being an obvious act of vandalism, of course), I probably would have called one of those numbers if I thought I’d actually get a good time. Hey, I ain’t got no religious hangups, I’m open-minded about a lot of things, and I think it’s great to, er, have a good time…I think it means sex or something, but it wouldn’t have to be…with someone else who is. But I figure that most, if not all of them, are bogus, and it’s extremely unlikely that the person who owned the number put up a single one of those messages. Besides, I know better than to take advice from a freaking restroom (the same reason I do not believe that Jews and homosexuals are subhuman, BTW).
Shame, really…one of the few examples of completely frank sexual (or maybe just fun) discourse in America, and it turns out to be just a lame prank.
Yeah, well, I never called one, but Ive posted one. Like you said, a lot of them are from ex-boyfriends, well my friend’s girlfriend dumped him (I mean this was one of those break-ups where each person hates the other’s guts from then on), and for a few days, on every payphone we saw, we wrote, “For a good time, call Susan”, then her number. Man, now that I think about it, I wonder if anyone ever called.