# Giving your phone number to ladies (a poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604 "2008-11-13T21:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/41 "2008-11-14T23:26:44Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I asked if he ever gets called back, and he admitted “Rarely,” at which point I suggested that maybe asking for her phone number might get him better –or at least faster—results. He suggested that he had only tried this with a relatively small number of women—ten or a dozen over the last few years—and thought he was simply running in bad luck. > > I have to admit that his approach made a little sense—it’s somewhat intimidating to give your contact information to a stranger, even an attractive stranger, whom you’ve known for only ten or fifteen minutes –so I thought I’d broaden his limited poll to a few teeming million respondents. I give my card out all the time; my (government) employer pays for them, I have more than enough, and that’s what they’re for. It’s easier than writing on some scrap of paper that someone’s going to lose, and almost always when I give my card–whether it be to a woman or a man–the other person will offer their number or email in return. If it’s a woman, it should be obvious you want her to call you, and if she’s not interested, then fine. But if she gives you her number, then that means it’s fine to call her. I don’t see what the question is all about. It’s obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/42 "2008-11-14T23:31:44Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > I have personal cards with my name, mobile number and email address on them (but that’s all, and they look pretty stylish). I’m pretty liberal with them, if I make a connection with someone I’ll give them out and tell them call me or drop me an email if they want to chat more/go for a drink/coffee. I do this for potential dates and potential friends too, it’s not just a dating technique. To (sort of) answer the OP, I like **Illuminatiprimus** ’s technique. Tasteful & stylish cards with contact information makes it easier not to lose. A scrap of paper with a phone number on it may not spark my memory, but a card I’d remember. Then again, I’ve never called a guy who has given me his number so I’m not really your target audience. Still, I’d think “that guy has a nice card!” as I threw it away. For what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/43 "2008-11-14T23:58:04Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > (Bolding mine) You’re quite prescient, aren’t you? 😉 And can you believe this all comes _after_ we’ve had hot, anonymous sex? I mean, it’s only polite to go through the motions, if only in reverse. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/44 "2008-11-14T23:58:29Z")
This is the reason: > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I also like to have a number so when I get stood up (all too frequently) I can call and leave a message that goes something like, “Hey, it’s **Stranger**. Sorry you couldn’t make it, but I met up with this awesome brunette that looks like a cross between Rachel Weisz and Famke Janssen, and having a great discussion about Russian literature, quantum mechanics, and cryptography. Talk to you later.” for this: > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > I have never, ever gotten a call back from a woman who I’ve given a number to Maybe women aren’t the dumb bunnies you think they are. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/45 "2008-11-15T00:44:16Z")
> [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](#): > > Then again, I’ve never called a guy who has given me his number so I’m not really your target audience. Still, I’d think “that guy has a nice card!” as I threw it away. Well as most people I give them to don’t call me, I imagine they think the same thing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/46 "2008-11-15T00:55:44Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > So, you mean that hanging out outside her bedroom window in a trenchcoat holding a boombox with Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” blaring out is not the way to win her heart? If it’s your longtime girlfriend, that song has a particular meaning for your relationship and you’re John Cussack (who yet another girl has told me I look like), AND she’s never seen Say Anything I say go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/47 "2008-11-15T01:13:20Z")
Well, fuck, I was just about to do it, and then you got to the “never seen Say Anything” part. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/48 "2008-11-15T01:24:23Z")
I gave my number to Mr. Hot - and I bumped into him before he’d called me. I asked him to give me back my number if he wasn’t going to use it. Am I doing it wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/49 "2008-11-15T09:52:51Z")
Yeah, kind of. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2008, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604/50 "2008-11-15T09:58:55Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > Maybe women aren’t the dumb bunnies you think they are. 😛 I don’t believe I ever stated that most women are “dumb bunnies”…merely that I’ve never profited from handing out my number without reciprocity, and that when actively dating I get stood up by a fractional function which asymptotically approaches unity. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giving-your-phone-number-to-ladies-a-poll/472604.md?page=2)