# Talk about some of the rotten things you did as a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731 "2011-04-26T02:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/101 "2011-05-10T01:47:50Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Was it in MwC as well? > > I did some thinking and I’m pretty sure it came from “The Pigman” by Paul Zindel. When I did this it was the late 70s, a bit early for MwC. That’s where MwC probably got it then. In the episode, Al and Jefferson were trying to outprank each other for April fools. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/102 "2011-05-10T03:29:34Z")
Back before the days of caller ID some of us would get together and make prank phone calls. “Is you refrigerator running?” That kind of stuff. Then we got a better idea… We got the numbers from a bank of pay phones in a local mall. They were out in the mall next to a restaurant that had tables sitting out front. We would call one of the phones and when someone answered we’d say “Congratulations. You just won $100 for answering this pay phone.” They’d get all excited and then we told them that there was a man sitting in front of the restaurant wearing glasses and he would give them the money if they spoke to him about it. During a weekend afternoon there was bound to be at least one man with glasses. From there we would just wing it. Maybe they’d sound doubtful and say something like “he looks like he’s with a family” or something similar. I’d say, “that sounds like him, what’s he wearing”. When they described his clothing we’d say that yes that was him. Sometimes they’d immediately say something to a nearby diner and then say to me, he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. I’d ask what he was wearing and say “no, that’s not him” is there another"? I don’t recall how we ended the conversations. I think sometimes we strung them along until they realized we were making fools of them. I think sometimes they left the phone to talk to some guy in glasses and we simply hung up. We talked about stationing one of us in the mall to watch the fun but we never got to do that. One day at school some kids were talking about an article in a local paper warning people about phony contest payphone calls. That scared us off, which was probably a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/103 "2011-05-10T07:07:46Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Was it in MwC as well? > > I did some thinking and I’m pretty sure it came from “The Pigman” by Paul Zindel. When I did this it was the late 70s, a bit early for MwC. We did it in 1966, and since we didn’t make it up, it predated us. TV shows didn’t make it up, they copied it. (I can’t imagine how we thought we’d fool people into believing that our voices sounded like adult telephone technicians.) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/104 "2011-05-10T18:27:23Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Radley? When I first read To Kill A Mockingbird, he’s who I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/105 "2011-05-10T18:42:45Z")
> [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > Well, okay. So now we know why you did what you did. So, ummmm… just what did you do? One of the things - he had built a covered walkway from his house out to his garage. It consisted of several sheets of metal braced on poles. I could stand in my backyard with some good sized rocks, heave them over the neighbor’s houses and be rewarded with a resounding BAVOOM when they hit. And I would do this at all hours of the day and night. I’d even set my alarm to go off at oh-dark-thirty, sneak down the stairs and into the back yard, let fly, then sneak back up the stairs into my room. It was also considered great fun for my buddy and me to screech into the alley on our bikes and stop just behind his garage. He’d come hauling ass out of the house to see what was going on and we would take off again and ride leisurely down the alley, leaving him yelling behind us. He finally defaulted on his house payments. I came home from school one day to find all of his furniture and personal belongings out in the front yard of his house. That evening, I took the dog out for a walk and let him piss all over the stuff. Shortly after that, I went off to college and he vanished into the woodwork. My dad said that he saw Arthur about a year after that, walking in the street about a half mile from the old neighborhood. Never did know what finally happened to him. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731/106 "2011-05-14T14:56:06Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > One of the things - he had built a covered walkway from his house out to his garage. It consisted of several sheets of metal braced on poles. I could stand in my backyard with some good sized rocks, heave them over the neighbor’s houses and be rewarded with a resounding BAVOOM when they hit. And I would do this at all hours of the day and night. I’d even set my alarm to go off at oh-dark-thirty, sneak down the stairs and into the back yard, let fly, then sneak back up the stairs into my room. > > It was also considered great fun for my buddy and me to screech into the alley on our bikes and stop just behind his garage. He’d come hauling ass out of the house to see what was going on and we would take off again and ride leisurely down the alley, leaving him yelling behind us. > > He finally defaulted on his house payments. I came home from school one day to find all of his furniture and personal belongings out in the front yard of his house. That evening, I took the dog out for a walk and let him piss all over the stuff. > > Shortly after that, I went off to college and he vanished into the woodwork. My dad said that he saw Arthur about a year after that, walking in the street about a half mile from the old neighborhood. Never did know what finally happened to him. SO! It **is** you. I’ve found you at last. Now it’s payback time. :mad: - - - - - _ **- Mr. Wilson** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/talk-about-some-of-the-rotten-things-you-did-as-a-kid/579731.md?page=5)