Faking It (Fake Cell Phone Calls)

CBS News ^ | April 22, 2005 | Lloyd Garver

[srm913]

Man, I actually once thought I was the only person clever enough to utilize this gambit. Darn!

[DBrow]

If I walk around talking to myself, they send me down for a "random" drug check and my friends are all concerned.

If I do the same thing holding a cell phone, nobody has a problem.

So this article is no big surprise to me.

Oops, gotta go, Blair is calling again...

[SMARTY]

"...research at Rutgers University as well as the Ethics and Public Policy Center that found that a great number of cell phone users are faking..."

Who needed research to tell them this was going on?

[Serb5150]

Men will pretend to be on a call as they walk over to hit on a woman. Women will pretend to be on a call to avoid getting hit on by men.

Hilarious and True.

[freebird5850]

At work if I am discussing work related matters and they get a personal call (and let it take priority). I keep talking about what I need to convey and go on working. So naturally when they get off the phone and want me to re-explain, I tell them they must come back another time as they have wasted enough of mine.

[Mike Bates]

Maybe that's why every woman I see is talking on a cell phone.

[KarlInOhio]

Now I just need a small remote button to make my cell phone ring so I can answer it and get out of useless meetings. Going through the menus to get to the ring tone selection to make it ring doesn't fool anyone.

At a previous job we had one woman who was way too chatty and kept people from getting work done. The rule was if you saw her pin someone down in his office, you went to another phone and called him so he had an excuse to leave.

[meowmeow]

Hmmm. I always carry my MP3 player in my purse. Sometimes when I don't want people to talk to me (in the elevator, on the train platform) I put the head phones on but don't turn it on. I hate it when people I don't know start pointless cliche-filled chit-chat just because we're both standing there in silence.

So there - I listen to fake music.

[KC_for_Freedom]

At my job the cell phone was considered a security risk. (There were always classified discussions going on). So the phones were supposed to be turned off. But then my wife could not reach me with some Important personal business. (Like I needed to get home early.) When the cell phone rang in this situation, the empoyee would immediately take it outside, but it was proof that the phone was not turned off (Opps)

[HairOfTheDog]

Someone who's late for work may enter the office talking to "an important client" to cover her tardiness.

I've done that one :~D

[ravingnutter]

Now I just need a small remote button to make my cell phone ring so I can answer it and get out of useless meetings.

You could try this:

With both Cingular's Escape-A-Date and Virgin Mobile's Rescue Ring service, a customer can arrange to be called at a set time, using the cell keypad.

When the cell rings, one of Cingular's eight "emergency" messages says: "Hey, this is your Escape-A-Date call. If you're looking for an excuse, I got it. Just repeat after me, and you'll be on your way! 'Not again! Why does that always happen to you? ... All right, I'll be right there.' Now tell 'em that your roommate got locked out, and you have to go let them in. Good luck!"

And bingo, the bad date is history.

The rescue-call service is part of a Cingular package that costs $4.99 a month. Virgin Mobile offers its Rescue Ring at 25 cents per use, plus the price of the call.

USA Today

[Luke21]

I noticed several years ago that if a woman was coming out of a store or post office late at night, they were always pretending to be talking on their cell phones.

Dunno if it would fool any muggers. It didn't fool me.

[null and void]

*snrk* I love the free enterprise system...

[429CJ]

I'm not buying the 'talking on the cell phone to be noticed' business. Perhaps 15 or 20 years ago when very few folks had cell phones people might have noticed. But now that almost everyone from 11 year olds on up have them nobody notices you just because you have a cell phone.

What I do find very annoying is when someone in a restaurant gets a call and talks very loudly. There is no need to talk so loudly. When I get a call I make sure I am talking directly into the phone and keep my voice down and the person at the other end have no trouble hearing me.

[Ramius]

Like lots of folks, I use a headset... it's great when somebody comes to my office door. They'll whisper in a hushed voice "are you on the phone?"

I usually just put a finger to my lips and whisper back "maybe."

[catonsville]

When I go to my local mall almost every teenager is on a cell phone. I have wondered if they are talking to each other within the Mall, really have a lot of friends to call or were faking it.

I remember a woman buying clothes in an upscale store on a phone loudly discussing an impressive real estate deal. Than the cell phone RANG. She seemed embarrassed

[Cobra64]

At work if I am discussing work related matters and they get a personal call (and let it take priority). I keep talking about what I need to convey and go on working. So naturally when they get off the phone and want me to re-explain, I tell them they must come back another time as they have wasted enough of mine.

At any speech I give, running a seminar, or any meeting that I chair; I ask all listeners/participants to "please turn off your cell phones and pagers."

[429CJ]

I remember one episode of 'Andy Griffith' where Barney is faking talking on the phone in front of Andy and suddenly the phone rang. The look on his face was hilarious!

[JohnnyZ]

Sometimes when I don't want people to talk to me (in the elevator, on the train platform) I put the head phones on but don't turn it on.

You need to learn the Unfriendly Face. It comes in handy when you want to communicate the message that you are dreary and lifeless, have no soul and kill random people just for talking to you without authorization.

[paltz]

There's this con where a guy will ask to use a chick's cell phone to make a local call b/c his cell just died. He'll then call his own cell, and...shazam!...he now has her phone number she wouldn't have given to the creep in the first place.