We’ve all seen them: phone numbers scrawled out on bathroom walls, or, for that matter, other random public places. And not just phone numbers. Email addresses, screen names, everything. Some stranger’s contact information displayed conspicuously, maybe with their knowledge, maybe not. And I don’t care who you are, when you see that, there’s some small curious part of you that wants to get in touch and see what happens.
Most of us don’t, of course. Either because we’re worried about what we might find or just because we’re weird Millennials with phone anxiety. So how can our curiosity be satiated? Wonder no more, because an r/AskReddit post by BespokePenguin has collected thousands of satisfying stories about what’s on the other end of those numbers.
The post reads:
People who have dialed numbers written on bathroom stalls, what’s your story?
– BespokePenguin
There are over 15,000 responses to get lost in. Here are a few of our favorites:
1. For a good time…
When I was younger, someone wrote “for a good time call” and my number on the playground slide.
People would call a couple times a week, laugh and then hang up.
It started to get annoying so I went to the playground to cover it up. Someone saw me doing it and called the cops saying I was vandalizing the playground.
– yoshi_1226
2. Self-fulfilling prophesy
I saw a number scratched on a table at a bar that said something like “Call Mike, he’s been really mean :(”
So I sent Mike a text telling him to be nicer and in response he sent me back several angry “Who the hell is this?” texts over the next few days.
He’s really mean 🙁
– unscot
3. Now I know
I found a business card in a phone booth printed cryptically with, “If you don’t call, you’ll never know,” and a phone number.
Since I had time left on the phone card I called, and now I know.
It was a pseudoreligious self-help cult trying to recruit people to seminars at their ranch in like New Mexico
– Quillemote
4. Happily ever after…
My cousin met her boyfriend since 3 years by calling a number of a bathroom wall.
It said something like: For a good time call 07xxxxxxxx She texted out of curiousity. Apparently one of his friends had put his name and number down there just to mess with him.
They now live together and seem happy.
– Jappinen2k
5. Well, what did you expect?
I once added someone on Snapchat who had spray painted their name on top of a mountain I was hiking and they replied to my message with a “Who the f*ck is this” like I was the as$hole.
– chompey_the_goat
6. Difficult time explaining…
About 10 years ago somebody wrote “call XXX-XXXX for a good time” on the sidewalk. So I saved the number for sh^ts thinking I would call the number and at least let them know how I got it but I never did… just kept the number saved as “???”
Well the other day I was on snapchat and saw “???” pop up in suggested friends or whatever so i added her… she added me back.
she’s a babe and i have no idea what to say to her but I wanna tell her how I got her number and not seem weird
– FoxyGrampa
7. From the payphone era:
When my friend and I were about 11 there was a public bathroom in the park where we had soccer practice and outside that public bathroom was a payphone and on that payphone was scrawled a number and above it the word “sex.” I don’t recall ever paying for a call so maybe it was a 1-800 number, I don’t remember.
It was a recording of a woman’s voice. I remember only the beginning, but I can hear it crystal clear: “You wanna have fuuun? Yeaah?” And then a bunch of feminine giggling.
We would hang up when the recording asked for a credit card number to continue the call.
I think we were terrified out parents’ credit cards would somehow get charged and we would get caught. Kid logic.
– potsieharris
8. Some stories have great twists.
I was once really high with a friend and called the number spray painted on the side of a dumpster with the name “Yolanda”.
We wanted to let her know that someone spray painted her name and number on a dumpster at our local shopping center.
A lady answered with a heavy spanish accent who proceeded to yell at the both of us because it was her dumpster.
[…] I didn’t even know people could own dumpsters.
– THELARDISMYSHEPARD
9. The work of an evil genius!
There was a flyer posted on a bulletin board at this coffee shop asking for your best Wookiee impersonation.
The flyer told you to call and leave a message if they didn’t pick up and the best one would win $25.
I figured it was too good to be true so I called the guy and let him know what it said and where it was.
He was wondering why he had gotten so many weird voicemails but appreciated the heads up!
– BellyandKen
10. You really, REALLY never know what you’re gonna get.
I saw the number read Hunger Games Hotline so I took a picture of it in case I ever wanted to call it.
A year later I’m on a school field trip coming back from DC when I tell my friend we should call this one number.
He says yes, we dial it and we hear robots having sex
– Stanislav2000
11. Paging Fred Durst!
Ok, so it isn’t a bathroom stall, but a hilarious story.
Back a long time ago, Paris Hilton had her Tmobile Sidekick hacked and all her contacts numbers leaked online. I was contracting some 15-16 year old kid to do a website for me at the time. About 4-5 hours before the list went public this guy building my site hits me up on AIM (yeah, that old) and is like “My buddy just did some crazy hack, he got all these celebs numbers.” “Bullsh^t” i said, because at the time this was unheard of. He sends me a text file of about 150 names. The first one that stuck out to me that I knew who they were was Fred Durst. Rang him up, froze and then said, “Yes, is this Mr. Durst?” “Yeah, who is this?” I truthfully explained the exact scenario and my morbid skepticism led me to dial him up. He said something about him going to have to turn his phone off now and actually THANKED me for giving him a heads up.
After that I waited a few hours and picked a number at random, someone I didn’t recognize or know. Wrong idea. She picked up the phone and said my number was now logged into her phone and the FBI were on the case (whatever….) and she hoped I died.
At that moment I knew the list went public. I logged into some mIRC chats and it was story after story of interactions. I don’t like his music, but Fred Durst seemed like a cool cat and I like to think I gave him a heads up before sh^t hit the fan.
Overall, teenagers do dumb sh^t.
– coregmrconman
I feel like we should clarify that you should never ever post someone else’s private information without their consent, either online or in the real world.
But if you wanna write your own number somewhere and get some good stories? It’s a free country.
Have you ever called a number you found somewhere? What happened?
Tell us about it in the comments.