Back in the days of foggy memory when I was having a nervous breakdown, holding down a proper job or continuing with education was a bit difficult. I wanted to make money so I could do what other young adults could do - move out and get a life. When you are on medication that was not exactly a good thing for your real condition, it only makes things worse in terms of trying to live a normal life.
The way I stepped onto this path started by answering an ad in the Chicago Reader for Phone Entertainers. This was for a 976 chat line where people would call in to talk to hot, sexy girls to flirt with. It wasn't exactly graphic to the extent I would eventually, but it was pretty hot. Our job was to monitor the incoming calls and flirt with them. They were on a strict time limit per call and we would have to time it just right with a piece of conversation to get them to call right back. I was pretty good at it and made decent money.
The company was going out of business. Then I was made aware of other opportunities in the industry where you could make a lot more money, but it would require a bigger leap into the adult industry level of conversation, adult phone conversations at home. I passed at that point. I was still living at home and my mother would in no way understand me doing such things in my bedroom.
I picked up another Chicago Reader and saw ads for adult phone operators. Some of these were from an office building, so I gave it a try. While I could make a convincing voice and I passed the tryouts, I just didn't feel quite right and quit.
After awhile, I got married and then when I insisted we got our own place away from my overbearing father-in-law. My daughter was only 3 months old and I did not want to work outside the home and put her in someone else's care. Most of the day care facilities would not touch her because she was still smaller than most newborns. My husband said he could not afford a place unless I got a job. So I looked up the Nashville Scene in the classified ads and found listings for Adult Phone workers. I found this kind of work distasteful, but it was a way to stay at home. I applied and got a job.
I chose to work at night when my daughter was starting to learn how to sleep all night. When going into one of my many personalities, I had to switch off from my own reality, kind of a detached sense of self. The moment I started the call, I ceased to exist. My character was in control. It had to be that way.
Because my voice, much like my physical appearance at the time, sounded very young, I was pushed as the barely legal type. There were times the men wanted me to be younger than legal, but I would never go there and tell them I am how old as you want me to be in your mind, but don't tell me. I really had to tune myself out of those conversations and often would play cards or read a book or draw just to get through it.
Sometimes the calls were really strange. There was actually a guy who liked to wear a diaper full of mashed potatoes and take a dump in it and walk around all day in that state. Another guy got his jollies as I described cooking a meal. Another one just wanted me to read a magazine to him. I didn't mind these strange requests, though keeping a laugh to a minimum was hard at times. The weirdest yet was the guy who wanted a dead person and had me describe my dead body, how I died and then told me to be quiet so he could tell me what he was doing to me.
I had a few regulars who were my phone line "boyfriends". We had a regular fantasy situation that got very detailed and I had to keep notes to keep track of my so-called life. With one guy I was a Vanderbilt student studying to be an engineer who was only doing this to get through school, but I also happened to be into gender-bending guys with a fetish for mild torture, urinating in diapers, and mud wrestling. Another guy had me long term as his favourite niece who would do favours for him for some candy while he enjoyed his "water sports".
There was only one point where I had to call the police on one of my callers who had very detailed and graphic plans to torture, rape and murder children. Turns out this guy was serious because the cops busted him and found all kinds of torture devices in his basement.
I got tired of doing these types of calls and wanted other opportunities. I worked in the call center directing the calls to the girls at home. It was a much better situation, but I still had to deal with the perverts who wanted a free call and tried to engage me in conversation without paying. It was hard to deal with the overnight shift and at that point I had two children. I went back to working at home on the phones.
Fortunately, I took advantage of what my husband called a waste of time. I bought a computer and hooked up with the Internet. My husband said of it back in 1997, "What would anyone really do with a computer in their home? Sounds like a waste of money to me." While doing the calls to pay off the computer, I also learned how to design web sites and found a way to make money doing that. As I was starting to make more money online than I was on the phone, I quit the phone work and never looked back.
While I could argue for the right of anyone who wants to do this work and the fact that most in that field are not being exploited, it is not a job for everyone. It is an easy way to make money at home, but you sometimes have to sink to the lowest conversations in order to do so. If you do this kind of job at home, you really need to take extra precautions to keep yourself safe including caller ID, call block, and a separate unlisted phone number to make the calls. Never give out your real name or address. Any correspondence they insist on doing, it should go through the agency. It is also a good idea if you are doing this at home to have a sound proof room and a place to get comfortable as some calls may last a few hours.
If you do want to walk on the wild side and get a job in that field, just search in most major city tabloids and look under employment or adult entertainment categories. Look for things that read something like, phone entertainer, adult phone worker, phone actress, or something of the sort. You can also look in adult magazines and look for the ads for phone sex and call them to see if they are hiring. Also, just do an online search of the terms, "phone entertainer", "adult phone worker", "phone actress" to see who is hiring.
The reality in this business is they want women to talk to men and men to talk to men. It is really not a big market for straight men to talk to women. It is not something I would strongly recommend to anyone, unless they have no qualms about these conversations and really need the money.
Would I ever do it again? Only if I really needed the money.
