• E-mail this page
• |  Print this page
• | 
• | 
• | 

Cause We're All Phonies

Sprint has our number. They know we use our mobile phones as excuses to get out of awkward social situations (bad dates, family funerals, meetings), and are launching a hysterical new service to help us all be better liars.

Sprint has our number. They know we use our mobile phones as excuses to get out of awkward social situations (bad dates, family funerals, meetings), and are launching a hysterical new service to help us all be better liars.
-----
EXTENDED BODY:
C'mon, admit it. You know you've had a friend call you in the middle of a date with the express purpose of using the call as an excuse to cut the date short if it wasn't going well. Then there's the fake number givers. You were at a bar, and some guy/gal was chatting you up and asked for your number at the end of the evening. Rather than say no, you gave them a bogus number, or better yet, gave them a number to a rejection service (so cruel, and yet so funny at the same time!).

Whatever the reasons may be, cell phones have become the ultimate out. Can't stand the way your date picks his nose while chewing with his mouth open? Fake a family death and dump his ass! Can't stand your family's neurosis around the holidays? Fake a work emergency and leave early! Didn't prepare for your budget meeting? Fake a personal crisis and get the heck out of dodge!

Walking around Manhattan, I've heard people say the strangest things on the phone. For instance, I was emerging from the subway downtown one evening and heard a guy walking down the street say, "No honey, I'm still at work. We're in the conference room, that's why you can't reach me on my office line." Liar! Hopefully his caller didn't notice the blaring taxi horns or traffic noise.

Just in case you're terrible at lying (and let's face it, some people truly are), Sprint (which has been hurting recently) is offering a new service to help us out when we're down. Called Mobile Faker, Sprint customers can now subscribe to a service that fakes incoming phone calls with voice prompts to fake a realistic conversation, fake numbers that send would-be suitors to a rejection line, hip conversation starters for those who can't seem to stop stammering when their ideal mate walks up to them in a bar, fake wallpapers of significant others, kids and pets and pick-up and rejection lines so you can sound cool in front of your friends.

Now, is this service entirely practical for business users? Probably not. Especially if you are someone who is highly visible in your company or industry, or if you're an actual decent person (if there are any of you left). Still, it just might come in handy when you're on the road at a trade show and some husky voiced hotel bar patron just won't take no for an answer.

« AOL's AIM Today Beta: When Good Web Apps Go Bad | Main | Hey, Are You Reading this Blog While You're At Work? »