... the pay phone rings. What do you do?

[reveal]

*ring*

"Hello?

*listens* "You don't say!"

*listens* "You don't say!"

*listens* "You don't say!"

*listens* "Goodbye."

Other guy: "Hey, who was that?"

Guy on phone: "He didn't say."

*rimshot*

 

[Darth K'Trava]

I've been doing a big music video archival project, and that has me away from the computer a good bit. This computer, anyway. I've gone back to lurking a bit more than I was there for a while, but I'm still here. Glad to know someone noticed, though.

You expect us to make spot checks like that around here?

The DC is too high to try to see a deity who's been hiding in the bushes, playing Peeping Torm.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Um, that wasn't me.

Don't call it a comeback - I've been here for years.

The only "vacation" he was on was when he was in the hospital a while back with pneumonia.

 

[tonym]

If it wasn't a filthy payphone, I would likely answer it, unless I was carrying something, or it was raining, or I had been injured and was on my way to a hospital, or I was being chased by a dog or several dogs.

And - better yet - if you were making a movie or writing a story: what would have happened after you picked it up?

As I place the receiver to my ear, poison gas puffs from the holes in the mouthpiece. My head is instantly engulfed in a dense purple cloud. Luckily I was exhaling at the time. When I get home, I call the phone company and report the defective payphone.

Tony M

 

[reveal]

As I place the receiver to my ear, poison gas puffs from the holes in the mouthpiece. My head is instantly engulfed in a dense purple cloud. Luckily I was exhaling at the time. When I get home, I call the phone company and report the defective payphone.

Tony M

I can imagine that phone call:

Phone company service rep: "Sir, how may I help you?"

Tony M: "Purple haze... All through my brain."

Phone company service rep: "Um, sir, are you all right?"

Tony M: "Lately things just don't seem the same."

Phone company service rep: "I'm hanging up now, sir."

Tony M: "Actin' funny, but I don't know why."

Phone company service rep: "Goodbye, sir!"

Tony M: "Excuse me while I kiss the sky!" *click*

 

[IronWolf]

I would have walked on by. I hate phones.....

 

[I'm A Banana]

How's this:

The phone rings. Intrigued Bypasser picks it up. Guy on the other side says "Congratulations. You have shown us that you are a brave, adventurous person. Maybe you can be the one to help us. Look in the phonebook, under the name "Wayne Smith." You'll find an address. Be there at this time tomorrow. Having picked up this phone and heard this message, you are in grave danger. People are watching you. People who know our secret. People who want to stop us. If you don't show up, hundreds of people will die. If you do show up, you may die. The choice is yours. You have been given this message becuase you are a bold and adventurous person. You might just have what it takes to save them. Please, don't let fear get the better of you. Help us. Help them.....hang up now, they're coming" *click*

What happens after that? ADVENTURE, of course!

I totally would've picked it up. I would've regretted not doing it.

 

[wingsandsword]

SO when the phone rang I picked it up and said "First United Church of Doohanism. Can I help you?" I then had a 5 minute conversation with a very confused teenage girl looking for "Tiffany". I stayed in character the whole time.

Once when I was walking around town, I ran across a pair of missionaries. We ended up standing together at a walk light, and I politely smiled at them. I saw their name badges that clearly ID'ed them as being from a certain church known for sending very determined missionaries. They turned to me and with big smiles, asked what church I go to.

Now, I'm not wanting to get into a religious debate with them (and the fact that I'm pagan might not set well with them), so I decide to switch into character for a D&D cleric I was playing at the time:

"I worship at the mosque of Our Lady of the Flames, the temple of Alia Min Kor, the transcendent flame mage who ascended to divinity unto the Elemental Plane of Fire in the year 1102. I myself am an initiate of the Order of the Silver Flame, but we have plans to open new mosques throughout the area soon. . ." as I continue to preach on in-character as my cleric. The missionaries get a confused and slightly scared look on their faces, quickly excused themselves, and left as quickly as they could.

Now, about the phone ringing: I had this happen once a few months ago. Amusingly, it was in the building where we played out our long-running vampire larp, and I was dressed in-character, and people were gathering for the game, so I decided to respond in character (a Tremere with technocratic contacts, who contact him sometimes by randomly calling him at payphones). (nobody else would go and pick it up, one person actually cited the movie "Phone Booth")
Me: "Yes, I'm here."
Phone: "Uh, who is this?"
Me: "Identify yourself, you called me."
Phone: "What the heck is going on?"
Me: "Dammit, this line is compromised, terminate communications. I will be in touch." *hangs up*

Or, there was the similar calls I got on my cell phone once, back in 2000 (when I didn't have a phone with caller ID). I was walking around town when I get a call on my cell:
Person (little kids voice): "Dad, I'm ready to be picked up now!"
(at the time I'm 22 and single, and more likely to call my dad to pick me up)
Me: "Uh, sorry, I think you have a wrong number there."
Kid: "Dad, you're scaring me, please come pick me up from practice."
Me: "I'm sorry kid, but I can't help you, you have the wrong number. Check what you dialed and try again." *hang up*

A few seconds later:
*phone rings*
Kid: "Dad, pick me up from soccer practice!"
Me: "Sorry, you've still got a wrong number, I'm sorry but I'm not your dad, and I can't help you. I don't have a car, I don't know you, and I suggest you try and get ahold of another relative or friend of the family.
Kid: "Dad, you're scaring me!" *breaks into tears and crying*
Me: "Sorry, I don't mean to make you cry, but I'm not your dad. I hope you can find somebody to help you, but I can't do anything for you" *hang up*

A minute or so later:
*phone rings*
Kid (crying): "Dad, please come get me, I'm scared. Don't say you won't get me. Please come pick me up!"
Me: "I'm real sorry, but I'm just not your dad, I can't help you, I don't have a car, I don't know where you are, you said you're at soccer practice, talk to your coach and see if they have your dad's number, or your mom's, or somebody else who can pick you up. If nobody else can help you, dial 911 and the police can help you, but I don't have anything I can do for you."
Kid (almost hysterical): "Pleeaaassee dad! You're scaring me! Pick me up!"
Me: "Talk to your coach, dial 911, I can't do anything to help you."
*hangs up, turns off phone*

I don't think it was a prank call, because it was at like 5:00 in the afternoon (when an afterschool practice would be likely to be letting out), and it really did sound like a grade-school age young boy, but I couldn't do anything to help him, I didn't know him, and he just wouldn't believe that I wasn't his father. Maybe I sounded like him and his dad wrote his phone number down wrong, transposed some numbers so it was my cell number, I don't know, I felt bad about hanging up and turning off the phone, but there was nothing I could do (and that prepaid cell time was expensive, each call was running me a dollar or so, I got it mostly for emergencies myself!)

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Very few pay phones still ring, at least around here, but occasionally one will ring near me. Invariably, folks around me adopt expressions of amusement/worry/scandal/confusion. I usually answer. As yet, it has never been for me, so far as I can remember. Occasionally, it is for someone within earshot, in which case I hollar for them. If the intended recipient of the call is not within earshot, I will sometimes offer to take a message, but always explain that the message will most likely never be delivered.

The wierdest occurrance, by far, of a ringing pay phone in my experience was at a rest stop on Interstate Highway 5. The caller was a woman who propositioned me to join she and her boyfriend for sex. Whether this was legitimate or not, I will never know, as I chose to decline. I guess I'm just a boring old stick-in-the-mud when it comes to some things.

 

[Torm]

Whether this was legitimate or not, I will never know, as I chose to decline. I guess I'm just a boring old stick-in-the-mud when it comes to some things.

I'd say that's for the best - your story sounds like it could've been the beginning of an urban legend that would've ended badly.