The story behind complimentary phone sex

Many many years ago, I awoke from a dream.

I was in a doctors office waiting room - I had been going to a lot of doctors at the time for an as-yet undiagnosed problem. I was sitting in the corner near the end table, which as in the default world, was replete with partially dated magazines, some health pamphlets, and a doctor’s office shade of lamp.

Next to all of that, in the corner, and unfortunatley atypical of real life, was a red phone with the sign “Complimentary Phone Sex” in front of it.

You know, to keep the waiting room doldrums at bay.

So when I woke up, I quickly scribbled those three words on a post-it note.

I spent a while thinking about how I could make it. Remember, this was over a decade ago that I had the dream. Probably like 1997 or so.

I didn’t act on it until a few years later with the first iteration below - using a CD player that would switch on and shuffle play a CD when the phone was lifted from the receiver.

It worked ok, but was definitely bulky.

Next up - THE FUN PART - getting audio. What are friends for, but to ask them to record dirty and saucy phone sex converations (simulated or otherwise)? So I asked and they kindly and enthusiastically provided.

Another majorly fun side effect of this project is every once in a while getting these signs printed. I go to the same shop online each time and they print signs for offices. They’ve mentioned a couple of times that these signs are their favorite signs to print - brings me no end of joy to know that.

The most recent version took a more modern approach - an arduino uno with wave shield.

This worked MUCH better, had a smaller footprint, and was easier to produce in small quantities.

These ended up being a great burning man gift to several camps - they see a fair amount of usage in the dust. Two camps that have them - What Would You Do For A Pickle and the Box Office Camp.