Cell Phone Pocket Dialing - can be embarassing

Bob Womack · #1 01-18-2010, 07:29 AM

This is funny and embarrassing at the same time: You know about pocket dialing, right? The business where your phone dials someone due to random pressure while it is in your pocket... Well, even though my phone's external keyboard is locked, I was delivered a gotcha last Friday. As you may have read in THIS post, I had a great little "guitaristic" day Friday, playing little "mini concerts" for several people during the day due to random circumstances. It turns out that there was one mini concert I gave that I didn't know about.

This morning when I dropped by my scheduler's office, he said, "Hey, thanks for the phone call on Friday!"

I stared blankly.

He said, "Yeah, I was at home and my phone rang and it was just guitar music. I saw that it was you and tried to talk to you and you never heard me." Now, my friend and scheduler is a fellow guitarist. At the end of my work day Friday I went home, went into my rehearsal room, and began composing a bridge for a couple of parts of a song. Apparently, somewhere in there I leaned over or something and my phone auto-dialed my friend. He got to listen to me hacking around in private. He tried to yell to me but couldn't get my attention.

Ack. Gack. It's kind of revolting, in a way, but funny at the same time.

Bob

815C · #2 01-18-2010, 07:41 AM

I loaded my gear back into my truck after a gig - it was 1:30 a.m. I sat in my truck and took my cell phone out of my back pocket and saw I had a text message. It was from the wife of of couple we are friends with. Her text read, "Is everything OK? You called me at 1:00 a.m. but did not say anything." Wow, embarrassing.

mtnByker · #3 01-18-2010, 07:54 AM

My phone does this.

I recently got a message from my brother telling me that he had recieved a call from "what I assume is your pocket", and that he could hear that I was riding the lift and talking to someone about skiing. I am sure the phone was OFF when I put it in my pocket.

I suppose there is a high potential for embarrassment from this phenomenon.

franchelB · #4 01-18-2010, 08:12 AM

I've heard some interesting things on my voice mail when people to this thing...

Stixx · #5 01-18-2010, 08:31 AM

My daughter called me once and forgat to hangup and as I was driving down the road I heard my phone talking by itself and picked it up and put it on speaker phone and listened in on a 30 minute disartation she gave to come corporate suits and a bidding discussion all of which was in corporate speak for high end computer deals to a major player. I was laughing after a few minutes as she had no clue and I didn't understand hardly anything of the "new language" they were all using. It was like a foreign language. Man I began of really like my flip phone as that could be really embarrassing if someone is listening in on a phone you forget to turn off and you don't know it.

I can see all kinds of scenarios where that would be awful.

SongwriterFan · #6 01-18-2010, 09:15 AM

This is why there should be more FLIP PHONES. Why the flip phone form factor has all but disappeared (at least in the "smart phone" category) is beyond me.

Fortunately, there is a Blackberry that has this form factor.

JDM814 · #7 01-18-2010, 09:26 AM

The same thing happened to me when I got my DROID smart phone. I must have inadvertently called 20 plus people over the 30 days that I had it. I had clients calling me back asking me why I called…..it really became aggravating and embarrassing. Needless to say, I went back to my “low tech” LG flip phone. I’m not changing again until Verizon introduces their version of the iPhone…then I’ll give technology another try...the iPhone is just too tempting!

pappy27 · #8 01-18-2010, 10:51 AM

Just changed cell phone companies and, since I hardly ever text, I took their free flip phone for just that reason.

JeremyG · #9 01-18-2010, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

This is funny and embarrassing at the same time: You know about pocket dialing, right? The business where your phone dials someone due to random pressure while it is in your pocket... Well, even though my phone's external keyboard is locked, I was delivered a gotcha last Friday. As you may have read in THIS post, I had a great little "guitaristic" day Friday, playing little "mini concerts" for several people during the day due to random circumstances. It turns out that there was one mini concert I gave that I didn't know about.

This morning when I dropped by my scheduler's office, he said, "Hey, thanks for the phone call on Friday!"

I stared blankly.

He said, "Yeah, I was at home and my phone rang and it was just guitar music. I saw that it was you and tried to talk to you and you never heard me." Now, my friend and scheduler is a fellow guitarist. At the end of my work day Friday I went home, went into my rehearsal room, and began composing a bridge for a couple of parts of a song. Apparently, somewhere in there I leaned over or something and my phone auto-dialed my friend. He got to listen to me hacking around in private. He tried to yell to me but couldn't get my attention.

Ack. Gack. It's kind of revolting, in a way, but funny at the same time.

Bob

Bob,

That was hilarious! Thanks.

Jeremy...who's actually made either 5 or 6 cell phone calls in his life! Hate the bloody things!

The Dude · #10 01-18-2010, 12:38 PM

This happened to a guy I was with at a strip club in Vegas. It was a corporate thing where he was paying for the guys to have a good time, but wasn't "participating" at all. A stripper came over and tried to feel him up and work him for a dance, and naturally, he inadvertently left about an 8 minute VM to his wife. True story. He was horrified and couldn't really do anything about it until he went home (which he couldn't do until the trip was over since he and his company were sponsoring the trip), so we all had a good time giving him advice for the next couple of days. So, yes, flip phones are a safe bet, but the best bet is to turn off your phone.

Fliss · #11 01-18-2010, 01:02 PM

I was once on the receiving end of one of these calls from my husband Kevin.

He had gone to the stableyard to feed my horse, and while he was there, one of my horse-owning friends, Geraldine, had a flat tyre, so she asked him to help change the wheel. It was while this was going on that Kevin's phone, in his pocket, decided to dial mine and leave a 20 minute recording on my voicemail. Geralding being a naturally flirtatious lady and Kevin a very humorous person, there was quite a bit of banter between them, and a number of risque comments. You can imagine the kind of dialogue (Will it go any tighter? No, that's as far as it goes and you've been spoilt!) accompanied by grunts and sounds of straining as Kevin manhandled the wheel!

It's a good job I have complete trust in him...

Fliss

Stixx · #12 01-18-2010, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fliss

I was once on the receiving end of one of these calls from my husband Kevin.

He had gone to the stableyard to feed my horse, and while he was there, one of my horse-owning friends, Geraldine, had a flat tyre, so she asked him to help change the wheel. It was while this was going on that Kevin's phone, in his pocket, decided to dial mine and leave a 20 minute recording on my voicemail. Geralding being a naturally flirtatious lady and Kevin a very humorous person, there was quite a bit of banter between them, and a number of risque comments. You can imagine the kind of dialogue (Will it go any tighter? No, that's as far as it goes and you've been spoilt!) accompanied by grunts and sounds of straining as Kevin manhandled the wheel!

It's a good job I have complete trust in him...

Fliss

so that was his story and he is sticking to it , eh ? LOL

Stixx · #13 01-18-2010, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

This is why there should be more FLIP PHONES. Why the flip phone form factor has all but disappeared (at least in the "smart phone" category) is beyond me.

Fortunately, there is a Blackberry that has this form factor.

Interesting turn of phrase man. So you are saying that it is in good form to fiddle with the flip phone and make sure the flip form phone is flipped and no freakin false flip of the form that finally would foil the flipping process by which the flip phone being flipped failed to form a forked message to some unsuspecting non flip phone user and therefore forever misunderstand the nature of the flippin message which was no message at all but rather a random phone signal formerly not intended for phone use at all but to just be heralded in privacy rather than flatulated all over the phreakin airwaves of phonedom. Is that about it?

SongwriterFan · #14 01-18-2010, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stixx

Is that about it?

If you say so.

jsmarshall · #15 01-18-2010, 05:31 PM

I've done this before and had it done to me. My BlackBerry kind of scares me though b/c when I lock the keys and accidentally push the keys it gives the option to "unlock" or "make emergency call" if your pocket pushes to make the call it says "Yes" "No". Thankfully I haven't accidentally pushed "Yes" yet.