A Penguin in the Orchard

Rejection Hotline

Yet another reason to be thankful I’ve been married seventeen years. The dating world has only gotten tougher since my days. The Rejection Hotline, located in 14 US cities, is receiving nearly 50,000 call per month per city.

It started out as a joke last summer after Goldblatt and a group of friends watched “an old, fat, bald guy walking up to a young, attractive blonde girl,” he said in a telephone interview from Atlanta. “We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘This can’t be good.’ We watched her shoot him down in a blunt, rude way. She sent him back to his friends with his pride in his hands. That started a discussion about whether it’s better to give out a fake phone number because it delays the rejection or does a fake phone number give people hope because they thought they got a digit wrong.”

When a potential rejectee asks a prospective date for a phone number, they’re instead given the number to the hotline - (310) 217-7638. A recorded message from the rejection service breaks the news. Among the messages the rejectee will hear: “Accept the fact that you’re rejected. Get over it. And, please do your best to forget about the person who gave you this number because trust us, they’ve already forgotten about you.”