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Well it's a dirty job…

Wife. Mother. Adult phone line worker

By Gloria Diaz

Fort Wayne Reader

2007-05-08

We’ve all seen the ads. Horny Housewives. Barely legal. Just dial a number, and the woman (or man) on the other end will tell you what you want to hear, or guide you through a fantasy of their choosing, or a scenario born of your own creative juices. All from prices ranging from 99 cents to $3.99 a minute.

People have their own ideas of what types of individuals call these numbers, but what about the staffers? Who are they, exactly?

They are not necessarily horny, or barely legal. Like everyone else who works for a paycheck, they are doing it for the money.

“Randy Rhonda” is, as her son calls her, a “phone whore.” When her disability money ran out, and the money in her 401K went for living expenses, she gave phone sex a try.

“My ex’s wife asked me if I wanted to do this,” she said. “At first, I didn’t think I could do it — you have to get really graphic sometimes. But I guess I’m doing okay.”

When she first started taking calls, she was earning around $30 to $40 a week. Now, she’s earning over $200 a week.

“Rhonda’s” callers seem to be happy with her. Of the 37 feedback responses she’s received, a caller by the name of “uncut Tim” gave her an A++. “Sir Steven” had this to say: “Great girl, very experimental, really got into the call. She is worth the effort to call.”

In real life, she’s married, with children. On the site, she’s known as “Randy Rhonda” or “Jean” — you can find these women in the 40 and Freaky section, one of several “sections” she works in. 70% of her calls come from younger men. The reason for that, says “Randy Rhonda,” is they are looking for a woman with a lot of experience. “Some call me because they either look at my picture and like my picture, or the wording that’s on the site with the picture. Some just hear my voice and want to talk to me.”

And what do they say? “There was one guy last night,” says “Rhonda. “who’s been calling, and he’s called numerous times, and he found (out) I had a daughter, so he talked to her last night for 25 minutes.” And no, the daughter — who is 24, by the way — didn’t get a cut of the money, but “Rhonda” says if he wants to do it again, he’s going to have to tip, because technically, her daughter is not employed by the company

“He’s never talked to me for 25 minutes before,” “Rhonda” says, laughing. “The longest I’ve had is for 76 minutes.”

There are the usual scenarios, like the caller might fantasize about having “Rhonda” invite a neighbor over, say a young man, to seduce him, and it is her job to tell the customer exactly what she’s doing to the guy next door.

“Every once in a while, I’ll get one that says, ‘well, what do you want to do?’ And I say, ‘it’s your call. What do you want to do?’ But sometimes they make me choose what I want to do.”

As “Jean,” her categories include “mature,” “housewives,” “fetish,” “stockings and lingerie.” When she’s “Rhonda,” she’s “mature,” “anything goes,” “foot fetish” and a few others.

“A couple weeks ago, ‘Rhonda’ was really hot; was burning up my line,” says Rhonda. “Well, the last few weeks it’s been ‘Jean,’ and I think it’s because she (my boss) changed my pictures, on ‘Jean.’”

Rhonda’s original character was “Robin,” an inexperienced 22-year old, but “Robin,” was eventually taken away from her and given to a younger woman. Part of the reason was that Rhonda had to use a softer voice when she played Robin. Another reason was that “Robin” also attracted the kind of calls that Rhonda wasn’t comfortable with.

And what does her husband think of all this? “It’s not the best thing he would like me to do,” says Rhonda. “but since I can’t go out and work and we need the money ... he just doesn’t want to listen to the conversation.”

She goes into a different room in order to take the call, but sometimes that doesn’t do much good. “Rhonda gets very loud,” she says. “The guys really seem to like that.”

What are the callers um, bedside manners like? They range from just hanging up (the telephone version of rolling over and falling asleep) to talking for a while and telling Rhonda how good it was, etc. “I have one that calls, and he must put $50 down, because it lasts 28 minutes,” she says. “And he uses the whole 28 minutes, even after we’ve done our little thing; he sits there and tells me how beautiful I am and how much he likes me, and I’m just so fantastic, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Why do the men call? “I think they are sexually frustrated” says Rhonda. “I had some that are just one or two minute calls, and they are just about ready to go, but they want to hear a woman’s voice.”

The advantages to this job for “Rhonda” are numerous: she can work from home, she can wear whatever she wants (although she tells the callers she’s wearing more provocative attire) and she can pretty much have her phone on to accept calls literally anytime she wants. “Rhonda’s” boss keeps telling her to take a day off, but so far, she hasn’t. “Rhonda” says it’s not a big deal to keep the phone on every day, because on a slow day, her phone may ring only once or twice. Since she works via her cell phone, she can take calls literally anywhere. This means calls can come in if, for example, she’s sitting in a restaurant talking to a journalist. Which one did. While senior citizens were ordering dinner, “Rhonda” — or in this case, “Jean” — escaped to her car to take a call.