A Twitter user thought he was being clever with his trick for catching women in the act of giving out fake phone numbers — until hundreds of men and women called him out for being sleazy.
Joey, who goes by @@jodackbackup, tweeted this ‘tip’ on April 6: ‘If you think somebody is giving you a fake number, read it back to them incorrectly. see if they correct you.’
While Joey seemed to believe this was a smart way to detect a woman in a lie, most Twitter users thought otherwise, telling Joey that if a woman is giving him a fake number it’s because she doesn’t want him to call — and he should just accept that.
Yikes, dude! A man named Joey tweeted his ‘tip’ for men who think women are giving them a fake number. He wrote: ‘Read it back to them incorrectly. See if they correct you’
Back off! Hundreds of men and women have attacked him for not respecting women’s wishes
Not cool: They’ve called him ‘skeezy’ and other unflattering names
She’s just not that into you! Many have told him to ‘take the hint’ and leave the woman alone
Scary stuff: They’ve also pointed out that women sometimes give out fake numbers for safety reasons
The tweet sparked a passionate reaction overnight, with hundreds of men and women replying and quoting his ‘tip’.
Nearly every one accused Joey of behaving badly, and told him he needs to learn how to handle rejection better.
‘Tip: if you get fake numbers so often that you need tips on how to spot them, you’re skeezy as f***,’ wrote one.
‘If u think somebody’s trying to give u a fake number then take the hint and leave them tf alone,’ wrote another woman who later added, ‘If I give you a fake number then it’s for my safety.
‘If I feel uncomfortable then imma do whatever I can to get out of the situation as quickly as possible with as little confrontation as possible.’
Several other people echoed this sentiment, telling Joey that he should examine what he is doing if women are giving him fake numbers in the first place.
Self-reflection! Some thought it was odd that this has happened to the man often enough that he has a strategy for dealing with it
Look at yourself! Some said his ‘tip’ is ‘real insight’ into ‘why they gave you a fake number in the first place’
Cringe: One man wrote that self-awareness ‘is at an all time low’ with this man
Sending a message: Many aren’t surprised that this man gets fake numbers from women
Improvement: ‘Take a break and work on yourself,’ one man advised
No self-awareness: He is being widely mocked and ridiculed but has surprisingly left the tweet up on his page
Move on: ‘Just take the rejection gracefully and go,’ suggested this woman
‘The fact that you’ve got a strategy in place to try to prove you’re getting a fake number seems unsurprising. And that the strategy is to try to force them to admit it’s a fake number is a real insight into why they gave you a fake number in the first place,’ wrote one.
‘If i give someone a fake number I’m doing it for my own safety. Don’t give these tips because some bad people might use them,’ said another.
‘Sounds like this has happened to you more than once, wonder why that might be,’ yet another woman wrote.
A man chimed in: ‘Delete this. You’re gonna get women killed.’
Several men wanted to know what, exactly, Joey plans to do when he catches a woman giving him a fake number.
‘What’s your game plan for if the number is fake? Do you really think that by confronting the person, things will go better? Maybe re-examine why’re you’re the kind of person to receive a fake number,’ wrote one.
Read signals! Women in the comments discussed giving out fake numbers when they feel uncomfortable
Staying safe: Several women admitted to doing it for safety purposes
Learning from the past: They pointed out that women sometimes don’t feel like they can just say ‘no’ because they’ve experienced men reacting in scary ways
What next? Quite a few people wanted to know what Joey plans to do if he ‘catches’ a girl
See? Some predicted that he wouldn’t react to well — and might make a scene or even assault a woman
Interact with women much? One man joked about his next moves, including challenging the woman in question to a duel
Harsh warning: Another man told Joey to delete his tweet, saying that advice to men could get women killed
‘The next move is to challenge her to a duel,’ joke another. ‘After mansplaining why her weapon of choice is not effective enough you must subvert her expectations by offering up a coin purse full of gold bullion. This of course is a trap, the gold is tainted. Take the Amulet of Gargumelt and…’
‘What’s step 2?’ asked yet another. ‘Make a scene? Cry and plead? Assault them?’
Others picked up on this thread, with several pointing out that women don’t just give fake numbers to get out of dates — they’re often afraid of a man reacting badly to rejection.
‘Honestly if you’re a male commenting on this tweet to “just say you’re disinterested” you need to shut the f*** up because I guarantee none of you understand what it’s like to have to do this because the one time you did say no you got the most violent of responses,’ one woman wrote.
Joey, for his part, doesn’t seem to be taking his commenters’ warnings to heart. He’s told one critic to ‘eat my butt’ and responded to another with ‘wow nice.’