Phone Sex Operator Guide

You've seen the commercials on late night television, with the beautiful girls talking about how they'd much rather stay at home on the phone with single men, than go out and party with their friends, and you've even seen the advertisements in various periodicals for adult phone chat both hardcore and otherwise, so now you want to know how someone gets into that line of work. Many women and men across the globe work at home, and in call centers providing their voice talent for adult chat lines, and some make a lucrative living doing so. There are literally hundreds of opportunities and choices available to interested talent, but it's important to know what you are getting into first.

There is a fountain of information available on the Internet, and there are websites dedicated to phone sex employment as well as other work-at-home opportunities in the adult industry. SexyJobs[www.sexyjobs.com] is perhaps one of the more popular adult job search engines, and it is my personal favorite. It is easy to navigate, and it is free to use if you are just searching for employment, and posting a resume.By using their scroll down menu, you can search for phone sex jobs with just one click of the mouse, which will usually bring you a page with over one hundred results. From there you must exercise extreme caution and good judgement, as there are plenty of shady people out there looking to scam talent and clients. How do you know if a company is shady? If you're new to the business, the company will know it, so it's important to know the signs and red flags associated with a potential scam, or at the least, a problematic company or business owner.

1. Test the potential - Give the company a test call, by calling their provided telephone number during unorthodox hours. If the company is based on the West Coast of the United States, call the provided number around three o'clock in the morning. Most reputable companies display a toll free number, which usually includes an automated operator. In this case, follow the prompts that guide you to a live operator or dispatcher. If the company has a steady flow of callers, then you should be greeted by a dispatcher in a professional manner. Many dispatchers will politely ask you to call back during business hours to apply for a position. If this is the case, simply say "Thank you", and call back the following day.

In some cases the employer in question will display a normal telephone number, which more often than not will be a long distance call for you. Call the telephone number late in the night to test the quality of dispatch. In a rather unpleasant experience of mine, I had called a telephone provided with an advertisement on the SexyJobs website, at around eleven o'clock pm, one night. I was not greeted by a professional dispatcher, or a professional at all. Instead a very surly woman who had just been wakened from her sleep greeted me with a "What the fuck do you want!". To which I stuttered, " I am calling about the phone actress position, that was posted on SexyJobs." The woman changed her tone, and instead of apologizing for her rudeness, began giving me an obviously rehearsed, and repeated diatribe about how her chat line business worked. Within minutes I was glad I had disturbed her from her sleep because it was entirely obvious that this lady was a very sad excuse for a con artist. Not only did she tell me that she dispatched all of her talents' calls through her mobile phone, she asked me for my social security number before I even agreed to anything. I politely said, " No thank you, ma'am," and hung up. As unpleasant as the experience was, it kept me from making the mistake of actually filling out the application, which required personal information. Things like this happen all the time, however, and many people fall victims to identity theft, and more in similar scenarios.

2. Know the etiquette - Not only is there protocol for you as the applicant to adhere to, but your interviewer or potential superior must pay heed to ethics as well. It is unacceptable for an interviewer to request a live test call with him or her, to test your abilities, especially if you have provided a sample with your application. However, it is reasonable for your first discussion with a caller be recorded, or monitored. If your interviewer requests that you provide them with an erotic discussion for any reason, decline and request that they let you speak to their superior. If the interviewer also happens to be the manager or owner of the company, it is probably best to decline your talent for that particular chatline.

3. Use Search Engines - Before you apply for a particular company, search the name of the company in any popular search engine. If the company has been established long enough to have other talent, chances are you will find forum threads pertaining to their experiences. A good forum to check out for information from people who know what they are talking about is PSOsupport[www.PSOsupport.com/forums]. There you will find plenty of archived threads containing a plethora of reviews, opinions and general conversation relating to being a phone actress. You can also register and start new threads, which usually get responses within hours, from very helpful people. Searching message boards like this will empower you with information about different chat companies, and what it is like to work for them.

Once you have found the proper list of companies to apply to, and you feel confident in knowing they are reputable and safe, it's time to work on your application content. Many people are sloppy when applying for work-at-home positions, but you should treat it as though it were any other professional application. Always attach samples of your voice talent with your application in the form of mp3 or .wav formats. Three or four, thirty second long clips showcasing your voice can give your potential employers a greater chance of calling you back. Many chat lines advertise for several different niche requests, but require that their talent have the ability to "act" those various roles. The most popular character types that operators are expected to perform include barely legal, fetish, and transgendered. However, many companies expect you to perform several other niche characters as well. When recording your samples, it is very important that you speak clearly, and use your best voice without being obviously fake. Be natural, and upbeat. A great tip i have followed, is to keep a big smile on your face as you speak. Give a thirty second tease for each clip in the three niches you feel that you are best at performing. Do not be explicit, or use foul language in your teaser clips. Instead, record the clip as a sort of "greeting" to an imaginary caller.

If the company has received your application and voice samples, and they feel that you are an appropriate choice for voice talent, you will receive a call-back, for an interview. After the interview, if you have applied with a reputable, and licensed company, you will be required to fill out and return a w9 tax form, along with scanned copies of your state issued identification card and social security card. This is to prove that you are a legal U.S. citizen, or are legal to work in the United States, as well as to provide information to be turned in to the IRS for tax reasons. When you work for a phone sex chat line, more often than not, you are considered an independent contractor, and are therefore responsible for paying your own taxes. There are few companies, however, that will hire you as an employee, and will withhold taxes from your pay like a normal job.

Part Two :
Bumps in the Road, and other Negatives

Working at home for an adult chat line can be rewarding, and it can open your schedule up for activities with your friends and family. However with the title of Phone Sex Operator, comes the responsibility. Naturally, upon applying for a phone actress job, one will already know that explicit conversation is entailed, but just how explicit does it get, and are there boundaries to what is discussed? I wish I could give a simple yes or no answer to this, but sadly, I cannot. The fact of the matter is that although the FCC strictly enforces rules and regulations on a majority of what's discussed on these chatlines, there are also other companies circulating that specialize in what is called "taboo" conversation. These companies require that you discuss anything and everything the caller wishes to mention, whether it makes you personally uncomfortable or not. Such topics can include extreme fetish, rape, pedophilia, bestiality, and even necrophilia, all of which are strictly forbidden by the more reputable, legitimate chatlines. My very first job with an adult chatline was for a "taboo friendly" company. I was not warned ahead of time, and when I received what I considered to be an extremely disturbing call, I hung up on the guy after giving him an earful of exactly what I thought about his kind of pervert. Within minutes of hanging up, my supervisor was ringing in chewing me up one side and down the other for hanging up on the caller. When I told her what he was wanting to discuss, she simply replied, "Give the callers what they want. It's what they are paying for." I terminated my position with that company immediately, and from that experience I learned to always ask if a company was "taboo friendly" before I applied.

Aside from having to weed out the taboo lines from the FCC approved ones, you will need to pay extra attention to whether or not the company is a dispatch, direct dial, or trolling chat line. Each varies from the other greatly in how calls are conducted, as well as how you will earn your money.

1. Dispatch - Chatlines that are dispatch companies are easier to work with, and in my honest opinion, more desirable as well. They do all of the advertising, and direct calls to you, leaving you available to do the job you are there to do, which is acting. They don't require you bring additional customers, in fact many consider it a rule that you don't. Some companies forward the calls to where you can leave your phone on the hook, and it will ring with each call that you receive, and other dispatch companies require you stay on the phone for a scheduled period of time, while calls are patched in to you via the dispatcher.

2. Direct Dial - Chatlines that are Direct dial companies are a little different from dispatch companies in that they rely on the operator to perform as her own dispatcher. Essentially, the operator will be contacted by her supervisor, who has gathered the payment details of the caller, and she is given the caller's phone number, his name, and what kind of fantasy he is seeking. After the supervisor hangs up it is the operator's responsibility to promptly call the customer, and do so in character, from the beginning. Most direct dial companies bring the traffic to you, and do not require that you bring in customers on your own.

3. Trolling - Chatlines that are Trolling companies are more difficult for the novice phone actress, and if you don't have internet marketing experience, you can forget about making enough money to sustain yourself this way. These companies require that you, the operator, spend countless hours of each day "trolling", or digging, for callers. This task usually involves signing up for numerous forums, networking sites, chat clients and more, under your assigned identity. The operator is then required to engage as many people in conversation as possible, being flirtatious, and putting on the act that they are talking to just an average girl who is bored in chat. A lot of the time, trolling returns hardly the results that are worth the effort. However, many have succeeded by working for these kind of companies, and some make thousands of dollars a month trolling.

Pay attention to the details of the company you are applying to, and make sure you know whether or not the position requires trolling. Some companies will not come out and say it, but offer clues in what they offer as their pay rates. Some companies brag that their operators make a dollar or more per minute, and this itself, is usually a sign that it is a trolling company. Many dispatch companies offer a considerably lower pay rate, like thirty cents a minute or less, but the good thing about this, is that no matter what you will have a steady flow of calls to supply enough revenue to make up for the lower pay. The key is to pick what you feel confident in taking on. If you feel that you can make it with a trolling company, then by all means, try it out. I find that if you give a company a month, you can get an adequate idea of whether or not it's worth sticking to.

Another important factor in choosing a company to provide voice talent for is whether or not the company requires a "hold time average". A hold time average is essentially your average talk time, which is calculated by the number of calls you complete in a specific amount of time divided by your total talk time. For instance if you complete thirty calls in a nine hour day, and your overall talk time for that day is a total of two hundred and fifty six minutes, your hold time average will be 8.5, which is generally a satisfactory total. Many places require that you maintain a hold time average of at least six, but this varies from company to company. There are companies, however, that do not require that their operators maintain a hold time average, which to be honest, seems more fair to the operator, since you cannot force people to stay on the phone with you. When I was working for a popular dispatch company when I was twenty-one years old, they required that I maintain at least a 7.5 hold time average, which to many phone actresses isn't difficult in the slightest, but the issue was with all of the hang-ups this line got. This company penalized it's operators whenever we got a hang-up caller, which drastically decreased our hold time averages. In an eight hour day, with about three hundred talk minutes, one would hope to have a decent hold time, but with all of the hang-ups included in the total, it brought me down to a hold time average of 4.0! This is particularly unfair for operators, because more often than not, these callers hang up as soon as you say your first hello, making it obvious they were planning on hanging up in the first place.

Silent callers are another negative occurrence when you're a phone sex operator. Some companies tell you to hang up on them, as you can't properly tell whether or not they are of legal age to be calling the chatline, when you can't hear their voice. Unfortunately, there are many companies who require that you keep the caller on the line, even when he or she is silent. This is difficult, because you are basically just talking to yourself in these cases. It should be noted that many of the same companies that penalize their talent's hold time average over hang up callers, also demand you keep silent callers on the phone. These companies have an "anything goes" attitude about the business, and encourage operators to do or say anything to keep the phone call going, as the caller is charged per minute. A good example of this lack of ethics is during my short employment with another high-traffic chatline, I had a caller hang up, but not all the way. For fifty-five minutes I sat on the phone while this man watched tv in the background, with his friends or whomever it was he was talking to. My supervisor jumped on the line and whispered "Do not hang-up, this is like a bonus for all of us." Thankfully for this poor guy, the chatline's system cut callers off after about an hour, or else he would have had an outrageous phone bill the following month.

Abusive callers are another downside to the business, and as easy as it is to tell someone it's just a job and you can get over it, the truth is that all it takes is one nasty caller to ruin a phone actress's shift. Ive worked for chatlines that require that I keep callers on the line even if they are wanting to discuss rape-related fantasies, which can ruin any young woman's mood, especially if the call comes first thing in the morning, over your first cup of coffee! Ive also received calls from women who claim to have worked for the company I was providing talent for, and apparently this happens from time to time. The best way to handle these type of calls, is to handle them as if you would any other customer service situation. Kill them with kindness, and they will, in turn stay on the phone, even if it is to tear you a new one. The end result will be more minutes for you, and you can then call your supervisor to file a complaint about the caller, which usually results in banning them from calling again. Naturally there are other ways to handle the situation, and on a bad day I've been guilty of dishing the abuse right back to the caller, which ended in severe lashing from my supervisors. When is it okay to retaliate against an abusive caller? Virtually never, especially if you are working for a reputable company that can make a good reference in the future. However, if the caller is contacting you via the "fetish" niche, you can take advantage of the grey area this presents. If it's a fetish call, and the caller is clearly acting out of line, and in a disrespectful manner, you can use the topic to your advantage, and let your frustration out on the guy. Still, it is best to practice some restraint, just in case you need to explain your actions to a supervisor later. I used to love the fetish calls because those were the times I was better able to let my aggression from past callers out, without the caller realizing I was being seriously mean. More often or not, this aided in my abusive nature as a dominatrix, which resulted in higher call volume in my favor, but there were times when the caller would grow wise to my motives, and he would hang up, in a hurry might I add. It appears that there is such a thing as too much abuse, on a fetish line.

Rude Dispatchers or Supervisors can be a hassle, and I have had my share of experiences with this. One company I worked for had a daytime office manager who had a series of personal problems that would greatly effect her mood during work hours. She had been going through a divorce, and a custody battle that was tilting away from her favor. It was a sad situation, but she took her frustrations out on me, as well as other operators on the line. At one point she interrupted one of my calls, cussing at me, which resulted in the loss of the caller. Situations like these require delicate action, and it's best not to overreact. If it's an otherwise good company to work for, it's acceptable to contact the supervisor of the dispatcher or superior in question, and deliver a detailed account of the situation. I did this, and the supervisor unfortunately retaliated, and fired me. I could have taken legal action, but I decided on my own accord that it was not worth the hassle. Sometimes these situations are not avoidable, and it's best to terminate your services with the company to avoid further apprehension.

Work Your Way Up

Sticking with an adult chat company for a few years can be rewarding, and prove to become a stable way to produce an income. Many companies offer promotions and bonuses to their veteran, and more popular operators, such as the option to relocate to work in a corporate office with full benefits. The ability to move forward makes working at home as a phone actress a pretty exciting gig, if the desire to work is present. Some people even decide to set up their own adult phone chat lines after gaining the experience as an operator. Obtaining your own toll number is simple, and involves contacting your local phone company for information and pricing. Every state has different rules and regulations concerning adult themed businesses, so extensive research and experience is mandatory in this case.

Keep Yourself Trained

Keep your mind fresh when working as a phone actress, by researching scripts, romance novels, and erotic literature as a means of inspiration. Keeping your stories fresh and new will keep callers coming back for more, and will keep you from getting bored with the job. Being a phone actress can be mentally taxing, even though it seems as if it's a cushy, and laid-back job. Phone actresses have got to be quick-minded, conversational, creative, and upbeat with an ability to completely create fantasies with words alone. Phone actresses are spposed to be masters of seduction, without actually letting the caller "get off". It's an art form, and it requires special-minded people with talent, intelligence, and the desire to establish a career in the adult chat industry.