Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Non-therapeutic platonic chat line

Something wives/girlfriends won't get jealous of.
 
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For long distance solo drivers, to keep their mind engaged and help keep them awake at the wheel. I couldn't find anything like it.
21 Quest, May 25 2012

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       Most of us have these things called 'friends' that are good for such uses. You're probably not familiar with the concept, but don't feel too embarrassed about it.
Alterother, May 25 2012
  

       Are your friends willing to stay up talking from midnight til sunrise, or dusk til dawn as it were? Every night, just for the hell of it? Somehow I doubt it.
21 Quest, May 25 2012
  

       CB radio comes close...   

       Yeah, but that requires buying extra equipment. The idea is for a phone number to call when you're driving late at night, when most cellphone carriers provide unlimited talk time.
21 Quest, May 25 2012
  

       Pretty sure NYC cab drivers have something like this already. Seems like more often than not when I'd get into a yellow cab the driver would be mumbling into a bluetooth headset. I once saw the phone of a taxi driver who was ahead of me in line to order pizza, and his call had been going on for about an hour and a half at that point.
  

       Anyway, I like this idea. It wouldn't even need to be a service provided by live operators as such. It could take the form of a dial-in party line, or perhaps simply a service that provides you with the phone number of other people interested in chatting. [+]
ytk, May 26 2012
  

       //Are your friends willing to stay up talking from midnight til sunrise, or dusk til dawn as it were? Every night, just for the hell of it?//
  

       In these days of the Internet, I'm sure the dedicated socialite can find someone to chat to in whatever time zone takes his fancy.
Wrongfellow, May 26 2012
  

       Plus you may stumble across the odd insomniac as well.
Alterother, May 26 2012
  

       I don't doubt you could find someone to talk to from chatrooms, either. The issue is with security. You have to give your number out to people you may never want to talk to again, or people who know how to track you down using that information and might choose to act upon that knowledge. Please keep in mind, the Halfbakery is frequented by the justifiably paranoid and the business advisors at 21st Century Quest Staffing have assured me that they form our most lucrative customer base.
  

       With a call center staffed by paid professional conversationalists or, as ytk mentioned, a dial-in party line that you can choose not to call, you have more peace of mind knowing your number isn't going to be given out to just anybody.
21 Quest, May 26 2012
  

       Do you choose from a menu of conversational topics, or do the conversations always begin with personal introductions and then evolve naturually?
Alterother, May 26 2012
  

       I think a menu of topics would be best. For instance, press 1 for politics, 2 for business, 3 for firearms, 4 for automotive, etc..., with sub menus for each option. Press 1 if you are a Democrat, 2 for Republican, 3 for Tea Party, 4 for independent, etc.... Press 1 if you wish to talk to someone who can teach you more about your own party affiliation, 2 to learn more about one of the other parties, 3 if you wish to debate these differences with one of our party experts, etc...
21 Quest, May 26 2012
  

       // Pretty sure NYC cab drivers have something like this //
  

       Yeah, when I was a private security officer at a wind turbine erection site, I mostly worked the vehicle control points, and about three quarters of the drivers working for the specialty transportation company that delivered the tower components were Filipino guys with Bluetooth bionic implants in place of their left ears. I don't think a single one of them was over 5'2"; from in front of these monstrous trucks, you couldn't even see them behind the wheel, which is a little disconcerting when you're standing there directing traffic with a glocone in your hand and nothing between you and oblivion except a flimsy plastic safety barrel. Then they'd go roaring past and all you could see above the sill of the side window was this disembodied chain-smoking cyborg head chattering away in Tagalog.
Alterother, May 26 2012
  

       I always figured the cabbies are talking to other cabbies.
21 Quest, May 26 2012
  

       Voice-to-text coupled with text-to-voice Halfbakery postings and annotations?
AusCan531, May 26 2012
  

       Only if the text to voice is performed by professional voice actors who are familiar with the poster.
21 Quest, May 26 2012
  

       //the Halfbakery is frequented by the justifiably paranoid//
  

       Wait... How did you know I'm paranoid?!
ytk, May 27 2012
  
      
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