Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Jeff Goldblatt

Aired September 14, 2002 - 12:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to our other story that we're following for you. A little lighthearted, we're going to shift gears. If you're single, perhaps this might have happened to you last night. Your feathers got a little ruffled when a persistent suitor just didn't get the hint. He or she still wanted your phone number.
So, what if next time you give that suitor a phone number, but -- guess what -- there's a catch, it's not your home number? It's the number to the rejection hotline. On the other end, a recorded message that doesn't beat around the bush. In fact, it quite cold-blooded, or if you have a sense of humor, it is kind of funny. Jeff Goldblatt created the Atlanta version of the hotline, which has now spread to about 13 other cities.

Good to see you.

JEFF GOLDBLATT, REJECTION HOTLINE: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, this is kind of cold-blooded, though. Why not just say, you know what, I'm not interested, don't want to give you my number. But instead you give someone a fictitious number and on the other end an interesting little greeting? How did this come about?

GOLDBLATT: Yes, well, it started initially just as a joke amongst a few of my friends down here in Atlanta over a year ago, probably summer of 2001. It was real small, just for our friends to use. A few of my friends told a few of their friends, they told their friends, and before you know it, we're getting hundreds of thousands of phone calls. And we put up a Web site Rejectionhotline.com and started getting e-mails from people all over the country, who were requesting them to put one up in their city.

WHITFIELD: You all just had too many people asking for those phone numbers. And said, you know what, I'm running out of lines. I'm going to come up with this Rejection Hotline.

GOLDBLATT: Well, I mean, yes, in one way it makes it easier for people, they don't have really think quick on their feet. They can just say, oh, yeah, sure here's my number.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, let's listen in on what we'd hear if we called that phone number.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, this is in not the person you were trying to reach. You have reached Atlanta's Rejection Hotline. Brought to you by Askthecollegeguy.com. The person who gave you this number did not want you to have their real number. I know this sucks, but don't be too devastated.

So, why were you given the Rejection Hotline number? Maybe you're just not this person's type. Note: This could mean short, fat, ugly, dumb, annoying, arrogant or just a general loser. Maybe you suffer from bad breath, body odor, or a nasty combination of the two. Maybe you just gave off that creepy overbearing, psycho-stalker vibe. Maybe the idea of going out with you just seems as appealing as playing leapfrog with unicorns.

Regardless of the reasons, please take the hint. Accept the fact you were rejected, then get over it. And please, do your best to forget about the person who gave you this number, because trust us, they have already forgotten about you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, Jeff that is so cold-blooded. Talk about getting straight to the point. And it's lengthy, no less. You actually expect that someone's going to hang on long enough to hear all of those insults being hurled?

GOLDBLATT: We picture someone sitting there kind of with their jaw wide open, listening to it. The majority of people that are calling it aren't necessarily being rejected, aren't getting the number as a rejection. A lot of people are calling because their friends saying, hey, give this number a call. It's funny, you might be able to use this in the future. It is not meant to be mean. It's meant to be kind of -- all in good fun.

WHITFIELD: Everyone's has to kind of laugh at themselves a little bit?

GOLDBLATT: Yeah. I mean, the whole dating game is just that, it's a game. I mean, you win some, you loose some. If you get this number, you lost one.

WHITFIELD: It certainly lightens the load a little bit, for those who are trying to come up with stories as to why can't give out my phone number. So, instead, you know what? OK, let's just get this over with, here's my phone number, then you hopefully will never cross paths again.

GOLDBLATT: Yes, although, we have heard from some people who have given out the number and then had second encounters with the person.

WHITFIELD: Oh, really?

GOLDBLATT: Yes, we've been getting hundreds and actually thousands of e-mails through the Web site for people giving up their stories, or a lot of people requesting the number in other cities. WHITFIELD: So, it doesn't cost anything?

GOLDBLATT: That's the point of it. We didn't want to set it up on a 1-900 number, or 1-800 number, where it's not believable that it's someone's real number. So, that's why we started expanding to all these other cities. We started in Atlanta, went to Chicago, San Francisco, now we're in 14 cities.

WHITFIELD: So, you use the typical area codes for those areas, so that it is believable?

GOLDBLATT: Exactly, exactly. So, yeah, we're planning on expanding to quite a few more cities in the near future. We're in the middle of some big upgrades to our system. Some of our lines weren't able to handle the volume of calls that we were receiving. Each city's line started averaging over 10,000 calls a week. And, again, not all of those people are being rejected, a lot of them heard it's just something funny to call.

But, yes, we're in the middle of some major upgrades to the system. We should be in quite a few more cities coming real soon.

WHITFIELD: So, in the end -- or at least, I guess the beginning, you were hoping these numbers would be used to kind get people away. Now you're getting an awful lot of attention. Does this mean this is helping to hook you for dates that you want to keep? Folks who kind of like this idea, think it's clever?

GOLDBLATT: Yes, we have definitely gotten a lot of positive feedback from people. Actually some of my friends whenever we go out, they like to just ask random people, hey, have you heard of the Rejection Hotline? And they say, yes, they kind of embarrass me and be like, yeah, he started it.

But yes, it's a fun thing. And, again, not meant to be taken too seriously. Most people have a good sense of humor about the whole thing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeff Goldblatt, very inventive. Congratulations, it's called the Rejection Hotline. Have fun with it.

GOLDBLATT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Sounds like you guys are. Good to see you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com