The Rejection Hotline has picked up more than a million calls across Canada, Rejection Hotline founder Jeff Goldblatt has said.
Maybe it’s their pompous attitude, bad breath, or resemblance to Gwyneth Paltrow’s stalker Dante Michael Siou.
Whatever the reason for disinterest, it’s likely to be covered on the Rejection Hotline.
“The person who gave you this number obviously did not want you to have their real number,” Jeff Goldblatt’s pre-recorded voice tells local singles who call 647-476-4910. “Maybe you’re just not this person’s type … This could mean short, fat, ugly, dumb, annoying, arrogant or just a general loser … Maybe you just give off that creepy, overbearing, psycho-stalker vibe. Maybe the idea of going out with you just seems as appealing as playing leapfrog with unicorns.”
And so the message goes on.
The hotline, which Goldblatt started as a joke six years ago in Atlanta, has fast become one of the most frequently dialled numbers.
Rejection hotlines have been set up across the Unites States, Ireland, Australia and, just last month, Canada.
“By the end of July, we have seen over a million calls throughout Canada,” says Goldblatt.
Now that’s a lot of rejected singles.
In some of the more established cities, the lines average more than 50,000 calls a day, and their popularity continues to grow mainly through viral means.
“We’ve never spent a single dollar to promote any of the numbers,” says Goldblatt.
Although he swears he has never received the hotline’s number while out on the dating scene, Goldblatt adds some who did have expressed their appreciation in being able to save face in front of their friends.
“They could find out the person wasn’t interested from the privacy of their own home, when they decided to make that phone call,” says Goldblatt.
The hotline is, of course, meant to be lighthearted, but its popularity shows that when it comes to the sting of rejection in dating, we’re certainly not alone. And sometimes injecting a little humour into dating is exactly what we need.
“If anything, it’s kind of teaching people not to take themselves or the dating scene too seriously, so that when you have a bad experience you’re sort of able to bounce back and try again.”
• For more about the hotline, visit www.rejectionhotline.com.
