Re:Last public payphone removed from Manhattan streets
by willcipriano on Friday May 27, 2022 @06:46PM
(#31535808)
Did you ask them more like "Can you pull up Google maps?" Or "Do you know the way to 5th Street?"
The first one would make me question if you are trying to steal my phone or something, but I might pull out my phone to help you with the second.
Re:Last public payphone removed from Manhattan streets
by tomjakubowski on Friday May 27, 2022 @07:37PM
(#31536163)
Good tip for would-be phone thieves: ask for directions, your mark may not think twice about pulling out their phone.
Re:Last public payphone removed from Manhattan streets
by tomjakubowski on Friday May 27, 2022 @07:36PM
(#31536155)
> I only found my way back by going in the right direction and slowly getting less lost.
This works pretty reliably, at least in cities, by the way.
I got lost running in a not-fancy and exclusive but quite nice area in an outer borough of NYC a couple years ago. I didn't have my phone.
Dressed like I was going to run a marathon, I asked people who I saw had phones if they would be so kind as to look up the directions to where I had come from.
Several different people, including one in a city agency truck, refused to open Google Maps for me. One claimed their smart phone didn't have a maps app and the others said things about data or they were in a rush.
I couldn't believe it and I wound up getting help from an old man who gave me audible directions that included so many steps I only found my way back by going in the right direction and slowly getting less lost.