u/10MillionIn

I was scrolling through old texts last night looking for something and got this awful feeling. There's just... so many men in my phone. Not in a fun way. The contractor who did my bathroom last spring. A guy I went on one date with in April who texted "just thinking of you" three weeks ago out of nowhere. The locksmith from when I got locked out. Some Marketplace guy who bought my old dresser and asked if I was "seeing anyone" two days later. My building super. The dog walker I tried for a week and didn't end up using.

They all still have my number. I never blocked any of them because that felt dramatic at the time and now there's too many to deal with.

The Marketplace one is the one that's been bugging me. Like, I just wanted to sell a dresser. Why does this man know my phone number forever now.

Has anyone else thought about this? Do you have some setup that I don't know about? Or do we all just... keep handing our number to every stranger who asks and hope for the best?

I'm honestly tired.

Living in LA means dealing with a constant stream of strangers who somehow need your phone number — TaskRabbit folks, Marketplace buyers, contractors quoting things, valet, dog walkers, repair people, building managers, the list keeps growing.

For those of you who've been here a while: do you have a system? Burner phone, Google Voice, dedicated app, just give out your real number and deal with the consequences?

Bonus question: what's the worst thing that's ever come from giving out your real number in this city? Stalker, scam, weird DMs months later, something else?

Solo host with one property. Guests have my real cell number from the welcome book and Airbnb messaging.

Past few months I've gotten:
- 11pm calls about WiFi
- texts asking if friends can stay extra
- "hey is this still your number?" months after checkout
- one guest who started commenting on my personal Instagram

Looking for how others handle this. I tried Google Voice last year and the SMS forwarding kept dropping messages — missed two urgent ones in a single week. Hostfully is overkill for one place.

What's your actual setup that works? Is anyone using a separate cheap phone? OpenPhone? Just toughing it out?

Driving through downtown last week and saw a car with a paper note + phone number under the wiper. Got me wondering — does anyone actually do this anymore?

If you've ever left a number on someone's car (parking ban, blocked driveway, accident, whatever) — did the person call back? Was it weird?

And if you've found a number left for you — did you call? Or just ignore it because it felt sketchy giving a stranger your phone?

Trying to figure out if this is something people still do or if everyone just gives up and waits for the tow truck.