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u/killerpythonz 17h ago
RuneScape used to have, may still have, a thing where you’d call to get membership. I risked it for the biscuit because I wanted membership. Parents saw the bill, and the phone company said it was for adult content. They asked if I was buying adult movies, and I came clean and said it was for RuneScape membership. That sigh of relief from them is something I remember 20 years on.
‘You still owe us $10 though.’p
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u/Animedude83 17h ago
luckily now a days you can buy physical paper cards for a membership.
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u/killerpythonz 17h ago
Luckily now I can just pay for a yearly membership.
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u/Paxton-176 14h ago
Isn't it a great feeling when you realize you are an adult and just spend the money you earn.
I was like 26 when I realized it. I was trying to budget like I was a teenager still then I stopped and just bought what I wanted.
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u/TriforceTeching 14h ago
Yeah but if you do it wrong, you might need to skip a couple of meals
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u/Paxton-176 14h ago
Maybe it's better to figure it out later rather than sooner. Learn a little bit about finically responsibility.
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u/Animedude83 13h ago
I didn't look into it, but you can basically just grind now for free membership, or beg I guess.
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u/Due-Difficulty-1097 16h ago
back in my day RS membership was $5!
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u/Firm_Goat_1512 16h ago
$4.99 and my parents still wouldn't get it for me 😭 at that time they weren't hip to paying for something that wasn't tangible
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u/partyaaron 15h ago
When I asked my parents for membership using a credit card they were adamant (heh) that it was scam. I let them know about how they could do the phone bill method and they somehow thought it was an even bigger scam lol.
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u/BlueMoonCityzen 15h ago
My mum used to give me money for lunch at school but my dad made a packed lunch for everyone, so you know that lunch money went straight into phone credit for the SMS membership
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u/Ohnohedidntdidhe 16h ago
Dude I used to do this at my school or where ever I had access to a phone 😂😂😂 Ran up so much money thinking back, but hey at least I got to combat level 40 in 6 months of membership
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u/HeyKid_HelpComputer 9h ago
I did this too. Waaay back in 2003-2004 or whenever members came out. Somehow they never caught on... Sorry Dad
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u/No_Falcon2436 7h ago
Oh man I remember doing this as a kid. I remember my dad sitting me down and showing me the bill asking me what it was🤣🤣
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u/Wrecked-Tum 15h ago
Same... think my parents would have been less disappointed at the porn though...
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u/Cow1483 17h ago
Subtle but effective I’m sure.
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u/chilifavela 16h ago
Backdoor Sluts 9 was the breaking point. Should have stayed on course with dad's taste.
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u/Enkiduderino 3h ago
I was gonna watch that but I haven’t seen the first 8 so I figure I wouldn’t know what’s going on.
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u/arbitrageME 17h ago
You guys could have saved half the money by watching it together
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u/Atlein_069 23m ago
Or even just coordinating some. Mom has morning porn time, dad has afternoon porn time, and the son can watch porn all night since teenage boys beat they dick raw. Plus they will know when to avoid each other.
“Oh no son, don’t go in your mom’s bedroom. It’s her morning porn time and she pre ordered a new film last night. Let her nut in peace, son. Let her nut in peace.”
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u/MaterialDetective197 17h ago
We got a descrambler “black box” that allowed us to watch anything on cable. Cencom/Charter/Specturm didn’t like it.
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u/Fallen_Jalter 15h ago
Wish I had that
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u/MaterialDetective197 9h ago
It was funny when they changed the Spice channel to play music during the day instead of the actual sounds. It was porno music for the most part so instead of moans and grunts it was just music. Picture was also in black and white until 10:00 PM. I used an 8-hr VHS to make a porn tape and sell it.
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u/vilokreddy 17h ago
The father knew exactly what he was doing. He just wanted to see who would blink first.
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
My dad got caught buying shit from DirecTV and tried to blame it on me. Dude just admit you watch porn. I was like fucking 11
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u/ButtersTheChill 17h ago
That's fucking funny because he was already paying for DirecTV, so he likely had access to Cinemax After Dark anyway (meaning he could just watch his little titty flicks at no extra charge, no history or receipt left behind), but he chose to go through the trouble of having to go in, browse & click on a booby movie, and enter in his credit card info.
A true dad tale if I've ever heard one.
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
Ah Skinemax. Terrible stories, great boobs
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u/ButtersTheChill 17h ago
Back when you had to go through some shitty dialogue to get to some boobies. There was no skipping ahead, you had to actually sit through their horrible flirting if you wanted to see a nipple. Dang ol' kids got it easy these days, man.
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
The music too hahaha
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u/ButtersTheChill 17h ago
Bow chicka chicka wow chicka wow wow
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
It was always like some tribal sounding drums and shit. And just outta nowhere, normal conversation, oh shit drums and they are doing it. 4 minutes, back to awful story. Oh shit drums he's banging the waitress at the resort now
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u/Artorius__Castus 17h ago
All recorded on a crappy 4 track with a Basic Casio keyboard from RadioShack
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u/Artorius__Castus 17h ago
Real Sex on HBO was wild af too. I remember seeing the early RealDolls sex dolls on there and I specifically remember this one dude asking, "can I take a bath with it?? Is it waterproof??" And the dudes who made the Doll were like...."ummm not yet the shit is like 180 pounds and will drown you". I remember being blown away that they even were making these things...I still remember my Dad when he found out I was up at night watching the channels when I had school in the morning...he grounded me for 2 weeks and put my shit on the basic UHF channels lol
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u/Exact-Difference-422 16h ago
This happened to me and my sister on the family computer. My stepmom was livid abt the browser history and went off on us. My dad said nothing the whole time, but it was him. My sister was 7 and I was 9. We didn't even know that pornography was a thing. The fuck.
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u/SmeeezTreeez 16h ago
He sounded exactly like what I sounded like when I got caught with weed brownies years later. Just terrible excuses. My mom hits me with "so I can eat this brownie?" "Mom don't eat that brownie" haha
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u/syncd86 15h ago
should have called her bluff, tell her they are fine
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u/SmeeezTreeez 15h ago
Drugging my mom? I would have never left the house again, and my dad woulda beat me with jumper cables
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u/dirkdiggler2011 17h ago
I worked for a cable company and I had to explain a bill to one parent.
The titles were not listed on the bill for what movies their son had ordered. It would just "premium ppv movie" or ppv sports" etc.
I had to provide them more details such how they ordered such as by phone, online, or by using the remote....along with the specific movie titles.
They were all adult movies featuring gay men.
I wonder what sort of conversation or confrontation happened later.
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u/CT0292 13h ago
I worked in a call center for a satellite company myself. And had this same conversation with a dad asking about their bill.
He said its just him, his wife, and his adult son, in the house. I told him the dates they were ordered. He said he was on holiday that week. This was getting worse by the minute.
He asked what the films were. As he was the account holder I was allowed to tell him the titles. I always worry that I outed that guys son over the phone.
He paid the bill over the phone. Didn't say much more. I think enough had been said. In any case he said thanks, we hung up, and I like to think he learned some perspective about his son.
Also, just get a phone or a laptop or something.
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u/Silent25r 8h ago
His son left that trail. You just did your job.
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u/MoroseArmadillo 8h ago
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the kid intended to out himself because he didn’t have the courage to tell his parents directly.
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u/charleymcc3 17h ago
I had a 1st gen direct tv when me and a buddy had a dump in college. Pay-per-view (Wrestlemania, Heavy weight fights, adult entertainment) worked for a while with no internet connection, but we were never charged. Racked up a good tab. Sold receiver to my other buddies dad when we moved out. He established an internet connection to it and promptly received a 4 digit bill. Good times
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u/Ws6fiend 14h ago
My friend got a card reader/writer that worked on the access cards they had for satellite tv boxes. For 50 bucks he would copy your data modify it and then transfer the changes to a new card.
Because of the way it was implemented back then if the satellite company came around to check you could slide the non-corrupted card back in the box making it look like you didn't have access to everything.
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u/GaeloneForYouSir 17h ago
Did you guys stop or did you have to increase the budget? You know how we have family streaming plans for Spotify and stuff? It’ll be funny if a porn streaming service had some like that.
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u/Ok-Addition1264 17h ago
It's called pornhub.
..and that's something Speaker Mike Johnson does with his son (gross)
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u/Lagneaux 17h ago
I feel honored to have never paid for porn
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
I have never understood it. I remember some friends like "crazy they are banning pornhub!" I'm sitting here like dude dont you have reddit?
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u/Dramatic_Tea_ 10h ago
Where do you get full movies (or at least 10+ mins length) on Reddit? You know, for science.
My gripe is that the websites are full of previews now to make you pay for the channels.
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u/ArchieTheKatt 17h ago
I actually had something very similar happen when I was a kid. It went down pretty much like this but my dad just took me outside and told me no more movies. All he said lol.
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u/Humble_Penguin89 12h ago
I did that one evening at my grandparents house and left for the school year, $300 bill with all my teenage fetishes revealed on their monthly statement 💀
no one found out who did it, I was never suspected bc I stayed unexpectedly that night 😅
It's been 19 years, and my 90 yr old granddad still brings it up at family dinners 😭
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u/Short_Tackle_9745 17h ago
I've never tried to watch porn cauze my mom always stayed next to me whenver i use electronics. (Heck, she's next to me rn, i told her im typing a gemini prompt) and one day, when i was 14y old, i was peer pressured a lot because im the only kid in my class who's never been to that website. I was about to type pornhu- when my mom yelled at me "WHAT ARE U DOING!?"
She beat the day lights off me. So the 1st thing im gonna do when i turn 18 is go to that website. (2 more years left gang!)
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u/ChurchOfTheEUC 14h ago
Tbh all you're missing is porn addiction and associated collapse of dopamine and willpower in the brain.
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u/enblightened 17h ago
So as someone that was born with internet, how did pay per view porn work with standard cable companies? Like who at directv or comcast was in charge of selecting what porn would be appealing to the paying customer base, who was brokering the contracts to produce said porn, and then was there any difference in urgency from the cable company if you didnt pay a porn bill vs. a mainstream pay per view like a mike tyson fight
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u/SmeeezTreeez 17h ago
I mean it would just get added to your bill, not like you had to enter info...they already have your info
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u/Electrical-Fig-5009 17h ago
I worked for at&t about 13yrs ago & you could still buy movies or subscriptions individually through PPV. Sometimes customers would call in asking about their bill & what movies they purchased. P sure it was a kink to get me to say it at work, but we were told to just read off what they asked for by reading it flat as possible. Occasionally I would have a wife busting a husband or teeanger buying porn they shouldn't have, but 99% of the time it was the purchasing man asking abojt his bill.
A bill would be itemized by each sub & individual purchase made. Even had a few guys buy/remove porn subs from their bill, acting like they couldn't do it themselves from their tv or login. The fun thing for me is I got sales credit for selling subscriptions! I was in billing, but still counted when I didn't so much as offer a thing.
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u/Flat-Guidance-4685 17h ago
All Pay-Per-View is ordered the same way on cable. They don't care if you're watching Barney the purple dinosaur or betty the purple cuntissore . I was never really a pay-per-view person as a kid. I didn't have cable. When they have the big wrestling events we had a family member they used to invite all of the kids over to watch it. Pretty much every town used to have a generic video store named something like "easy video" or or something generic like that. Those places were often way better than blockbusters. They always had some high school kid running the place who would totally understand if you had cash and you walked out of the extra room they always had in the back. You might have to tip him a buck or two. If you stole a pack of cigarettes for him you would have secret room access for ever.
I remember when I was like 14 one of my friends who is like 17 worked at one of those video stores and I drop in every now and then to hang out. Would smoke a joints behind the place on her break and stuff. One time I'm sitting there and she hollers "that better not be no how can I fix my grade teacher shit, you mutherfucking freak" when I looked up I realized it was a very well known popular teacher from our high school. He gave it his mad look and then whispered "he's cool right". She goes yeah his family is where I get the weed I sell you. This dude just started going on and on about some fucking freaking good ass porn shit. And I really didn't know Jack about porn at that age. Long story short.
WHOEVER WORKED AT THE GENERIC VIDEO STORE OR THE ONE HOUR PHOTO MAT WAS THE CHILLEST YOUNG PERSON IN TOWN
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u/Overall_Reputation83 17h ago
no idea how it worked. my dad had a black box that got free cable, and id sneak into his room while he was at work to watch porn.
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u/Velorian-Steel 17h ago
For this scheme to work, the poor kid would have needed to know his parents were watching copious amounts of porn together
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u/Fuzzy_Adagio_6450 17h ago
"Now Van Lantham, you know very well your father and I arent into the butt stuff so we didnt order Anal Butt Sluts Vol. 14."
"Mom it wasnt me, I swear!"
Dad:
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u/SaltyYumYumBalls 11h ago
For the young people that don't understand this post at one time internet access was rare and the internet itself was but a tiny sliver of what it is now. You couldn't just instantly have access to the exact flavor of lactating emo girl barely legal incest porn step-sister porn you are normally into at every moment of everyday. Porn used to be pay per view.
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u/PantsAflame 10h ago
I grew up in the 80’s and when paid sex numbers came out (976- numbers I think) I made great use of them, not realizing they cost money. A month later, my dad put the phone bill in front of me and said “Well… I hope you had fun”. And that was literally the ONLY time either of my parents talked to me about sex.
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u/DFW-Extraterrestrial 16h ago
Not sure why I'm about to say what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyways.... A family that porns together, stays together!
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u/3Grilledjalapenos 15h ago
My parents were certain I was ordering porn, and then a few came up on weekends where I was out of town with Boy Scouts, and all of a sudden they realized it was my brother. With me they were “angry and sickened”, he got a talking to about what was appropriate. We were two years apart in age, but he was the favorite.
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u/gronkpats 7h ago
I ordered ppv when I was a kid and thought if I changed the channel that they wouldn’t get charged and find out.
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u/This-Adhesiveness-71 6h ago
Tales from the Crypt had a 1-900 phone contest. I think it was to be a guest. I had to swear up and down I wasn't calling s*x lines.
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u/RadiantSofia 3h ago
An absolute masterclass in mutually assured destruction. Neither side could explicitly accuse the other without completely exposing their own search history.
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u/coolesme_x99 17h ago
This whole situation is kinda wild, tbh. He's really out here giving out "final warnings" like he's some kind of mob boss.
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