If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my stories about how my husband and I created a phone call safe word. So many people messaged me about how it was such a great idea, and they too now have one with their significant other and even their family.
It all started when I was listening the the Podcast, 22 Hours an American Nightmare. This podcast is about the a family and their housekeeper who were held hostage in their home, then killed and the home was set on fire.
It’s not a mystery who did it, the podcast just recounts the timeline, evidence, and the whole trial etc. But one part got to me a little…
The family was basically taken hostage one by one in their home. The father who was at work received a phone call from his wife wanting him to come home. But he was opening a business in 2 days and could not just leave, but she insisted because she wanted to go out with friend. He thought it was odd but ultimately went home and..you can listen to the podcast to find out more.
This little section of the podcast started bothering me. I thought about it and I told my husband I wanted to come up with a word or phrase that we can say on the phone if we are ever in trouble. If we say that word or phrase then the other one calls 911 no matter what.
At first I thought about maybe we could say..”Did you get groceries for your Mom”? Or something like that but then realized if someone is making me make a call they are listening and wanting me to stick to a script. If I said something totally off base of what I was supposed to say..well they might not like that.
So this is what we did: I’m not going to tell you what ours is, but it is something that completely pertains to us. If we said it, it would seem normal to anyone around us, but to us it would be odd.
Once the person says it, there is another follow up question by the other person, that seems normal but we would just say yes or no to. We then vowed to call 911.
So here are a few suggestions to help you come up with a word to say if you’re ever in that type of situation.
- Have a specific “pet name” for the person. So when you call your husband or wife or whoever, maybe you always say “Hi Baby” or “Hi Hun”. If you are in need of help, pick something else to call them. “Muffin” “BooBoo” doesn’t matter. It just has to be something a little normal but not to you.
- Then use a follow up question to to be sure. Say your partner came on the phone and said “Hey Baby” and Baby is your pet name you discussed. The other person then is alerted to ask a follow up question. ” Did you pick up the dry cleaning?” Yes/No – the thing is they never use dry cleaning.
- Use an event – Happy Anniversary or Happy Birthday maybe? Chances are that it happens on your actual one are pretty slim.
- Make sure your partner knows the follow up questions. Maybe they didn’t hear what you called him. Maybe he hears fear in your voice? He can always use the follow up question if they are unsure.
- Create one for your family, relatives – even at your workplace. If you listen to the podcast you’ll understand why.
- Create a word for your text messages. A random word..noodle, cinnamon, fur. Doesn’t matter just create one.
Even if you think this is silly or excessive I hope some of you will join me and creating a phone call safe word. You just never know!
