Don't Pick Up the Phone

A bit of a tough watch, but well worth seeing all the same. Two things that stuck me with this horrible saga is, apart from the terrible situation the employees found themselves in, the police who investigated the guy, arrested him with rather weak evidence that certainly was not 'beyond reasonable doubt'. We could see that as soon as they arrested him, it would be a long shot. They should have identified him and followed him to ensure that his purchase of phone cards was not just a coincidence with the call times.

The second thing that strikes me is the total obedience to authority figures that Americans seem to have (maybe this id due to the amount of police shootings there are?). Granted it's a cultural thing, but no way in hell in my country, would a manager (male or female) strip search a young female (in the back office) because a 'policeman' on the phone tells them too!

Literally unbelievable. Just feel for the young ladies caught up in this.

When I first started watching this documentary, I started laughing so hard at the unbelievable gullible manager and victim that was going along with what was being suggested on the phone - and was also laughing at the narrator's description of what was happening. At first it seemed like it was one incident in a small southern town and I was thinking I can't believe there are towns out there where people could be so innocent and believe such a thing. Being from Chgo suburbs I thought this would never happen where I live - no one could fall for such a thing. Then they got into how many incidents all over the United States this happened, and started announcing the towns and I couldn't believe that it happened also in Oak Brook, IL - my stomping grounds - and the actual headquarters at the time of the fast food company. By the time the doc was all over I still can't believe quite honestly that people fall for this, but it wasn't so funny anymore. I am sure that there are many other victims out there that are just so embarrassed that they got taken they never reported it and suffered all alone, so if it helps others to see this, there is value in airing it and also for a warning to not be afraid to speak up; know your rights at work.

Hard to watch if you are an intelligent, educated person, because you can't believe anyone could be so stupid as to believe they have the authority to strip search a fast food employee EVER under ANY circumstances unless they are cops. But these - uneducated, credulous, fearful - are precisely the "right" people to target if you want to scare them into heinous acts. Show is VERY slow paced, as these shows always are, stretching a one hour show into three hours. You have to give the culprit credit for his cunning, although you also have to realize what a pathetic worm he is that THIS is the way he has to get his kicks. Moral? We need to - NEED TO - educate our populace better. We need to value education in this country.

The documentary was difficult to watch because of the content, but many of the reviews here are scoring it low because of the content the documentary presented rather than the way they presented it. If you aren't fascinated by the events, don't watch, but scoring a documentary low because you can't believe how stupid people can be is pretty stupid, as well. The documentary was well made. It could be slow at times, but overall, it did a great job presenting the information from the cases and balancing that info with true victims' statements. It's hard to believe that people could be so gullible and how compliant people can be when an authority figure is doing the instructing.

Wasn't too hooked on watching this at first. I was thinking what's the worst that could happen from a prank phone call? The story is incredibly sad and dark. The fact that this person did this with the idea that it wouldn't come back to them is horrible and disturbing.

The aftermath is basically a blame game and it gets pretty toxic. It all started with one individual's cruelty snowballing into innocent victims and their supervisors not being able to distinguish right from wrong. The domino effect leaves some with traumatic experiences and ruins the lives of suckers who do not think twice.

I always love Netflix docs, and while this is no exception, it breaks my heart to watch people being preyed on.