Author Topic: Wrong number stories  (Read 1306 times)

Offline whiterose

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Wrong number stories
« on: May 30, 2018, 07:43:49 pm »
Please amuse me with your wrong number stories and any other bizarre phone calls you may have received.

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Offline Morrigan

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2018, 10:26:01 pm »
So years ago when I was dating my ex, he and I were living in different provinces at the time. I called the number, asked for my ex (his name was a pretty popular boy's name in the 80s) and he answered. His voice sounded a little off, but I didn't think anything of it. I start chatting, and he says 'Who is this?' I thought he was pulling my leg, so I said "You really don't know? It's your girlfriend." There was this pause, and I take the time to look at the number I punched into my cell. Yeah, I was exactly one number off, but a guy with the same name as my boyfriend at the time happened to live there. I mumbled "oh, I'm so sorry, wrong number!'. then hung up. My ex and my friends thought the whole thing was pretty funny.
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Offline Gyrus

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2018, 11:10:23 pm »
My mother's name was Jo Ann.  We would periodically get calls from what sounded like a teenaged guy asking for Jo Ann.  The first time I talked to him I said, "Sorry, my mother isn't home.  I'm her daughter; can I help you?"  There was a silence on the other end, then a sheepish, "I think I've got the wrong number.  Sorry."  Once when I came home from work my sister told me, "We got a call from Jo Ann's friend today." 
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Offline GloryAndCrumpets

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2018, 04:54:15 pm »
When I was in high school, our number was one digit off from the local Olive Garden (oops, I'm sorry...um, the local chain Italian restaurant that rhymes with Schmolive Farden ;) ), and so we got a lot of wrong number calls. Most people, when we told them this wasn't the Olive Garden, just said "Oh, sorry," and hung up, until one day when my sister answered the phone...

"Hello?"
"Hi, is this the Olive Garden?"
"No, sorry, I'm..."
"YES IT IS!"
"...um, no, sorry, this isn't..."
"YES THIS IS THE OLIVE GARDEN!"

After the third or so round of this, my poor sister did manage to convince the person that our house was not, in fact, the Olive Garden, but seriously, who argues something like that? Were they expecting her to suddenly come back with "Oh my gosh, my bad! Sorry, you're right, this IS the Olive Garden! Totally forgot there for a minute! How can I help you?"
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Offline annikahansen

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2018, 05:48:45 pm »
I had a woman call me and she went into a long introduction about where she was calling from and what kind of patient she needed to register. I couldn't get a word in. I don't work at a hospital or any kind of medical facility. I told her that she had the wrong number. Then she sounded annoyed at me and said, "Well, then transfer me." No, I am not going to look up the number you are trying to find and then transfer you. You are the one who screwed up.
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Offline Homemade Tequila

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2018, 01:27:36 pm »
A little BG - as a teen, I played piano for a church service.  We'll call the woman who ran the service Mary.

So, I'm at home, the phone rings, and it's someone looking for Homemade Tequila.

Me:  Yes, speaking...
Woman:  Hi, this is Mary.  I know I don't sound like me, I have a cold.  We need to discuss the service on Sunday.
Me:  *completely confused, because to the best of my knowledge, I wasn't on the schedule for that Sunday.*  ...this Sunday?
Woman:  Yes.
Me:  *now fully lost*  Um ... what about it?
Woman:  *sounding irritated*  We need to arrange an acolyte.
Me:  *suddenly realizing*  Ohhh ... ummm ... you have the wrong number ... but my name is also Homemade Tequila.
Woman:  Oh.  *hangs up*

I'm not sure which of us was more confused.  She didn't sound at all like the Mary I knew, but when this Mary said she had a cold, I figured that was why. 
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Offline corgiqueen

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #6 on: June 04, 2018, 02:52:40 pm »
In my last apt, my phone number was I think, if I remember correctly, one digit off from a temp/employment agency.
I can’t tell you how many messages I got while at work, from people looking for work. What I couldn’t understand is the majority of them mumbled
so badly into the phone, and could barely string together a sentence!

I never called any of them back, except one. One woman left a rather detailed message, clear and concise about how her check was missing,
or she hadn’t received it. Having been in that same situation, I immediately called her back to let her know she had called the wrong number,
so she could check and get ahold of the right person to get paid. She was very grateful.

Another was at this same number, I got a bunch of calls from a woman who apparently thought I was her dr.,
but again, mumbled so badly I couldn’t understand who she was trying to reach, OR her phone number so
I could call her back and tell her sorry, wrong number. She also left a lot of personal info in the message!

Where I currently live, I was getting calls for some woman who either had my number or gave it out,
 from collection agencies, law firms etc. I’d get a whole slew, then they’d stop for a while, then they’d start up again.
I called back a bunch, and told them a. don’t know her b. she doesn’t live here and c. this isn’t her number and please take this number off your list.
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Offline JustEstelle

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2018, 03:21:19 pm »
When I was a freshman in college, I got a late-night wrong number phone call one night.  I'd been sound asleep, and as soon as my brain registered that there was a noise and it was my telephone, I just sat up in bed, grabbed the receiver and answered.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  'lo?
Woman:  I need to speak to Michael.  Is he there?
Me:  Who?
Woman:  Michael.  Let me speak to Michael.
Me:  Who?
Woman:  Michael.  My son.  Is he there?
Me:  I don't know.  I can't see.
Woman:  What?
Me:  It's dark in here.
Woman:  Let me speak to Michael!  Is he there?
Me:  I don't know.  It's dark and I can't see if anyone is here.
Woman:  LET ME SPEAK TO MY SON!

By this time, I was beginning to wake up enough to realize that I had answered a wrong number call and I needed to tell the woman as such, but I continued to kind of stumble around while she became increasingly agitated.  I finally got out, "Ma'am, you have the wrong number.  You called the girls' dorm," and she slammed down the receiver on me.  I've often wondered what kind of hell Michael caught for having a drunk girl in his room in the middle of the night, as I'm sure that's what the woman thought from talking to me.  By the time I got her off the phone, though, I was wide awake.  Took quite a while to get back to sleep.  The woman really should have known that she'd called a wrong number when a girl answered.  My university didn't have co-ed dorms back then.
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Offline Amara

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2018, 03:22:51 pm »
Where I currently live, I was getting calls for some woman who either had my number or gave it out,
 from collection agencies, law firms etc. I’d get a whole slew, then they’d stop for a while, then they’d start up again.
I called back a bunch, and told them a. don’t know her b. she doesn’t live here and c. this isn’t her number and please take this number off your list.

You made me remember this. A long time ago, when I moved to my place before my current one, I got a new phone number. This was pre-cell phones, 1980s maybe. Within a day, I started getting numerous calls (more than 10 per day) from collection agencies all looking for someone with a Hispanic name. (I am Irish and Scottish.) It was unreal. There was genuine hostility. Whoever these people were they were absolute deadbeats who had apparently taken stores, the phone company, collection agencies, other utilities, banks and other credit issuing agencies. It took me over six months before I stopped getting calls.

So when I moved to my current place I asked the Verizon rep, when they said they had to assign me another new number because of the move, to look at the account of the person who had the number prior to me. I said I didn't want to know who had it but I did want to know if the final bill had been paid. (That would indicate financial responsibility or irresponsibility.)She looked, said it had been a fax number, and that yes, the final bill was paid. And I have never received a call about anyone's debt.
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Offline whiterose

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2018, 03:25:42 pm »
Oldie, but goodie, because I need a laugh:

Pretend my mother's name was Annette. Real name was similar- not super common, but by no means unusual either.

Phone rings one day. It is a voice I do not recognize asking for Annette.

I ask who is calling. He said "David Cameron" (in other words- a name I did not recognize either).

So I go get my mother and tell her she has a phone call. She asks who is it. I reply "David Cameron". She has a quizzical expression, since she does not seem to recognize the name either.

She takes the phone call.

Turns out the caller was looking for "Annette Fowler" (in other words, neither her maiden name nor my surname) from "Sunshine Corporation" (a business neither she nor myself had heard of), asking if they made school uniforms!!!!!

Keep amusing me. I need it.
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Offline Chez Miriam

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2018, 12:24:52 pm »
I had a truly wonderful boss when I worked at Post Office Headquarters.  One of our numbers was 922 1234 and London Transport had an enquiry line on 222 1234.

If we picked up a wrong number, we would give them the correct number [a lot of people dialling from offices hit '9 for an outside line' once too often].  A few idiots persistent souls would argue that we were NOT the Post Office, we were London Underground.  Jean would say, after a few goes, "oh, just tell them that all the tubes are suspended for the rest of the day!".

I often wonder if anyone listened to that advice after refusing to listen to anything else we would say.
"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."  - Julian of Norwich
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Offline Lynn2000

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2018, 01:31:51 pm »
I have a story, but I can't remember all the details. Basically, someone called me on accident, as a wrong number, but I didn't realize it right away. She mumbled the name of the person she was looking for; she had a common name, like Cathy; she seemed friendly and upbeat. Also, I'm really bad at remembering people I don't see often; but in the past I was more inclined to try and fake it until I figured out who they were. I remember thinking she might be a distant cousin who I'd recently met in person.

It's amazing how much of conversation is so general that it can apply to a total stranger, isn't it? We probably went on for two or three minutes in a cheerful manner until she said something like, "And how are your kids doing?" I don't have any kids. Then it got awkward, as I was like, "Um, what? I don't... I don't have any kids. Maybe this is a wrong number?"

Then she got pretty exasperated and was like, "Why did you say you were Jen when I asked?!" and I'm like, "Well, I didn't hear what you said properly..." (Jen/Lynn--pretty similar when you're mumbling.) Then she hung up. Kind of hilarious in hindsight.
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Offline GloryAndCrumpets

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2018, 07:42:05 pm »
The ultimate wrong number story:
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Offline Crispycritter

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2018, 10:07:48 pm »
Our old phone number was one off from Walmart (oops, the big box store).  Caller id was still a novelty for me, being used to not knowing who was calling.  Got a call from the State Police!!  Yikes!  I picked up and they asked to speak with the electronics division.  I nicely told the officer that he wanted 1234 not what our number was.  He was very apologetic. 

Offline whiterose

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Re: Wrong number stories
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2018, 12:32:23 pm »
In the second semester of 12th grade, I decided to keep a written log of all the wrong numbers we got. After all, it would be the final few months we lived in our house before we would move to FL.

Here are a few:

- Brother picks up. Lady asks "Hey, did you receive the check?". He says "excuse me?" Lady replies "Oswald?". Brother enlightens her about the wrong number.

- Brother picks up again. Guy says "Manny, have today's newspapers arrived yet?". He was looking for some store and wanted to know if the paper had been delivered yet for him to pick up.

- It is late at night. Phone rings. Mother picks up. "Hey, you did not sign the check!". Mother asks "what number did you dial?" Person says "567-5309...but you did not sign the check!". Mother tells her she has the wrong number. This was when a third first digit was added to the phone numbers in the area code, since cell phones were becoming more common (although they were still not popular yet).

- Some lady kept calling asking for Amanda. She sounded like a lady at the retirement home who was a family friend- so I wondered if she had our number adjacent to Amanda's in her phone book and kept mixing them up.

- And yes, the one involving the guy asking for the woman with the same first name as my mother happened during this time period. 
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