No! Seriously, I am NOT your professor, dear.

[Pagan]

Oh, man.

My grandfather had the same last name as one of the teachers at one of the two high schools (this was in the 70s-80s). Well, kids being what they are, they didn't know their teacher's first name, so they called the first name they came to.

To this day, we don't know how many kids got in trouble for not doing their homework when Mr. Hampton said he would excuse it when they called on the phone the night before.

Before my mom had my parents phone number (sometime before 1968), it had been the phone number of a local taxi service. For several years in a row, late on Christmas Eve, we'd get a phone call for a little old lady needing a taxi to pick her up at the Greyhound station. It was actually kind of sad when we realized that we hadn't had a call in several years.

Then there's the people that we sometimes have a hard time convincing that no, they are not talking to Jose Blow in Las Cruces, Mexico. This is Las Cruces, New Mexico....you know....in the US?

[Amina516]

We were one digit off from Subway....just from reading the stories on here about the subway customers, you can imagine the dumb calls we got.

Also, we've had our current phone number for about 7 years now and we STILL get calls for the people that had the number before us.

[Andara Bledin]

(And, no, there's no other number listed anywhere online... Otherwise I'd be calling them and saying "CHANGE THE NUMBER ON YOUR DAMNED WEBSITE!")

Get the info on the site registry and call/email there to get the number removed.

^-.-^

[42_42_42]

Spring Semester Sophomore year of college, I escaped from my abusive fiance and got a temporary restraining order on a Friday and took my first final the following Monday. Got all A's that semester, too.

It can be done.

[kibbles]

I never did understand people getting mad at the person they called when it's a wrong number! How stupid LOL!! I understand someone politely asking the wrong number, would they maybe know the correct number..but if they don't they don't.

Getting mad at a wrong number you called, makes the person sound really dumb.

[KellyHabersham]

Also, we've had our current phone number for about 7 years now and we STILL get calls for the people that had the number before us.

I can believe it........we've lived here in Phoenix for nearly 20 years, Mom's had the same phone number the entire time, and she still occasionally receives calls asking for a "John Carroll".

[Cazzi]

I think I've mentioned this before but I was one number off a pine furnishings & restoration shop... was fun answering the phone to a male voice asking when my next stripping was!

[Severen13]

Shortly after getting my landline I started getting calls from a rehab clinic for a "Charles Shuler". They were automated calls reminding Charles of his appointment times so I couldn't tell anyone they had the wrong number. This went on for weeks.

Finally, a real live woman called asking for Charles. Unfortunately for her it was at some ridiculously early hour, I had just woke up and was still a tad bit cranky, and I was fed up with the phone calls. I rather bluntly told her that there is no Charles here, there never was a Charles here, this is MY number and STOP CALLING!! I think I scared the poor woman.

At least the calls for Charles stopped after that.


Then there was the time some teenage boy kept calling the house. As luck would have it I had the same name as the girl he was looking for. Finally I managed to convice him that I wasn't the "Mary" he wanted to talk to, but not before he had given out the number to another teenage girl who called me up and told me I was a whore for stealing her boyfriend.

[Exaspera]

the number to another teenage girl who called me up and told me I was a whore for stealing her boyfriend.

That's when you say, "It takes one to know one!"

We are, at this time, a digit or two off a relatively new Target. It's odd though. We'll get about 6 wrong numbers in 2 weeks, then it will stop for a month or two. Then a wave of wrong numbers. Then nothing. It should be starting again in awhile.

My cell just started getting calls for someone named Allie. ??

[Pagan]

My cell just started getting calls for someone named Allie. ??

Maybe it's Kate?

[BrenDAnn]

I recently got a voicemail, on my cell phone, for someone named Janice. It was from a clinic, letting her know that her barium enema was normal (ewwwww). I deleted it. Hope Janice got her results anyway! Oh, and when I first got my cell, I had the same thing happen, except for a different clinic, and they were calling for a male patient. Weird!

[Imogene]

I've been getting voicemails recently, saying "We're on the way to show the house." Great. Who the hell are you? What house?

[Eireann]

I used to have a fun one. For some reason, my number was either very similar to, or the same as (though without the local phone code) some government office in another city. I got lots of phone calls, in Czech, from confused people thinking they were calling this office. One day, a Czech man who spoke English called me (also thinking he was calling this office), and he was the one who told me what the problem was. I told him I had no idea what the problem was, but assured him that he was, indeed, calling Prague, and not this other city. Eventually, the phone calls ended.

In another place I lived, I kept receiving calls for the previous tenant, another American woman. I would come home to see the light on my answering machine flashing, only to discover that it was a message for her. I changed the message on the machine to let callers know that she didn't live there anymore - and people STILL left messages for her! I was so exasperated that I changed the message once again, letting callers know in no uncertain terms that she did NOT live there, I had NO idea where to reach her, I would NOT pass any messages on to her even if I could, and I was NOT her social secretary. This worked.

I also had an elderly Czech woman calling me, probably thinking that she was calling my landlord or landlady. I hung up on her more than once, but she was persistent. Once, she called about five times in a row, each time speaking more loudly (in Czech), despite the fact that I was answering the phone in English. The end came when the phone rang, I picked it up, and she nearly shouted her name (a common way of starting a phone conversation here), and then began saying whatever the hell she was saying. I shouted back, "GET. OFF. MY. PHONE!" and slammed it down.

No more calls from her.

[prb]

Eugh.... wrong numbers.... at work, our number used to be that of an RV rental company. Still get calls, 10 years since we got the number, not sure how long before that they closed down. But I understand that, people rent an RV for a family holiday, decide to do it again 15 years later, still have an ad/card from this company and are loyal to them.... but it gets annoying after a while.

And there's a taxi company that opened a few months ago that is 1 number off. They're (Example, not real numbers!) 122-6000 we're 123-6000.... had a call yesterday "can i get a, um, what company did you say this is?"

[Aut]

We are, at this time, a digit or two off a relatively new Target. It's odd though. We'll get about 6 wrong numbers in 2 weeks, then it will stop for a month or two. Then a wave of wrong numbers. Then nothing. It should be starting again in awhile.

I've noticed that too. And then it changes after every couple of cycles. Like we'll go for a while getting wrong number calls for a doctor's office, then it will be for a restaraunt, and now it's a car dealership.

My most irritating one is from an old man. I can't remember who he's calling for (family or friend) , but he's rather rude. He yelled at me once. He never seems to get it when I tell him he has the wrong number and then wants to know why it's the wrong number. Then when he gets it, there's no sorry, or oops, he just hangs up. It's gotten to where I just simply state he has the wrong number and then hang up.