So which one of us is most likely right?

[JustaCashier]

Yo-yo: ...(silence while brain double-clutches, seized up and begins to smoke.) "Well, what do you drill, then?"

Me: "We pre-drill rivet holes in battleship plates. Now, if you'll excuse me, we're already behind schedule. Have a great day!"

Good answer. Although I would have been more inclined to respond "Your wife, while you're at work!"

Mike

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Mom had a woman call the house several times....at 3 in the morning. Looking for John.

Finally, pissed off and lacking sleep, She snapped.

"HEY! John is sleeping and I'm trying to! Leave us alone!"

No more calls.

Heh. That reminds me of the time several years ago when some woman kept calling on our 2nd phone line looking for "Betty."

This continued for several weeks, each time me repeating that she had the wrong number. Apparently she wasn't getting the drift. At first I thought she was an older lady who was confused, so I was trying to be patient, but after several weeks of it, I was getting pretty tired of it.

After several calls from her within around half and hour's time, I got fed up and finally screamed at her:

BETTY'S AT FRED'S HOUSE MAKING THE BED ROCK!!!

She hung up and never called back.

[Ben_Who]

One of my favorite stories along these lines, TRAGICALLY marked as "not true..."

http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/ribrock.asp

Every once in a while I'll go on a Snopes binge and stumble upon something that oh, how I wish were true...

Love, Who?

[AccountingDrone]

Back when I worked for a truck rental company, my phone number was exceptionally close to the office number. I would either tell the people it was a wrong number, or take a message depending if i was on the schedule for that day or not. When I quit, with extremely bad feelings between us [my reporting to the labor board got them reviewed for the previous 7 years, and monitored for the next 3 years, fined and they had to track down and pay employees and ex-employees for the overtime and holiday pays they screwed us out of] I would either tell them they got the wrong number, or take a message and not bother writing it down.

[Andara Bledin]

I haven't had to deal with much in the way of sucktacular wrong numbers.

I have had a couple of people go with the "are you sure?" line, as if you don't know who the people in your house/family are. I got snippy with one of these after they called back the third time in a row.

As for acting like you're the place people mis-dialing are trying to reach, that's mostly uncool until they've called back a couple of times and refused to accept that they've got a wrong number. Sure, it sucks when your number is close to a popular one, but we've all dialed the wrong number before.

^-.-^

[aurelemsrealm]

I generally don't bother answering the phone if I don't know the number on the caller ID. I just hit the "Quiet" button, and screen it through voice mail. If they leave a message that is for me, I call back. Otherwise, I just delete it. If no message is left, then I just figure it wasn't that important after all.

When my grandpa was still alive, his standard phone greeting was always, "Hi, this is me, is that you?" Everyone in the family thought it was funny because Grandpa was one of those ornery old men who liked to joke around and torment everyone. He was always making wisecracks and laughing about something, and made everyone around him laugh, too. The only person who had no sense of humor about it (or anything else for that matter ), and constantly complained about him answering the phone like that was his second wife (not my grandmother). In fact, I came up with my own nickname for her, "The Stepwitch," because she is a whole other story in sucktitude and entitlement.

[CaptainThrifty]

That last call is one of those that would have been great to have on video posted to youtube

[Ironclad Alibi]

When my grandpa was still alive, his standard phone greeting was always, "Hi, this is me, is that you?"

That's funny. It reminded me of the old halo statue joke.

[Cazzi]

I used to have a land line number a digit off a local pine furnishing & renovation shop... as i found out after a good few calls of male voices asking when my next stripping session was!

They got the phone slammed down on them funnily enough. It wasn't til a lady called asking a similar question I stayed on the line & asked her just where she thought she was calling & cleared up that mystery

Also back in the days of my very first mobile phone.. the ones that were actually smaller than a brick & didn't need a shoulder strap to tote; and was also back in the days when UK pubs had to shut at 11pm, I used to get a regular call every Friday at 11.30pm from a quite amiable drunken fella asking to speak to Katie

More recently with the mobile number I have now, I get a yearly text from someones uncle so & so telling his niece he has a new phone & number.... & every year I end up reminding him that I'm not his niece & wasn't he supposed to have deleted that number (again) last year

Hate to stereotype, but he sounds just like Rab C Nesbit & for all I know may act like that too

[Lots42]

I don't have a fun 'wrong number' story. Instead, I used to get calls for a local docotr. I know how it sucks not to be able to get in contact with the doc.

[Zoom]

My phone # is one digit away from a car repair service. Some years ago, people with car trouble learned to stop making the mistake of calling us, because I was younger and more the practical joker.

BUT...

Recently, an insurance company sent their clients car trouble packets with lists of helpful numbers to call if you car breaks down in various cities and states.

And one unhelpful one.

It's terrible, because the customers are TOLD this is the right number, and it's in print so the insurance company can't forcibly recall the misprint and issue a new one. "People are driving around with these things," I am told.

So I have to put up with as many as five calls a day. Fortunately I don't use the phone for anything whatsoever, except for when I want to have fun blowing off telemarketers by feigning interest.

A new wrinkle in car-crashing plot twistitude manifested itself yesterday. Seems the repair service has finally figured out my phone # and called me to complain.

He was very upset that our number was too close to his! Sorry, but I had my number for 26 years; I doubt you were even in business for that long! You change it!

Then I happened to let drop how many calls a day we were getting that were intended for him... he nearly hit the ceiling! That was fun to hear.

All that missed business can't be good for him; I wonder if it'll convince him to get a new number. Or maybe he can hire me to answer his calls at home. Maybe if it paid better...

[Auto]

Then I happened to let drop how many calls a day we were getting that were intended for him... he nearly hit the ceiling! That was fun to hear.

All that missed business can't be good for him; I wonder if it'll convince him to get a new number. Or maybe he can hire me to answer his calls at home. Maybe if it paid better...

Tell him that for a price you'll redirect callers to the right number.

[Titi]

Zoom, I think both you and the car repair company should come to agreement and be mad not at each other but at the insurance company that printed the wrong number. And YES they SHOULD send a retractment form with the CORRECT number.

Because as you said it's been years since you really had problem with the number being one off, and it wasn't the owner of the car repair shop's either. All blame seems to be on the insurance companies mistake and they should be to one to fix any and all problems that arose from it.

[Moggie]

It's really frustrating to get a wrong number on accident but I feel bad for the people who got my home number on purpose.

For some time a man named Robert (or Raul) Rodriguez was using my home number on all those "fill out our form for a chance to win" type drawings. Almost like clockwork, every time there was a home and garden show or a bass pro shop show or a place giving away cruise vacations if you just enter to win, my phone would ring off the hook from salespeople. When I fussed at them they even told me it wasn't a cold sales call because "somebody gave us your number"

At this point all my calls go straight to the answering machine. If I know who you are, I'll pick up. No, there never has been a Mr. Rodriguez at this number in the past decade!