Similar Phone Numbers and Crazy People

[Anamal]

I used to get letters in my PO Box from an electric company, letting this couple know they were past due. Never did anything about. Part of me assumed the couple picked a random box so they wouldn't be bothered.

[EricKei]

Mkay, understood . I was curious about it due to the fact that, when they got my number (from the original Loaner/bank -- I never actually GAVE the collection agency my number), it was a land line. It was converted in January. Kinda an odd case.

The state's laws do prohibit texting/reading text, but speaking is allowed. I just don't do it while on the road if I can help it, and I use the speakerphone when I do (handsfree is OK) -- only Minors are explicitly forbidden from using them at all, but you have a good point about other laws that may "share territory" here.

[wolfie]

He got one of them to read him the rest of the sign and he called the apartment people to let them know their signs were printed wrong. Basically, they told him he could go piss up a rope, they weren't changing their signs.

So naturally he started having fun with it. He'd either say oh no, you don't want to rent those places, they're full of (name nasty vermin/creepy-crawly insects)...or he'd say sorry, those were rented a long time ago. I think the idiots finally got the picture and changed their signs.

If I were in a situation where the sign-poster, on being told his prospective customers were calling a private residence, refused to fix the signs, I'd be likely to have fun in a nastier vein. I'd pretend to take the caller's name and number, quote a below-market rental rate, and if they wanted the unit tell them there was no problem, I was holding it for them, all they needed to do was come in with their deposit on move-in day and tell the superintendent they had been quoted the "saw the roadside sign" discount.

[Andara Bledin]

...I was holding it for them, all they needed to do was come in with their deposit on move-in day and tell the superintendent they had been quoted the "saw the roadside sign" discount.

The problem with this is that you're screwing over a completely innocent person by doing this. After all, it's not their fault that the person who made the sign was an asshole.

I'm pretty sure you can actually have him prosecuted for harassment for not taking down or fixing signs that had your personal number attached to them.

^-.-^

[RxBoy]

The problem with this is that you're screwing over a completely innocent person by doing this. After all, it's not their fault that the person who made the sign was an asshole.

I'm pretty sure you can actually have him prosecuted for harassment for not taking down or fixing signs that had your personal number attached to them.

^-.-^

I disagree. If it's your private phone line that you pay for, you have the right to say whatever you want. If the apartment owner was made aware that their signs were incorrect and then refused to fix them, that's their problem. It seems to me that they didn't care too much about advertising their rentals.

[Pagan]

I got a "wrong number" once, but it wasn't on the phone, it was in person. Knock on my door, I answer (don't ask me why), and some woman I've never seen before asks if "Mary" is in. I tell her nobody by that name lives here and she asks me if I'm sure. Lady, may place ain't that big, believe me, I'd notice if someone else was here! I think what happened is what happens a lot. On my my street there's a 3305, 3405, and 3505, all three are apartment complexes. Which means triplicate on apartment numbers.

Occasionally I'll get a phone call from a collection agency for some guy whose first name is the same as my last name. I finally googled his name and there is a guy that lives in Corrales (I'm technically in ABQ, but if you go across the ditch behind the complex, you're in Corrales), but his phone number is waaaaay off of mine.

Retail strikes again...it's getting a bit creepy (tho the comic is written weeks ahead of time). Maybe he's One Of Us ^_^ ...That, and psychic.

Indeed he is one of us! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Feuti

[EricKei]

Indeed he is one of us! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Feuti

I knew thaaaaaaaat ^_^ I've been reading the comic for some time. I was wondering if he's a CS.com'er on the sly.

[Andara Bledin]

I disagree. If it's your private phone line that you pay for, you have the right to say whatever you want. If the apartment owner was made aware that their signs were incorrect and then refused to fix them, that's their problem. It seems to me that they didn't care too much about advertising their rentals.

Yeah, but it's the person calling that's getting screwed, and it's not their fault that the sign was wrong. I don't quite get how that would ever be ok. They don't know the number is wrong, and if you say, 'just bring it when you move in,' then they'll have themselves out of their old place with nowhere to go, which would be really fucked up.

^-.-^

[manybellsdown]

If I were in a situation where the sign-poster, on being told his prospective customers were calling a private residence, refused to fix the signs, I'd be likely to have fun in a nastier vein. I'd pretend to take the caller's name and number, quote a below-market rental rate, and if they wanted the unit tell them there was no problem, I was holding it for them, all they needed to do was come in with their deposit on move-in day and tell the superintendent they had been quoted the "saw the roadside sign" discount.

It's been suggested that I do this with the contractors calling for the homeowner with the similar name. "I'd love to have you work on my house! I'll meet you at the property tomorrow at 8am!"

And Pagan, you reminded me of this dude that knocked on my door a couple years back. I answered the door and had this conversation:

Me: *opens door*
Guy: You're not Armenian!
Me: Uh ... no?
Guy: Are your neighbors Armenian?
Me: I don't know.
Guy: You don't KNOW?!
Me: It never occurred to me to ask them.

I guess there's a lot of Armenians in my neighborhood; there's an Armenian church at the end of the street and all, but he was so insulted that I didn't go around asking my neighbors their ethnicity. Upon reflection, I think my next-door neighbors are indeed Armenian, and it still doesn't matter enough to me to ask them.

[Moogles]

We've had the same landline number for 24 years. There's a highschool here with a phone number that's very very close (think XXX - 4861 for us and XXX - 4061 for them). My mother's answering machine has always said "You've reached the blaaahs, sorry we can't get to the phone". And yet we constantly get calls for the school. We've had people leave messages for teachers about appointments for their kids, wondering why they said little Jonny wasn't in school when he was dropped off etc.

We gave up a long time ago telling people any different. We don't use the landline for anything except as an emergency number if the power goes out. We just let it ring.

[Shalom]

Yeah, but it's the person calling that's getting screwed, and it's not their fault that the sign was wrong.

I read a book a long time ago called "Spite, Malice & Revenge". Basically various schemes to get back at companies that done you wrong.

What bothered me about the book is that the vast majority of the pranks tended to involve innocent third parties (referred to in the book as "unsuspecting marks"). Two I remember particularly were sabotaging washing machines at a laundromat so that other customers' clothing gets ruined, or deliberately sending mislabeled film to a lab so that it would ruin their chemicals and destroy other people's pictures. Sure it could drive the laundromat or the photo lab out of business, but with how much collateral damage? What kind of sociopath would make so many other people miserable just to get back at one merchant? We've all run into customers like that: I am the only real person in the world, everyone else is irrelevant, so it doesn't matter who I injure so long as my purpose is served.

I just don't think it's a good idea.