Harrassment?! I'll give you harrassment!

[Lyse]

To the idiot that called in today and immediately began to scream profanities at me over the phone because he was getting messages for a Jason - It's called a wrong number and

Get The Fu@$ over it!!!!

You've waited until we've called and left messages four times. Then you think that screaming at me is the best way to go. And then start threatening me over this "harrassment" that we are doing.

Dude, it's only harrassment if you tell us we have the wrong number and we continue to call.

You were disgusting, condensending and just plain nasty. And the fact that you just seemed upset when talking to my male manager makes me want to track you down and kick you where it would hurt the most.

If this is the way you react to wrong numbers, I'm praying that some poor granny never mistakenly calls you.

Ass.

[ToasterQueen]

You poor thing. I feel your pain.

When I was 16, my dad did what every little girl dreams of - he got me my own phone line. Of course, I used it only for the internet, so.

But strangely, the number was the number of an old Subway. People used to get so angry when I couldn't take their sub orders over the phone.

So I started. <_<

"lol, a footlong cold cut with pickles, lettuce, and extra mayonnaise? Okay it's 6.78, we'll have it ready for you in ten minutes. *HANGUP*"

[TruthHurts]

When I was a teen my mum's phone number was exactly one digit different from the number of the local pizza place. Most of the time people were nice and apologized for their mistake. But once in awhile we'd get these creeps who were sure we were some employee playing a joke on them.

[Arachne]

"lol, a footlong cold cut with pickles, lettuce, and extra mayonnaise? Okay it's 6.78, we'll have it ready for you in ten minutes. *HANGUP*"

I know you were only sixteen, and I did way, way more than my share of thoughtless things when I was that age, but I have to say that I feel the pain of the employees at the Subway in question. You think the SCs were horrible yelling at you on the phone because you wouldn't take their orders? Think about how awful they probably were when they went to pick up their sandwiches, and the employees knew nothing about the order.

When I was that age, I got a phone number that had previously belonged to another family, and they weren't being very good about letting people know that their number had changed. Let's call them the Millers. At one point, I got a call from Grandma Miller and Auntie Miller -- they had flown in as planned for the holidays, and wanted directions to the house. They wouldn't believe me that I wasn't Daughter Miller (I had already established, by weird conversations with her harem of wannabe boyfriends, that we sound alike on the phone). It got to where Grandma Miller was in tears because I was "being so cruel". I felt really bad for them, because their family hadn't even bothered to, you know, tell them their new phone number, but I didn't know what to do for them, because I didn't know where the Millers lived. After several hours of trying to convince them, I finally had to resort to hanging up on them and unplugging the phone.

I never did find out how the Miller Family Saga ended.

[Jester]

My old home phone used to be very, very close to the number of a very lovely restaurant down here. (The restaurant's number is still the same, but we no longer live in that apartment and no longer have phones that aren't cells.) So we would often get calls for them, and we would just give them the right number, and they'd be fine. No muss, no fuss.

Well, one day we got a voice mail from a guy making reservations, or thinking he was. Basically, after listening to an outgoing message that said something to the effect of "Jester, Polegi, Space Case, and Hot Babe aren't here right now. Leave your message, and they'll get back to you" and NOT "This is Great Restaurant. Leave us your reservation info", he left some info about his reservation. He DIDN'T leave his number, mind you, so I couldn't even be nice and call him back!

More proof that people don't listen. And that people are stupid.

[myswtghst]

I'll get that all the time on my cell. People will call multiple times, leave hangup voicemails (so I know they had to wait through the VM message) and still be shocked when I'm not who they're looking for. Or, they'll leave voicemails for someone who is obviously not me. And yes, my VM message is "Hi, you've reached myswtghst, I can't come to the phone right now, so yada yada yada....." so I don't think they're listening.

[FormerCallingCardRep]

There is a loser guy in our area that is giving everyone, (creditors and girls he picks up in bars) my cell phone number as his number. My cell exchange is 482 and his phone number is 428. I have had girls call me at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning and cuss me out for being at their boyfriends house at that time. The strangest call I got was from a car repo person. Here is how the call went:

FCCR - Me
CRP - Car Repo Person

FCCR: Hello
CRP: I am coming to reposses your car
FCCR: No you are not going to reposses my car
CRP: You have not been making your car payments and if you do not pay in 24 hours I will reposses your car
FCCR: No you will not. I paid cash for my car and have the title for it.
CRP: You do not have the title for it, the bank does
FCCR: If you show up and even touch my car I will call the police and have you arrested for grand theft auto.
CRP: Ms T. I have full right to reposses your car, you have not been making your payments.
FCCR: Wait one minute, who are you calling
CRP: C T
FCCR: You have called the wrong number this is FCCR
CRP: Sorry (hangs up)

[opscaddy]

My mom's number is one digit off of some local medical school. Anyway, when I was in high school, they printed their number wrong in an international mailing of some sort, and for MONTHS we were getting really odd calls. Despite the fact that we had a fairly normal machine message ("Hi, you've reached the _____s. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you!") we would get all sorts of messages left in foreign languages - like, Chinese in the middle of the night, or Italian first thing in the morning. It would have been annoying if it wasn't so darn funny. I would come home from school and listen to the 10 or so messages on the machine, many in foreign languages. Really impressed my friends.

My current phone # isn't nearly as fun.

[Crazyredhead]

People used to get so angry when I couldn't take their sub orders over the phone.

So I started. <_<

I did the same thing when I lived on Ft Campbell, but it wasn't Subway. My phone number was similar to the hospitals Blue Clinic. I used to get calls all day long from people wanting to make appointment to be seen. If I was home I took the calls, after awhile I got tired of them and let them go to vm. One day I got this bright idea. I started scheduling everyone for 9am the next day, but it was usually on the day that I had my appointment. I would like schedule 5-10 people for the same time on the same day.

Arachne, I understand that it was wrong to do that, but it was funny as hell when I went in for my appointment and there were about 6 other people there for the same time. I didn't understand how wrong this was until the day I got a job there and had to explain to these patients that they don't have an appointment and had to reschedule. Some of them actually said that I sounded like the person that they talked to. I stopped doing that cause I didn't want to get in trouble. But it was funny at the time I first thought about it.

[Lyse]

For all of you that have a one-off number, here is Jerky McJerkson's opposite.
Called of a guy, and his answering machine at 555-123-4567 and his answering machine had this on it (obviously edited for privacy ) "Hi, you've reached John Smith at 555-123-4567, please leave a message at the tone. If you've called for Acme Products, their number is 555-123-4576. Thanks!"

When he called back, I recognized him right off. He said that he was getting so many calls for the company, that he looked up the # and put it on his machine for when he wasn't there to give it to them in person. There had been some type of misprint a year or two earlier in phonebooks.

It just struck me as such a cool way to deal with something that he could have let himself get annoyed and pissy about.

[Becks]

People will call multiple times, leave hangup voicemails (so I know they had to wait through the VM message) and still be shocked when I'm not who they're looking for. Or, they'll leave voicemails for someone who is obviously not me. And yes, my VM message is "Hi, you've reached myswtghst, I can't come to the phone right now, so yada yada yada....." so I don't think they're listening.

That used to happen to me, but it's pretty much tapered off. These people better be glad that I didn't have a pre-pay phone!!!!

[FormerCallingCardRep]

I've changed the voice mail on my cell. It states the you have reached FCCR at 482-XXXX, if you are trying to reach CT then his number is 428-XXXX. If it's a number that I do not kinow I let it go to voice mail. I have gotted rid of the majority of his calls that way. The only problem is the automated calls.

[reformedwaitress]

I feel sorry for whatever person gets my old cell number. I got my first cell phone (with my family, of course) when I started high school -- 1996. And the number never changed. So I had the same cell phone number for 10 years. People got used to it. People I hadn't talked to in years would call it and be so happy to get me.

Then I moved to Savannah. And had some problems with this guy I used to know in Atlanta. So I got a new local cell phone number.

So yeah, I feel bad for anyone that gets my old cell number, because they'll probably have people calling looking for me. I feel like I should call it and apologize to whoever answers!

[Hobgoblin]

FCCR: Hello
CRP: I am coming to reposses your car

I don't know where you are, but around here, repo men just take the car. There's no forewarning. That get's the repo guys shot.

They come in the middle of the night and when you get up, it's gone. THEN you get the call telling you what happened.

[skeptic53]

My name is not particularly common, ditto the last name, although both names have been used as TV character's names so they aren't super-unusual. But until college I'd never met anyone with the same name as myself.

At school there were 2 other guys with the same name. One spelled the last name a bit different, he was in several of my classes but I never had problems with him. The other had the same spelling. I never met him, but he must have been quite the playa. My first year in Eugene I was in the phone book and he wasn't. I'd get perfumed letters, little cutesy gifts like stuffed animals, and breathless calls from ditzy women.

"Hi Skeptic53, this is Cyndy!"
"Cyndy??"
"We met at the Tri-Delt party, don't you remember??"

etc. etc etc.

I found out his number and address, forwarded his mail and gave the right number to mistaken callers.

The next year the situation was reversed, he was in the book & I was not. Old friends of mine would be passing through and would try to reach me, he'd bark "You got the wrong guy" and hang up. I was an older student doing a second bachelor's degree, I had moved a lot, so I had friends from two different high schools, my first college, friends from Peace Corps, etc. Many of them were relatively mobile so keeping everyone informed of my current address and phone was not 100% possible. I missed several important letters & documents that he didn't forward, and missed seeing several old buddies. I tried calling him and asking him to extend me the courtesy I extended to him and he told me to "fuck off". Sorry to stereotype, but he was a typical SAE fraternity jerk.