I used to get calls from different Nuclear Power Plants trying to get in touch with the control room of the Nuclear Plant (Oyster Creek) in my town. I asked one caller where he got the number and he told me the NRC had a list of all the control rooms in the country and it listed my number. It went on for about a year, every few weeks I would get the call. Then no more calls.

Yesterday, I got another one.

A lady called asking me for an estimate for mowing. I informed her that I don’t offer that service. She said “sorry to bother. Bye.”

Three minutes later she calls back. “I called you early last week and you never showed up.”

“Actually, you called me … (looking at my phone log) … three minutes ago and I haven’t added mowing to my services since then.”

She replied, “oh, I’d this the same number again?”

“Yes, you’d be surprised how many calls I get like this.”

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:
For my voice mail I state my name and the number and still get long messages.
Or a 3 minute message in Spanish.

Some I do call back or answer and inform them that the number they called is the wrong one if they are blowing up my phone.
Odd how some keep asking if I know the person, it's as if they can't grasp that they called the wrong number.

I picked up the home line and of course a telemarketer. Having lived in the Southwest for a number of years I knew a bit of “Spanglish”, border Spanish, whatever you want to call it.

So to everything she said I answer back in Spanglish. She was getting frustrated more by the minute. She then said “Does anyone there speak English?”

My answer, “No habla, ese!”

She abruptly ended the call, even before I could say in English “Thanks for calling”

The music store I worked at has a number similar to the DMV. Like others here, we had plenty who accepted they dialed the wrong number. Then there was the one lady who called back several times and then insisted she had the right number, so I told her she didn’t have to worry about renewing her license or her registration, whichever it was. “Nope, you don’t have to come in, we’ll just mail it to you.” My coworker was turning purple laughing and said “you know if she gets stopped that’s going to be a ticket and she’s gonna argue with the cop because the guy at the DMV said no to worry about it, right?” I told him if she couldn’t operate a phone, she probably should be operating a motor vehicle anyways and needed to get pulled over and ticketed. “She can argue with the cop, and then the judge since she knows it all.”

A friend was constantly getting calls that were meant for Waste Management. People would call to schedule getting a dumpster dropped off. After telling some people that they had the wrong number, they would insist that they called the correct number. After arguing with them for a bit, he would just schedule an imaginary dumpster for them.

Our home line is one digit off from Skylawn Cemetary. Very large cemetary on Skyline in the San Mateo hills at the conjunction of 92 and 35.

Typically they are bereaved, so I learned long ago to guide them to the correct number.

We've unplugged our house line as all we seem to get these days are sales pitches and will soon have it disconnected.

I fix appliances and today I got a call from someone in Sacramento (1.5 hours east from S.F. Bay Area) asking if I was associated with a company out there and would I come out for repair as this someone at that company was a no show.

Happens a lot.

My number got accidently put into the memory of a fax machine as the local District Attorneys office detective line. I had a fax sharing the line. For a few days I would come home to search warrants to be executed rolling onto the floor.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

What is it with people not remembering who they dealt with and just picking someone to berate?

They are stupid or careless. They then can't imagine they made a mistake.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Perhaps she had already called the wrong number, they pretended to be you, and accepted the Saturday mowing appointment.

An excellent example of not so out of the box critical thinking!

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:What is it with people not remembering who they dealt with and just picking someone to berate?

I blame it on US business practices over the last 40 odd years. As soon as that 'customer is always right' horseshit entered the popular lexicon, we were screwed. That lady, as an example, has almost certainly been effectively rewarded for decades for being mostly belligerent and not listening. For being stupid if you like.

You can talk about this all day long with different theories, but you know I'm right.