Sorry, You Have The Wrong Number....

Several years ago I had a pretty strange land line number – 569-9992 which somehow managed to get me probably 80% wrong-number-calls. Mostly this was due to the BMO number being 596-9992 so we would get quite a few confused BMO customers asking me questions about account balances and foreign exchange rates. Then there were the ones who lost track of how many 9’s they had dialed (examples: 569-9926, 569-9921 etc.) so they’d get me instead of their friend/family member.

Here are my top 5 wrong numbers that left me frowning, rolling my eyes or just down right puzzled.

5. Voicemail – “Hi Amy! I am just calling to let you know that your Avon order is ready.
Give me a call back at ***-****. Bye!”
When I heard the message I was a touch confused because I had no idea who this person was nor had I ever in my life purchased Avon. As it turns out, she had lost count of the number of 9’s she had pressed and just happened to get another person named Amy (me).

4. My phone rings at 3:30 am and as I struggle to get out of bed and find my phone I am slightly concerned that something terrible has happened. When I finally answer it was an intoxicated woman asking me to fetch her account balance because she’s not sure she has enough money left in her account for a cab ride home. I am pretty sure cabs don’t take debit cards…but I was already quite annoyed by this disturbance that I just hung up.

3. On a Christmas morning I answer the phone from a Calgary area code. On the other line is a man wishing me a happy holiday! He goes on to ask me what I received from Santa and how my parents are. I have no idea who this man is….but I don’t want to interrupt him so I wait for him to finish his one-sided conversation of questions. Then politely ask “I’m sorry, who is this?” He paused for a moment then repeated the number he had written down to confirm if he had the right number….again, he had lost track of how many 9’s he had dialed.

2. I answered a blocked call on an early Sunday evening – thinking it was my parents calling to ask why we were late for dinner. Instead it is a man asking me if he can speak to “Irene”. I tell him he has the wrong number. Rather than give the usual response of hanging up or an apology, he does something creepy….like asks me my name, where I live, how old I am and if I had any plans for the evening. I was silent while I contemplated my course of action. I decided that less was more and just hung up on him.

1. While watching a movie on a cold winter night with Jimmy we received a phone call from a woman who was looking for her granddaughter. I politely told her she had the wrong number. She thanked me and hung up. Less than one minute goes by and the phone rings again and I answer. She recognizes my voice from the previous call so she apologizes and hangs up again. Then the phone rings for a third time in less than 5 minutes. Jimmy is now annoyed….he answers and instead of backing down this time the women interrogates Jimmy and accuses him of not allowing her granddaughter to answer the phone (what?). Now I am kind of irritated so I grab the phone and explain that her granddaughter may have once had this number but we have had it for well over 2 years. She finally admits defeat and hangs up.
Several weeks later, the same woman leaves a message on our voicemail asking to speak to her granddaughter….we did not return the call.

Anyway, we no longer even bother with a landline since it's usually a phone solicitor or a wrong number. Although, I have recently found out that my cell phone number is very close to the Cornwall Aldo's number…I have had several calls about bags being placed on hold and in one case, a man looking for a woman he had met over the weekend at the Pump.