the wrong number

July 10th, 2004

What is with people dialing the wrong number? I don't understand this phenomenon, how hard is it to dial a number, how hard is it to correctly key an 8 digit sequence? This baffles me because approximately once a month or once in two months, I get a wrong number caller. Once I had a new cellphone, 3 people knew about the number and I got a wrong number call from Denmark. How the hell does that happen? They just dial the wrong prefix by mistake?

What is wrong with these people? I have dialed the wrong number maybe 3 times in my life. And that's a high estimate just to be on the safe side. Meanwhile I get these calls and it's always the same routine, first of all they never introduce themselves. It's always

"Is John there?"

"No, there is no John here."

And damn it, half the time they don't hear that and ask the same question one more time. There is always that element of surprise, like they can't figure out how the universe conspired against them to end up in this situation. You would think that with cellphones, where you have the digits on the display, it shouldn't be too hard for people to check that they have the right number before they start the call. I swear there is no hope.

Even worse are the people who demand to know who they are talking to. Of course, these never introduce themselves either.

"Is Mike there?"

"No, there is no Mike here."

"Then who am I talking to?"

That's right, and when you ask them who they are, they won't tell you, they simply reiterate their demand. Well I'll tell you one thing, you call me and refuse to tell me who you are, I'm returning the favor.

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