*69 call backs (inspired by prank call thread)

[Marseeya]

If you have *69 and you see a number on there you don't recognize, do you call it back to see who it is?

I don't.

I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I know people who do this and I've had it done to me and I just don't understand it! My sister does it all the time and she sounds really accusatory when she calls them back. "Hello! You called MY number, who is this???" My DH had this done to him a few days ago. He dialed a wrong number and there wasn't a machine or anything. A few hours later, this guy called him back wanting to know who he was. When I see strange numbers on there, I just assume they're wrong numbers.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

The only time that I have done that is when I answer and they hang up without even saying, "sorry, wrong number". Even then I don't usually do it, but I often do a reverse lookup of the number on Anywho.com to see if I know the person. That doesn't work for cell numbers, though. The other night at around 11pm the phone rang. I answered and they hung up. It was a cell number and I did call it back and got voicemail. They said their first name and I think it was a friend of my college age DD. She probably dialed my DD's home number by mistake instead of her cell number, but I think it was still rude to hang up. Often we are in bed at that time. I did not leave a message in her voicemail, though, and chalked it up to a teenager not thinking through that she was being rude (I know her and know that she is a polite, sweet girl normally, so I was not going call her on it, excuse the pun).

 

[Marseeya]

The only time that I have done that is when I answer and they hang up without even saying, "sorry, wrong number". Even then I don't usually do it, but I often do a reverse lookup of the number on Anywho.com to see if I know the person. That doesn't work for cell numbers, though. The other night at around 11pm the phone rang. I answered and they hung up. It was a cell number and I did call it back and got voicemail. They said their first name and I think it was a friend of my college age DD. She probably dialed my DD's home number by mistake instead of her cell number, but I think it was still rude to hang up. Often we are in bed at that time. I did not leave a message in her voicemail, though, and chalked it up to a teenager not thinking through that she was being rude (I know her and know that she is a polite, sweet girl normally, so I was not going call her on it, excuse the pun).

I think I might do the same thing if someone woke me up at night! I wouldn't do it to be confrontational, but just to see if there's anything wrong and if it's someone I know.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Nah -- if a number shows up on our caller ID that I don't recognize and they don't leave a message, I don't care who it is.

 

[Christine]

A few times, when my kids were young and just learning how to use the phone, they would try to call their grandmother. Sometimes they would get one number off and get a wrong number. One time in particular, a guy called back (he had caller ID). He asked my son (who was 5 at the time) if he called him. My son, very scared, said 'no' and hung up. The phone rang again and I answered it. This guy proceeded to cuss me out for calling his phone.

 

[laurie31]

This has happened to me. The worst one was when I dialed a wrong number trying to call my grandmother. When no one answered, I figured I'd misdialed, tried again, and she answered right away. I didn't think anything of it until a few hours later when someone called demanding to know why I'd called them, what I wanted, etc. They were really rude! They weren't even home when I called, (no one answered and no machine or voice mail) so I couldn't have bothered them. I spent forever falling all over myself apologizing for dialing a wrong number. They acted like I was lying. It was very bizarre.

If I see numbers I don't know, I just figure they're telemarketers and count myself lucky that I wasn't home

Laurie

 

[lillygator]

I think a lot of the call backs may be from mistrusting people!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I cannot imagine calling someone back when I wasn't even home! Geez!

And if I were to ever call someone back who'd hung up on me and got a child I would never give the child a bad time (or call back and ream the parent out). For crying out loud, we're talking a child who is learning to use the phone and doesn't always know what to do when getting a wrong number. IF I were to call someone back and a child answered the most I would do is to instruct them on what to do when they get a wrong number. It's a learning experience, not a time to get mad at a child.

The thing that happens more often is that I'll be on the phone and someone I know calls. Unless the second person calling is long distance or a call I've been waiting for (dr's office, etc) I will not take the second call. When I get off the first call I will usually call the second person back.

Another thing that happens is that I won't be home and when checking the caller ID log I find out that someone I know has called, but they haven't left a message. In situations like that I usually do not call them back, but I sometimes wonder if I should call them back. I figure if they really wanted me to call them back they would have left a message.

 

[dcgrumpy]

No I don't, but I've had it done to me. I accidentally dialed the wrong number trying to order a pizza, I said sorry i had dialed the wrong number. Two minutes later this psycho calls me back accusing me of having an affair with her husband, she called about 3 or 4 times after I kept hanging up on her.

 

[jennyl772003]

I work in an office, and I sometimes have the job of answering the phones. I can't tell you how often I have had people call and ask, "Who called me?"

How am I supposed to know? We have 20 agents. It could have been any of them! If they didn't leave you a message, just leave it be, it must not have been important!

 

[Nancy]

I only did it once because the same person kept calling and calling asking for so and so. She was told over and over that so and so does not live here and she has the wrong number. One morning she called and as soon as the machine picked up she hung the phone up. I did call her back and she starting getting all nasty with me. "Who is this?" ...This is the person you keep annoying all the time after you have been repeatedly told that you have the wrong number. She tried to tell me that her MIL gave her this phone number, she is supposed to be at this number. I then told her NOT to call here again, that obviously her MIL lied and gave her a wrong number to reach her at. The woman has not called my house since then.

 

[Disney Doll]

Nah -- if a number shows up on our caller ID that I don't recognize and they don't leave a message, I don't care who it is.

This is pretty much my theory.

When we got caller ID, my crazy SIL in St.Louis said "Oh good, now I can call you, hang up, and you'll know I called so you can call me back". No...I don't think so. I didn't get caller ID to save you money on your phone bill. I very nicely told her that if she wanted a call back, she should leave me a message so I know what information she is looking for.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Nah -- if a number shows up on our caller ID that I don't recognize and they don't leave a message, I don't care who it is.

Same here.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

No I don't, but I've had it done to me. I accidentally dialed the wrong number trying to order a pizza, I said sorry i had dialed the wrong number. Two minutes later this psycho calls me back accusing me of having an affair with her husband, she called about 3 or 4 times after I kept hanging up on her.

She has some issues. I would have been tempted to give her the number of a good therapist

 

[momof3disneyholics]

I only do it if it is on my work cell phone. Sometimes I get important call on there and I don't like to miss them.
I hate when I work at my concierge desk and sometimes people will call up and ask who called them? I tell them that there are about 500 rooms in this hotel so take your pick!

 

[disykat]

I got a call the other day from a guy saying I had called him - and not too politely. I had tried to call my cell phone earlier and it didn't ring. I thought it was my cell phone acting up - that's why I was calling it in the first place - because I was having trouble with calls going through. Fortunately I remembered that and asked him if his number was close to ###-####. It was and he hung up, apparently satisfied. I thought it was weird, and then I realized I had given him my cell number and now he had both numbers! He hasn't called back, but it made me wonder.

 

[Kermit]

I wouldn't call someone back unless the situation was really odd.

I did have one time that I answered the phone and didn't hear anything except what sounded like a cat. I did *69, and it was a long distance number. I looked up the area code on the Internet and realized it came from Oregon, where one of my aunts lived. I looked in my address book and realized it was her cell phone. She and her DH have a cat, named Martha, so I called her and asked her why Martha called me. It turned out it wasn't a cat at all. She was around some children who'd apparently gotten ahold of her phone and pushed buttons. What sounded like a cat was really children screaming in the distance. It was very odd that I even used *69, since I practically never do, but I was glad I did because it ended up being really funny.

 

[Bob Slydell]

This is pretty much my theory.

When we got caller ID, my crazy SIL in St.Louis said "Oh good, now I can call you, hang up, and you'll know I called so you can call me back". No...I don't think so. I didn't get caller ID to save you money on your phone bill. I very nicely told her that if she wanted a call back, she should leave me a message so I know what information she is looking for.

Wow -- talk about cheap (your SIL, not you )

 

[Marseeya]

No I don't, but I've had it done to me. I accidentally dialed the wrong number trying to order a pizza, I said sorry i had dialed the wrong number. Two minutes later this psycho calls me back accusing me of having an affair with her husband, she called about 3 or 4 times after I kept hanging up on her.

So, that was you calling my husband??? Pizza, my foot!

 

[delilah]

This happens quite frequently to me. I am a doctor, and I get paged to numbers that I don't know frequently at all hours of the day and night. My home phone is in my husband's name, and I practice under my own, birth name. At least once a month, somebody calls me demanding to know why our number is on their caller id. I calmly ask if somebody paged the doctor. 99% of the time, this is the case. This usually settles the issue. However, I think I got involved with the same psycho babe the other poster encountered. She insisted that I must be the woman her husband was cheating with. She was so ugly. I just said, sorry, and hung up the phone.