Why Do People Do This?

[redlight]

I once had a wrong number call . After I told the guy he had the wrong number, he paused for a second and asked, "You wouldn't know her new number, would you?" Ummmm. huh??? LOL

 

[daisax]

I work in a large metropolitan hospital, and the email format is firstinitiallastname@hospital. I've been there for years, but recently a doctor came on staff with the same last name and first initial, so his email is first and middle initials and last name.

But people who know his name and our basic format will write to him using just his first initial, which is MY email address -- patients, staff -- about everything from scheduling patient appointments to the pros and cons of different procedures, to whether they should be worried about some new symptom.

I just forward him the emails and thank god he's an otolaryngologist and not something more explicit!

 

[Fintastic]

I used to answer the phones at my last job. Without fail several times a day I'd pick up the phone and somebody on the other end would say, "This number was on my Caller ID. Who is this?" Uh, if they don't leave a message, possibly it was a wrong number?

Another time, the government set up a number for elderly people to call when the Social Security system was going through some changes or had new regulations or whatever they were doing. This number was 888-XXX-XXXX. Our number was 800-XXX-XXXX. I got TONS of old people calling me asking for help with the new Social Security rules and when I'd tell them they had the wrong number they would get very upset. Never mess with a pissed-off elderly person.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I guess one reason I don't like wrong numbers is when I was younger we had this guy in our area who would call random numbers until he heard a young sounding girl on the phone. He would then ask to leave a message for their father. When they went to take the message he would say, "I am parked outside your house and I can see. You go into your bedroom and do as I say or I will kill you." He would then go on to say some very sexually explicit stuff.

When I was in middle school I was one of hte victims. My mom was home, so I had her get on the other land. When he asked who picked up I slammed it down and told him my dog had knocked it off the hook, then I picked it up quietly. I had looked outside and unbeknownst to me my neighbor had bought a new truck that was sitting outside our house, so I thought he was really there.

When I got to the bedroom he asked me how old I was. I paused because I wanted to make myself sound older, but I doubted he would believe my real age (13). When he said that, my mom got on and said, "none of your business." and he hung up.

During this whole conversation he kept telling me that if I messed with him or didn't do what he said he would send his friend in and kill me. Then he kept telling me not to be scared. When he hung up I was convinced he was going to come in out of that truck and kills us. After my mom calmed me down she explained what was going on and that she had had several friends at work whose daughters had received those phone calls. We called the police and they took the info.

He called me back two more times. I am the only victim he ever called back. To this day I do not know why. The first time he called back I knew who it was and told him my father was home and I would bring the phone to him. We didn't do anything that time. The second time I tried to lead him on and get my mom to call the police on her cell phone to try to trace the call, but she didn't understand. We did call the police that time and were told that I was the only one he had ever called back and that if he called again he would put a tracer on the phone. I don't know if he ever tried to call again because I went to college after that. It was about 5 years later that he was finally caught.

After that experience, I am not a fan of talking to random people on the phone. If I don't know you, I don't want to talk to you. I have no way of knowing if you are genuinely a nice person, or somebody with a more nefarious purpose in mind like that guy. It taught me a at a young age that there are some very sick people in this world.

 

[Maridw]

I work at United Way and have had people call there and it turn out to be a wrong number. One person actually did not believe it was United Way.

I had a wrong texter who swore I was a teenager. When I tried to call and let her know that she had the wrong number, she texted me back with "Was that your mom?" I about died laughing until I couldn't get through to her that I was not her friend. After finally threatening her with the police for harrassment, she finally stopped. I called and left her a message that if she did not stop calling and texting me I was going to call the police and file harrassment charges. I guess she thought I could do it.

Most wrong numbers are very polite when they realize they have the wrong number.