# Answering machines calling me **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-machines-calling-me/119403 **Category:** Factual Questions **Created:** [July 17, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-machines-calling-me/119403 "2002-07-17T13:36:18Z") **Posts on this page:** 3 **Page:** 1
### Author: ![chickendoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@chickendoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chickendoc) #### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-machines-calling-me/119403/1 "2002-07-17T13:36:18Z")
Why is it that sometimes when I leave a message on an answering machine that the machine calls me back? I think that my home machine does the same thing too. I’ve heard all kinds of weird dial tones and folks on the tape. What is going on here? ---
### Author: ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott) #### Post date: [July 20, 2002, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-machines-calling-me/119403/2 "2002-07-20T18:49:47Z")
I read once about a guy who was getting calls, day and night, with no humans there. It turned out his number had been owned before by a vending company, and a soft drink machine in a closed business was calling every few hours to report that it was empty. It reminds me of the abandoned robot Wallace and Gromit found on the moon in _A Grand Day Out._ ---
### Author: ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird) #### Post date: [July 20, 2002, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-machines-calling-me/119403/3 "2002-07-20T23:32:47Z")
If someone uses \*66 (the busy signal fix) to have the telco co keep trying your number until it is free this could happen: 1 you are on hte phone 2 someone (lets say opal even thought this is #2) tryed to call you and gets a busy 3 opal (hi) hangs up and dials \*66 4 when you hang up opal’s phone starts ringing alerting opal that your line is now free - but 5 Opal is on the throne so cant answer 6 opals answering machine picks it up 7 once opal’s machine picks up you phone starts ringing 8 you pick up and get Opal’s machine 9 you are more confused then when you started actually it has happened to me quite a few times.