# dont use your caller-id this way! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 23, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463 "2002-07-23T22:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![djbdjb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@djbdjb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djbdjb)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/1 "2002-07-23T22:37:02Z")
This may have happened to some of you, especially in a place where several roomates share a phone. You get a call from someone asking why you called them. You say you didn’t call them, they can quote your name and when you called. It’s obvious that they saw the data on their caller-id box and call you back to find out what is up. If you were a person who dialed a wrong number, or some other person dialed that number correctly, but you don’t know what it is about, this is annoying conversation to have. To caller-id back-callers: If they really want you that bad, they will call again, or they would have left a message. Can you justify your calling back this way?!?! ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/2 "2002-07-23T23:01:33Z")
Yes. A mutual friend (or family member) is terminally ill, has been in a car accident, or is otherwise likely to require my presence. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/3 "2002-07-23T23:18:19Z")
Huh? What am I missing here? How the hell likely is that scenario? * * * The black eye was just a misunderstanding. She thought I said that she must attract a lot a admirers with her wits. I told her she misunderstood… ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/4 "2002-07-23T23:34:55Z")
Yeh, caller ID creeps me out. ---
**Author:** ![SisterCoyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@SisterCoyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SisterCoyote)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/5 "2002-07-23T23:36:17Z")
Well, when my father had his first heart attack, he and my mother were not at home, so my sister got a number on her phone that she didn’t recognize (actually, she got it on both her home ID and on her cell) telling her to come to the hospital. So it does happen. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/6 "2002-07-23T23:40:53Z")
I have to say I’ve had this conversation before (just once, mercifully)… Me: Hello? Them (usually a little old lady): Hi, you called me? M: Um…no…may I ask who’s calling? LOL: This is Phyllis. I saw this number on my caller ID. M: Um…okay. I promise, we didn’t call you. LOL: Yes you did! M: When did the call occur? LOL: 5 minutes ago. M: Okay, I _promise_, I was here and didn’t call you. No one else is here to call. LOL: Yes you did! Why did you call? M: I DIDN’T CALL YOU! I don’t know a Phyllis! It’s probably some weird burp in the system. LOL: (skepically) Well, maybe, but that seems unlikely. Why did you call me? Ad infinitem. The only thing worse than this is the “I’m sorry, there’s no one here by that name,” “YES THERE IS!” phone calls. I had one LOL who called me three times in succession _insisting_ Sarah (or whatever the name was) had to be there. Please, _don’t_ use caller ID to call people back. If it was worth leaving a message, they would have. Period. ---
**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/7 "2002-07-24T01:24:33Z")
Well, I don’t think it’s the calling that’s the problem. More like it’s the way some people handle it. Right? Would you have been upset if, when you said you didn’t know who called (if it was a multi-person household) or that you hadn’t called, if the person said, “ok, sorry to bother you” and left it at that? I’ve called back by caller ID friends whose number I didn’t have. I’ve called back people who didn’t leave a message because they thought I wasn’t home (I didn’t get to the phone in time). It all went smoothly without any hurt feelings. 🙂 'course YMMV 😉 PC ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/8 "2002-07-24T01:33:12Z")
One time, before Caller ID but after \*69, I was calling a friend and misdialed the number. I realized my mistake just as the connection was made, so I hit the cutoff before even hearing the other phone ring and redialed correctly. About five minutes after I finished a rather lengthy conversation with my friend my phone rings. Me: Hello? Belligerant Voice: Why’d you call me & hang up? Me: Excuse me? BV: You called me and then hung up before I could answer the phone. What’s your problem, asshole? Me: I don’t have the vaguest idea what you’re talking about. (By this time I had completely forgotten about the misdial.) BV: Don’t give me that bullshit. I’ve been dialling \*69 for the last hour and your phone’s been busy. The light then dawned; I tried to explain what had happened, but Mr \*69 has gotten himself so worked up over the last hour that the concept that somebody could have dialed his number by mistake is beyond his comprehension. I finally gave up apologizing for being such a total idiot that I couldn’t even dial a phone correctly and hung up. The phone rang almost immediately; I had now made the supreme mistake of hanging up before he was through scrsaming at me. I hung up again, then left the phone off the hook for the rest of the night. Fortunately in those days \*69 only dialed the last number which had called instead of providing the number itself or the name of the caller. Otherwise, this jackass probably would have looked up my address and done Og knows what. ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/9 "2002-07-24T02:19:20Z")
I hate when people do that! ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/10 "2002-07-24T04:09:30Z")
I actually got home from work a couple weeks ago and found this message on my machine: [insert snotty nasal female voice here] “Hello, someone from this number just called me and hung up and I’d like to know why.” Now I had just gotten home from work, and I’m the first one home. The message was from 11:00 am, when no one is in the house. At first, I thought, “someone broke into my house, called this woman, and then hung up!” Then, of course, I remembered that people frequently call my number accidentally, confusing it with that of a woman named T’Kesha. ---
**Author:** ![Squish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/11 "2002-07-24T05:52:13Z")
Not a caller ID story, _but_: One year the phone directly mistakenly listed my home phone number as that for a large pool company. I found it simply amazing the number of people who **insisted** that I was so the pool company! Hello? If I was a commercial business, why would I lie to potential customers? ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Venom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Lady\_Venom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Venom)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/12 "2002-07-24T14:04:31Z")
I live in a small community on a street called Oak Road\*. In the past 2 months, I’ve had anywhere between 5-10 calls a day from a number that shows up Oak Residence\*. Up until the other night, we’ve ignored it. I’ve never been home when these people called. Figuring it may be a community watch or something, my fiance finally called back to the number and found out that it is a senior’s residence. A resident has been calling the wrong number, time and time again. The only time I ever call someone back from my caller ID is when the number has shown up more than once. Like the asshole who called 5 times yesterday morning between 5AM and 6AM. I finally called him back and he said he was trying to wake up a friend he was supposed to pick up. Well DUH if you LISTEN to my answering machine, you would know who you have reached and it is NOT your friend Carlos!!! :smack: \*not the real name of the street ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/13 "2002-07-24T14:21:19Z")
Yes, please, don’t use your caller id this way. I was calling my fiancé’s cell # the other day, it went wonky, and I ended up getting a wrong number. I hung up when I realized it wasn’t Jim, then later that night I got a puzzled, indignant call from the wrong number - who is this, why did you call my cell, etc. I don’t like explaining myself to strangers; if I needed to leave you a message, I would have. Assume from the fact I _didn’t_ leave a message or ask you to call back that I don’t _want_ you to call back. And yes, I do have my reasons. You don’t need to call me up and demand them from me. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/14 "2002-07-24T14:29:56Z")
The main problem I have with people who use their caller ID this way (and I’m speaking hypothetically, because I don’t really have this problem) is that they will come to expect _other people_ to use it that way, too. “Hey, why didn’t you call me back?” “Because I didn’t know you wanted me to.” “But I called you!” “You didn’t leave a message.” “Why should I leave a message? Didn’t your caller ID show you I called?” ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/15 "2002-07-24T14:57:31Z")
This happens all the time at my office. Someone calls and says that someone called from xxx-xxxx and who was it. I explain that this is an office, we have 31 incoming lines, I don’t know who is on which line at any specific time, I can’t go around to every employee and ask who called whom, and it was either a wrong number or the person will call back. “But can’t you find out? It’s important.” NO it’s NOT important, otherwise they would have left you a freakin’ message!!! ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/16 "2002-07-24T15:46:02Z")
There are people who have a phone addiction. I know. I lived with one. He had to call back every number that showed up on the Caller ID because “it might be important.” Oh yeah, calling that MCI telemarketer back, now there’s a matter of life and death.:rolleyes: The first thing out of his mouth to me when he would come in was not ever hello, hey sweetie, or any of those nice things one should say to his/her partner, but, did anybody call? Are there any numbers on the caller ID? I’d say, there were, but I zapped em when I got home. Really pissed him off. Course, I enjoyed that part. I cannot imagine wanting to call back a telemarketer, or possibly wrong number to find out what they wanted. Hell, I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to em in the first place. Hmmm…I’m adding this to the reasons I’m glad he’s outta my life now. 😃 There was this one phone trick of his that just fascinated me; he could simultaneously carry on a conversation on the land line (with two different people via call waiting) and on his cell phone. (Once he attempted this feat with the land line, his cell phone and my cell phone but couldn’t quite carry it off.) Hell, it’s all I can do to keep up in a phone conversation with one person at a time. It was some kinda fascinating thing to behold I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/17 "2002-07-24T15:54:43Z")
I’ve been getting a number for the last couple of days that lets the phone ring twice, then hang up. I have the phone number - it’s always the same (in the 801 area code), so I tried to call it back. The phone rang twice and went dead. I dialed it again - same thing - two rings, then dead line. So I’m explaining it away as a weird phone company glitch and leaving it at that. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/18 "2002-07-24T16:01:51Z")
I hate it when people call back Caller ID numbers, but i’m now fighting the urge to do so myself. I’ve had a number show up 3 times on my Caller ID over the course of 3 days from Missouri. I live in California and don’t know anyone from Missouri. I’m thinking it’s probably a telemarketer or something, but they called yesterday when I was home, I answered the phone and they hung up! The hell? Next time they call, their asses are mine I tell ya… ---
**Author:** ![SuperNelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@SuperNelson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperNelson)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/19 "2002-07-24T16:02:49Z")
So who else is thinking of Arsenio Hall’s scene in “Amazon Women on the Moon” right now? “There ain’t no !@#$#@ Thelma here!” ---
**Author:** ![Corrvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@Corrvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corrvin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463/20 "2002-07-24T17:27:10Z")
The worst ones are “Why did you call me?” Well, give me a damn clue, like WHEN you got the call, WHO you are, or what your NUMBER is, and maybe I can tell you. And don’t get me started on people who get home and call every phone number on their caller ID, fully expecting that whatever business called them at 2 PM will still be open at 7:30…argh, that’s a work rant and belongs in another thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-use-your-caller-id-this-way/120463.md?page=2)