# For a Bad, bad, bad time call... 867-5309. You got my number! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 6, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793 "2024-07-06T01:10:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/1 "2024-07-06T01:10:06Z")
Hadda change my phone number today. My number was similar to some chiropractic clinic and I’m tired of making appointments for folks, who don’t have appointments. At all…😉. Sorry persons. I was funnin’ you. Not _my sooper seekrit phone_. The regular piece of crap, hand me down. That amazingly, keeps working perfectly. Guess what number I chose and got? If you’re slightly clever you can figure out my area code and just call me up. For a good time! Well, text. I don’t talk on the phone much. Send pix, gifs, funny emojis. Up until I block yo’ butt. No really. I’m lyin’. I ask for that number. I swear I heard them snickering in the background. “Yeah, right!” Bad, bad, bad Beck don’t get that privilege. Missed out again. I have half a notion to dial it with area codes I know and see if I get any answers. As a kid we dialed a bunch of 555-??? numbers. Funny we got no answers. Good thing, Daddy would’ve killed us for making long distance calls. Remember those? I hate phones. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/2 "2024-07-06T01:15:12Z")
No matter what phone number you get, it’s going to be similar to something. My mom keeps a note on the wall next to the phone, with the half-dozen numbers most often mistaken for ours, so she could correct wrong-number callers. I can’t remember all of them, but IIRC, they include a local small college and a juvenile court. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/3 "2024-07-06T01:27:18Z")
Jenny? I like it when a number spells something. Mine sure doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/4 "2024-07-06T01:35:42Z")
When I moved about 12 years ago, I tried to get a phone number as similar as possible to my previous one. It couldn’t be identical because it was a different area code, and they had no control over the exchange, either. But they did give me a number with the same last 4 digits as my previous one. In both cases the exchange was very easy to remember, and the last 4 digits were burned into my memory, so this turned out to be very helpful to a scatterbrained old fart. And my cell phone number has been the same practically since the invention of the cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/5 "2024-07-06T01:54:11Z")
My cell phone number is identical to the Apple Store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center except that two of the digits are transposed. So I get calls for them fairly often. Because I do stuff in the community that means I’m likely to get “real” calls from numbers I don’t recognize, I usually answer my phone. Sometimes the unknown number really is for me, sometimes they say, “hello, is this the Apple Store?” and I give them the correct number. This being Hawai’i, people are awesomely nice, usually apologizing and thanking me. Except for this one woman who was furious and insisted that my number was listed on the Apple website and that it was my responsibility to call them and make them fix their typo. Because of course, it couldn’t possibly be the case that the woman had misdialed/misremembered/miswritten the number. She was such a loon that I’m actually glad she called, since her certainty that she was correct and everyone else in the world was wrong was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/6 "2024-07-06T02:01:01Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > My cell phone number is identical to the Apple Store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center except that two of the digits are transposed. So I get calls for them fairly often. Because I do stuff in the community that means I’m likely to get “real” calls from numbers I don’t recognize, I usually answer my phone. Sometimes the unknown number really is for me, sometimes they say, “hello, is this the Apple Store?” and I give them the correct number. It’s not just my number, but my _name_ that is almost identical to a well-known fast-food chain place around the corner from me. My outgoing answering machine message directs: "If you’re calling to order a pizza, please hang up and dial XXX-XXX-XXXX. “If you’re calling for me, leave a message.” ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/7 "2024-07-06T02:07:26Z")
Like I said, I inherited this phone. It was the Lil’Wrekkers phone for far too short a time, when a new iPhone came out she insisted she _just had_ to have one. At the time I was still providing her with a phone. So I took the old one. It took months to get her friends to quit calling/texting the number. I fussed and fussed at her to tell them all. She had hundreds of contacts. I guess the kids give their number to just anyone. I’d tell her so&so called she’d swear she never knew that person. I’d prove it to her. One by one I got them, either blocked or deleted or informed. I use this phone mostly for medical and family calls. I was tryna be funny asking for Jenny’s number. I knew it was a fools errand. Entertainment is sometimes elusive, around here. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/8 "2024-07-06T02:11:37Z")
Hi, Little Caesar. I need a large pepperoni, thin crust, extra cheese. 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/9 "2024-07-06T02:49:50Z")
Penn Gillette said that he always wanted the local phone number 382-5968. “Can I call you?” “Sure! F\*CK YOU.” ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/10 "2024-07-06T03:46:05Z")
I heard someone in Cleveland got that and listed himself as Jack Meoff in the phone book. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/11 "2024-07-06T04:26:18Z")
My work number is one digit different from Animal Control and one digit different from the PD non-emergency line. I get many more calls for Animal Control, though, because someone keeps printing the wrong number on some kind of outreach list. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/12 "2024-07-06T04:42:47Z")
I’d answer “Yillarias, where all animals are out of control” ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/13 "2024-07-06T04:43:04Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > When I moved about 12 years ago, I tried to get a phone number as similar as possible to my previous one. Was transferring the old number not an option? My mom transferred her old house phone number that everyone knew to a cell phone when she moved, that was about 12 years ago too. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/14 "2024-07-06T04:47:42Z")
That would work if the house number is not already someones cel number. Wait. NM…I just confused my brain. How do they coordinate that? I had a cel phone once, that used to call itself. I swear to god. No one could figure that crap out. Alas, it went the way of a swim in the toity. So I opted for another number. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/15 "2024-07-06T04:48:37Z")
They give us a script to answer the phone with. I’ve learned not to use it. People don’t know what Public Works is. So if I give them the regular spiel, they wait patiently, ignoring the canned speech, and then start telling me about their lost dog. I’ve learned to keep it short - - “Engineering. This is Yllaria, can I help you?” They don’t know what engineering is, either, but they know it’s not Animal Control and it’s not PD. So they at least start with "oh, I was trying to call . . . " It shortens things. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/16 "2024-07-06T04:50:16Z")
Are you sure the Engineers aren’t “dogs” and in need of control? 🤭 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/17 "2024-07-06T04:53:36Z")
I can’t completely refute that. But most of them are younger than me, now. So if they’re dogs, they’re very polite dogs. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/18 "2024-07-06T04:55:29Z")
Mr. Legend and I rented his childhood home from his parents after they built themselves a new house, and we took over their original phone number as well. When we moved to a bigger house over 20 years ago, we moved the number over with us. At this point, we are keeping our landline solely because of that phone number. A friend of ours we’d lost touch with years ago was able to call and reconnect not long ago because he remembered the old number. There was a business that had a very similar number, but we outlasted them. CenturyLink recently raised the rates for the landline, and it’s getting hard to justify keeping it. I’m very tempted to see if there’s a way to port that number to a new, cheap cellphone just to keep it. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/19 "2024-07-06T05:07:49Z")
I pretty sure there is a way to do it. May have get a pay by month, non-contract thing. I think all the big outfits have choose your own number thingies, tho’. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793/20 "2024-07-06T05:19:04Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > CenturyLink recently raised the rates for the landline, and it’s getting hard to justify keeping it. I’m very tempted to see if there’s a way to port that number to a new, cheap cellphone just to keep it. Get an Ooma internet phone device thing. It allows you to keep your home telephone and your home phone number, but it operates over the internet instead of the telephone system. My monthly home phone bill is about $6 now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-a-bad-bad-bad-time-call-867-5309-you-got-my-number/1003793.md?page=2)