# For the last time, I am not selling a Chinese restaurant! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247 "2010-07-19T18:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/41 "2010-07-21T03:43:16Z")
This is not quite the same thing, but as an example of the importance of proofreading: in one harried incident during the last campaign, I was preparing a batch of flyer cards and accidentally wrote my home phone number instead of the campaign office’s (they both had the same first three digits, being only a few blocks apart). Naturally, I only realized my mistake once the cards were delivered. We wasted a bunch of time as volunteers patiently stuck stickers over the phone numbers on all the cards. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/42 "2010-07-21T04:32:21Z")
This was a single wrong number, rather than a directory, but it sure was annoying. When I was in grad school, someone started trying to send a fax to my home number. Every three minutes, the phone would ring, and if I picked it up I would get that earsplitting whine. Yelling “this is not a fax line” into the phone at top volume did not help, although it did relieve my feelings slightly. I did not have a fax machine, but I did have a fax modem - that was in my huge, heavy desktop computer in a room that did not have a line to that phone. After a solid hour of this treatment, I unplugged and hauled the whole computer downstairs so that it could answer the damn phone. I got a fax of someone’s cake order to a local hotel that was catering an event. Fortunately, it had a callback number on it, which I called to give the woman a piece of my mind. “Oh, the hotel gave me that number - I was so happy that it finally went through!” Really? In twenty phone calls that are not answered by a fax machine, it never once occurred to you to call back and check the number that you were dialing? She didn’t even apologize. I was still so irritated after the phone call that I also called the hotel catering department and told them to stop giving out my number. (They did apologize, although I’m sure they were rolling their eyes the whole time.) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/43 "2010-07-21T12:17:25Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > There’s at least one combination missing from that list. I removed the one that was described as being unintended. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/44 "2010-07-21T16:42:23Z")
> [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](#): > > Slightly off topic and I’ve posted this before but funny as, well, fuck. I got my then sixteen year old daughter a cell phone and the number was her name - 3825 - oh clever with it hip mum! My wife insisted we each get a cell phone – she wanted to be sure I had one so she could reach me. My _randomly assigned_ number is 568-xxxx, which incidentally spells LOV-\. Purely random luck! So it turns out to be a pretty easy number for her to remember (should she ever lose the auto-dial feature we now all use instead of human memory). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/45 "2010-07-21T17:21:38Z")
For some reason, my business gets faxes from Sun Trust Bank in Nashville all the time. They send us people’s W2s and mortgage info. I’m not quite sure why they think we are - possibly a title company. For about the first year, we would call the bank and explain what happened. But we would always either get the run-around (no one would know who to connect us to, and apparently no one can send out a memo) or when we eventually did talk to a person, they would be unapologetic or rude. So now, they just periodically send sensitive personal information of their customers to the black hole that is our fax machine. Fuck Sun Trust Bank of Nashville, TN. BTW…I can’t think of a funnier/weirder thing for the OP to be selling by accident. Funnier than being mistaken for a Chinese restaurant, funnier than selling a boring old office building. I’m sure it’s frustrating but…LOL!! ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/46 "2010-07-21T22:07:02Z")
I’m the same phone number as the medical clinic for a local military installation. The only difference is that my number has the local area code, 805, and theirs is 888. I get a call or two a month. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/47 "2010-07-21T22:40:38Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I lived with my grandparents for a couple of years as a teen. A local medical treatment facility ran TV commercials which listed the facility’s number, and then listed an extension, like so: > > 555-1212 > EXT 1234 > > Grandma and Grandpa’s number was 555-1234, and they frequently got calls at inconvenient times, because stupid people assumed that their number was an alternate phone number. Complaining to the TV stations that ran the ads didn’t do any good, and Grandpa was tired of explaining to angry people that he was NOT the facility they wanted. So he looked up the facility’s CEO’s home number, and calmly said “Oh, sorry, the number you want is \.” Grandpa was a bastard, but shortly afterwards the TV commercials were changed to something that was a little harder to misunderstand. I remember reading somewhere (of course this might be made-up, but it _was_ in a newspaper article!) of this case: Little old lady has had the same phone number for countless years. A brand new large hotel is built in her neighbourhood, and the phone number is one off from hers. After a few weeks of getting calls at all times of day for people wanting a reservation or whatnot, she tells the hotel and ask if they can change their number. The hotel tells her she should change _her_ number. After a few days of stalemate, the little old lady starts telling people “Sorry, our hotel is currently closed due to Health Department violations, so we are redirecting everyone to the nearby Marriott.” The hotel changed its main phone number shortly after. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/48 "2010-07-21T23:20:45Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I remember reading somewhere (of course this might be made-up, but it _was_ in a newspaper article!) of this case: > > Little old lady has had the same phone number for countless years. A brand new large hotel is built in her neighbourhood, and the phone number is one off from hers. After a few weeks of getting calls at all times of day for people wanting a reservation or whatnot, she tells the hotel and ask if they can change their number. The hotel tells her she should change _her_ number. After a few days of stalemate, the little old lady starts telling people > “Sorry, our hotel is currently closed due to Health Department violations, so we are redirecting everyone to the nearby Marriott.” > The hotel changed its main phone number shortly after. What good would it do for _them_ if she changed her number? They still wouldn’t be getting their calls. You gotta wonder about people sometimes. **ZipperJJ** , I suspect if you call the SEC and tell them that Sun Trust is violating its customers’ confidentiality, something would be done. They’re damned lucky you’re honest. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/49 "2010-07-22T02:43:25Z")
> [@](#): > > So now, they just periodically send sensitive personal information of their customers to the black hole that is our fax machine. Fuck Sun Trust Bank of Nashville, TN. > [@](#): > > I suspect if you call the SEC and tell them that Sun Trust is violating its customers’ confidentiality, something would be done. They’re damned lucky you’re honest. And if you have any contact info for the customers, why, you should contact them, too, and let them know how very careful Sun Trust is with their info. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/50 "2010-07-22T04:06:52Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > And if you have any contact info for the customers, why, you should contact them, too, and let them know how very careful Sun Trust is with their info. Your grandfather would be so proud of you. [sniffle] ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/51 "2010-07-22T04:14:00Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > Everyone, please tell me that I’m not the only one staring at my phone trying to figure out the name of **BBG** ’s daughter. It’s her first name and initial of surname. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/52 "2010-07-22T14:06:45Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > What good would it do for _them_ if she changed her number? They still wouldn’t be getting their calls. It wasn’t good for the hotel necessarily. They didn’t care either way. They were telling the old lady “if you don’t want to get all these misdialed calls, then change your number and you won’t be getting them.” ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247/53 "2010-07-22T16:42:34Z")
My company has a similar name as the local cable company. Both are three syllables, and the first two are the same. We’re also right next to each other in the phone book. Given that our phone menu gives our name and describes what we do (we’re a software company), and the options don’t make a lot of sense for a cable company, this screens out all but the most persistent idiots. My favorites are the ones who a) hit redial after I tell them they called the wrong number, then listen to all the menus AGAIN, don’t pick up that it’s the same as the last time they dialed wrong, and still start complaining about their cable when I pick up a second time b) call on the weekend and leave one or more hysterical voice mails demanding that I come fix their cable NOW!!! because the game is on and they need it!!! c) call, get through all of the prompts AND the message with our hours and that they are being directed to a voice mail, and leave a voice mail saying “Hello? Hello? Why won’t you answer me? My cable doesn’t work, hello? I think they hung up! How rude! I WANT TO CANCEL!! I AM SO MAD! CANCEL MY CABLE!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-last-time-i-am-not-selling-a-chinese-restaurant/547247.md?page=2)