# So the phone rings... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178 "2008-11-05T00:26:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EpicNonsense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@EpicNonsense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpicNonsense)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/1 "2008-11-05T00:26:25Z")
Me “Hello” Angered voice “You have my phone” Me “…What???” – “I lost my phone and I just called my number. You have my phone” Me “What the hell are you talking about? I’ve had this number for 2 years” – “That’s not possible, I just dialed ###-####.” Me “But my number is ###-###%, so apparently you didn’t” –_mumbles something to a girl in the background_ “…What?” Me _click_ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/2 "2008-11-05T00:34:19Z")
Good pairing of name with content! I’m not sure why people aren’t more polite. Even if you did have his phone, snarling at you isn’t going to entice you to give it back now, is it? Well, actually, one of my friends was able to get through to the girlfriend of his cell phone thief and totally intimidate you, so maybe it does work. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/3 "2008-11-05T01:10:44Z")
When I finally got a cell phone, I got a lot of calls that I thought were wrong numbers. None were in English, so saying it was a wrong number did not give satisfaction. Among the calls, I got a guy complaining that I was using his number. I assumed that he had the number wrong, but The Offspring says that they’re recycling old numbers quicker, now, and it’s possible that he used to have my number but hadn’t paid his bill. I told him to take it up with his carrier. Never heard back. Hope it’s just a one time wrong number for you. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/4 "2008-11-05T01:49:09Z")
Angry voice: “You have my phone!” Things you could have said: “Yeah I know. This is Phil at the front desk. Someone turned in this phone a couple of hours ago. You should come down and pick it up.” “No way! I just bought this phone fair and square from crazy Benny for $10 worth of crack!” “Yeah! You’ve got some awesome pictures on here dude!” ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/5 "2008-11-05T04:54:48Z")
I had pretty much the same conversation many years ago. I had been issued a pager for work and had it about a month when I recieved a page to a number I didn’t recognize. I called it anyways of course. #: Hello Me: Hi. I just recieved a page to call this #. #: You have my pager. Me: No, I don’t think so. #: Yes you do. I lost it 6 months ago and I just tried it again. Me: Did you report it missing? #: Of course. Me: They recycle numbers after 3 months. #: Oh. Sorry. Me: No problem. Have a wonderful evening. _click_ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-the-phone-rings/471178/6 "2008-11-05T05:37:42Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > but The Offspring says that they’re recycling old numbers quicker, now Dude, I haven’t listened to anything they’ve said since _Americana_.