You are aware this is a wrong number, and yet keep calling.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

l kept getting calls for ‘Marilyn,’ and was sometimes cursed when I said that there was no Marilyn at my number. This went on for months, but the calls weren’t so frequent that they presented a major problem. I assumed that someone named Marilyn had very weird friends and a number similar to mine and that the same people kept calling her no matter how I tried to discourage them.

After about six months of this, I received a call from a marketer at a carpet cleaning firm that I’d used. The cleaner was just fine, did a good job and I signed up for another cleaning. Every six months or so the same woman called me and we eventually began to talk about personal matters over a two year period (what can I say? Sometimes it’s just a girl thang). It turned out that this woman, Marilyn, worked for the County paying visits to terminally ill people who weren’t yet hospitalized or institutionalized but who needed assistance with cleaning, bill paying, keeping appointments, etc. For the most part her clients were diabetics or had HIV and weren’t supported by family or friends. The telemarketing thing was to supplement the pathetic salary that the County paid her.

It turned out that Marilyn’s home phone number was one digit off mine. The people calling me were her patients who were ill, sometimes approaching dementia, always in need. I kept my number, she kept hers, and when I received calls for Marilyn I told the caller what her number was. This went on for another year or so and then there were no more calls. Out of curiosity I called her number and found that it was disconnected.

She was a former drug addict/alcholic who had been clean and sober for ten years when we first talked. She got into counseling and eventually took the County job to help former addicts that had HIV as well as other terminally ill people. I never found out what happened to her and have done a few searches. I think she was also one who didn’t have family who cared about her.

I picture her although I never met her, never saw her or a picture of her. I know she did good for others.

After this totally fluke experience I no longer get irritated with wrong numbers. As time goes on though, I probably will…

102

Babelfish says: Usted tiene el número incorrecto

That sounds correct based on my 4 years of high school Spanish.

103

At the very least, it seems a bit odd to come into a thread and post a Babelfish translation after two speakers of the language in question have already given answers. YMMV, I guess.

104

We have a crossed line at work which means we get many wrong numbers per day. My workmate took one from a man who insisted that he had rung his dentist and angrily demanded an appointment. In exasperation, my workmate duly took his details and advised him that he could only be seen if he came ready for surgery…dressed in his pyjamas and a showercap. Lame, yes. But we still get a kick out of her retelling the part where he got a pencil to write down her insructions.

105

Well, in my defense, she did describe a couple of things I didn’t know about. So, in the interest of errr… furthering my education I listened to every word and even let a couple of friends hear because I thought they could use the information. :smiley:

106

Another Thurber (I think) story…

He’s asleep and the phone rings in a wee hour.

Caller: I can’t sleep because that dog of yours is barking incessantly.

Thurber hangs up.

The next night he calls the neighbor at the same time.

Neighbor answers sleepily.

Thurber: I don’t have a dog.

Click.