# "You Are Currently the Only Person in this Country" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 2, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772 "2008-09-02T23:58:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/1 "2008-09-02T23:58:22Z")
I’m sitting here at work (hotel front desk) when the phone rings. I answer, and it’s a pre-recorded voice that says, “You are currently the only person in this country.” And nothing else. I even stayed on the line for a few extra seconds to see if it would transfer me to a telemarketer, but it never did. Does anyone have _any_ idea what that could have been about? All I can think is that it’s some kind of prank, but that’s a lot of trouble to go to for a joke, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/2 "2008-09-03T00:00:18Z")
You missed a dropoff. You needed to have replied, “The duck sleeps with one eye open.” ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/3 "2008-09-03T04:21:08Z")
Hey, look on the bright side…this bit of information could come in very handy should you ever get shoved into the [Total Perspective Vortex](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Perspective_Vortex). ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/4 "2008-09-03T04:23:36Z")
Did you feel like maybe you had been _left behind_? Did you start thinking about all the cool free cars and houses that would be up for grabs? Did you feel like the guy in _I Am Legend_, just for a second there? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/5 "2008-09-03T05:07:55Z")
If I got that call late at night, with no one else in sight, I would shit. I would just shit. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/6 "2008-09-03T05:23:07Z")
It was probably just a sales spiel that got cut short before…“whom I am telling about this wonderful offer. For only $19.99 blah blah…” ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/7 "2008-09-03T05:23:26Z")
I’d be with **Cisco** , shitting. ---
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/8 "2008-09-03T07:54:10Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > If I got that call late at night, with no one else in sight, I would shit. I would just shit. Yeah, had the call come during the graveyard shift, it would have been kind of unsettling, but at the time there were several people in the back office. Now that I think about it, I think **Cunctator** ’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/9 "2008-09-03T08:07:17Z")
“… go down to Broadway and 5th street, behind the telephone booth there’s a box marked Pandora, DON’T open it.” ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/10 "2008-09-03T10:42:18Z")
Wow. If it sounded very not-human I’d think you blundered into room 1408 from the Stephen King short story/film of that title. (And if you did, **run**!) Not really spoilery, just a plot detail from later in the story, that turns out to be really damned unnerving: The protagonist gets stuck in a “haunted” hotel room which turns out to be more inhuman and unreality than haunted, and when the phone (with a dead line) rings, a non-human voice on the other end repeats numbers at random, interspersed with phrases like “Even if you leave the room, you never leave the room,” and “All of your friends are now **dead!** ” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/11 "2008-09-03T10:43:56Z")
Could you have misheard it? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/12 "2008-09-03T11:07:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Wow. If it sounded very not-human I’d think you blundered into room 1408 from the Stephen King short story/film of that title. (And if you did, **run**!) > > Not really spoilery, just a plot detail from later in the story, that turns out to be really damned unnerving: > > The protagonist gets stuck in a “haunted” hotel room which turns out to be more inhuman and unreality than haunted, and when the phone (with a dead line) rings, a non-human voice on the other end repeats numbers at random, interspersed with phrases like “Even if you leave the room, you never leave the room,” and “All of your friends are now **dead!** ” I almost posted this. It is exactly what I thought of. ''Eight… This is eight… We have killed your friends. Every friend is now dead. Six… This is six… ‘’ Creepy as hell. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/13 "2008-09-03T11:53:51Z")
“The Last Man in the World sat in a room. There was a Knock at the Door…” —Fredric Brown’s “Knock” (among others) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/14 "2008-09-03T12:32:38Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > I’d be with **Cisco** , shitting. But in that case neither of you would be the only person in the country. (I’m also intrigued by the co-ed sanitary facilities…) ---
**Author:** ![Twisty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Twisty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twisty)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/15 "2008-09-03T12:37:02Z")
It could be an autodialler confirming which numbers are real and which are not. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/16 "2008-09-03T12:44:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “The Last Man in the World sat in a room. There was a Knock at the Door…” > > —Fredric Brown’s “Knock” (among others) It’s against the rules to post a copyrighted work in it’s entirety. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/17 "2008-09-03T12:49:56Z")
**TWISTY!!** Long time no see. Good to see you back etc etc. 🙂 In regards the recorded message, my educated guess is that you have a bit of a hearing problem, and the _actual_ message said, 'You are currently the only person in this\*\* _conference_\*\* (with a broad American accent) yes? We’ve just been blessed with an autodialler to aid our telefundraising efforts, and when we first log-on to the system in the mornings hear that very same message. My guess is that a telemarketer of some kind was indeed on the other end of the line, but the autodialer dialed you **just** as they were logging-on to the system which meant that the call got scrambled-up somehow…_you_ heard the message meant for _them_ and they were not able to retrieve the call later because of shortcomings in the autodialer system. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/18 "2008-09-03T12:56:56Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s against the rules to post a copyrighted work in it’s entirety. Ha. Seriously, though. I know that Brown is known for his short fiction, but “Knock” is a _bit_ longer than that (and still manages a twist). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/19 "2008-09-03T13:04:22Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > It was probably just a sales spiel that got cut short before..“whom I am telling about this wonderful offer. For only $19.99 blah blah…” Yeah, did it sound like Billy Mays? Another explanation is that it’s a message of reassurance for smokers who toss all their butts and crap out of car windows. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772/20 "2008-09-03T13:41:24Z")
I’d join you in the panicked shitting, but I hope **Kambuckta** has nailed it. Hell, I’m glad that call did _not_ happen on graveyard shift, though. Really. And, yeah! Welcome back, **Twisty**! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-are-currently-the-only-person-in-this-country/461772.md?page=2)