Wrong numbers - they happen, but why do people keep calling the wrong number over and over again? In any case, there have been some bonkers misdials out there. The joys of landlines...
Justanotherguy45 asked: What's the weirdest wrong number call you've gotten?
Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.
10. This is surprisingly dark.
We had this woman call us, you could tell by the sound of her voice she was very old, I can't remember who she asked for, but when we told her she had the wrong number, she would profusely apologize and hung up.
The thing of it is, it was not a one time only thing. I guess due to her age, she got to where she would always call us, apologize every time she got the wrong number, but she eventually got to the point of asking how we were and would talk a little before hanging up. When I was in high school, I found out one of the three guidance counselors had a very similar number, it was just one digit off. I wondered if she was trying to reach her.
It was on our landline. When we got rid of it, I was actually kind of sad thinking about this little old lady always calling us and how she'd feel if she tried to call and the phone was disconnected. I would have hated for her to try to call family and think they wanted nothing to do with her.
This happened to us!! I can't remember the name of the lady she'd always ask for, but I remembered it for years because she called so often. (Oh!! It was Joyce.) Sometimes she'd leave messages, and sometimes they were creepy and sad. One was just several minutes of her saying, "Joyyyyce??" between long pauses.
I never tried to have a conversation with her because I totally have social anxiety and talking on the telephone is one of the scariest things to have to do. I only answered if I was expecting a call, but for a while she called every day, multiple times, even after my husband told her it was the wrong number. For a while we didn't have an answering machine or a voicemail, and there was a day where the phone rang 20 times in a row before I unplugged it. I still feel guilty. I know it had to be her.
I just googled Joyce's number. I wish I had thought to do that in the first place, but social anxiety's a b!tch.
9. A mood, in a call.
When I was 14 I had this number that would call me multiple times a day for a week and no matter how much I told him (and later my mom and dad talked to him) he kept calling. So one day when he started calling again I just googled "woman screaming" on my laptop and played that for him. He never called again.
8. Poor Donny.
I had to file a police report and meet with two Homicide detectives because of my wrong number call.
Dude called me around 3am thinking I'm someone named "Amanda." He would NOT believe me that he had the wrong number. He said I was f*cking with him and that this was serious. That "Donny is f*cking dead. They shot Donny".
Headline in the news the next morning was about a man shot to death and if you had any information to please contact the police. And I had the name and phone number of someone that was there and knew the victim.
I wonder if I still have the police report....
Update: I can't find the police report.
What ended up happening?
No idea! I don't remember seeing any news about it after that initial headline.
7. Weed makes people do good things.
A series of wrong number calls to my mobile, at around 3am. The guy on the other end of the phone was extremely apologetic and quite obviously intoxicated. But then, so was I, so I really didn't mind; I was getting righteously stoned with some friends after a night out.
He'd called 3 or 4 times, getting a little more flustered and embarrassed each time, when he finally registered the laughter and heard my friends in the background shouting "Dave's not here man!" He was trying to call the number his friend had written down for him to get a ride home, but was too f*cked up to see. By some weird coincidence he happened to be somewhere relatively local, so we called him a cab.
Got a text the next day thanking me for getting him home safe. Weird, but cool.
You are a damn fine human and I wish I could give you more than my upvote.
6. Free delivery? I'm sold.
A dude from South London who was convinced I was buying a raccoon off of him. Rang me like 4 times and wouldn't accept that I wasn't buying the raccoon.
I love this one.
He was determined to get me to buy the racoon even offered to drive to Scotland to deliver it to me. Now I'm pretty sure you need a license to keep a trash panda so I have no idea how he got it or why he had it. 4 phone calls man just wouldn't give up.
I probably would have just given in and bought the raccoon.
5. Georgie is gone.
I had an old couple calling my number looking for their son "Georgie." The mom would call at least once a week and I would hear the dad in the background asking if Georgie answered the phone. When I would answer, the mom would ecstatically say "Goergie! It's your mom and dad! We haven't heard from you in so long!" It would break my heart to have to explain to them that I wasn't their son Georgie :(
You ever lay awake in bed at night, not able to shake the tiniest of thoughts that, just maybe, youre Georgie and dont remember?
No... but now I probably will. Thanks :(
4. Girls, man.
I haven't gotten any 'weird number calls' that I pick up BUT when I was like 10, I answered a call that looked familiar and these people were congratulating me on how I won some concert tickets. This is how it went:
Them: "CONGRATS!! YOU'VE JUST WON CHEETAH GIRLS CONCERT TICKETS!!!"
10 year old oblivious me who, at the time, was obsessed with the Cheetah Girls: "OH MY GOSH!!! REALLY?!? WHEN DO I PICK THEM UP?!?"
Them: "JUST KIDDING!! IT'S BEV AND LAUREN!!! WE'RE HAVING A SLEEP OVER WITHOUT YOU!!! BYE!!"
13 years later and am still salty af about that 'weird phone call'. F*ck you Bev and Lauren.
3. The bro code commands you to hook them up.
Back when you'd get a new cell number when you changed providers, I ended up with a number that had, apparently, been a drug dealer's phone number.
So for at least six months I'd frequently get phone calls asking for Mookie any time between about 6 AM and 3 AM.
The majority of the calls weren't too bad, the people would just be disappointed that they'd have to find someone new to buy weed from. But a few were just silly, like the guy who didn't believe that I wasn't actually Mookie in disguise, or the few people who would follow up by asking if I could hook them up.
2. 'I'm not a lumber company but I've got wood' is the only response.
I still get calls from people thinking I'm a lumber company and I tell them they have the wrong number, then they say they don't, which made no sense so I hung up, and they called back and complained that I'm terrible at customer service.
I used to work at Party City and people called screaming about their home alarm malfunctioning or their electric bill being too high. They never believed they had the wrong number so I would just start asking them what kind of birthday party they were throwing and pitching balloons at them. That got the point across.
"No, this is Patrick!"
1. You gotta move on, dude.
I answered a call this one time and this guy starts asking for some lady. I told him that wasn't my name and he just said "well who are you?" I told him my name and then he got kind of aggressive and asked me "Why do you have my late Wife's Phone?!" I had to explain to him it was my phone and I had no idea who he was talking about. The thing that I still can't figure out is why he was calling his late wife's number...? When you say somebody's late doesn't that mean they're... dead.......?
Yeah it sounds like he wanted to call her number to hear her old voicemail recording or something? And he likely doesn't understand how cell phones work and that after so many years someone else gets assigned that old number. My dad died in 2004 and we called his number for a while after just to hear him say his name on the voicemail. Then one day I called and it was some random dudes voicemail and I figured the number got reassigned.
That's sad.
@SecretaryBurgum/X
@Doug Ellin/X
@evanrachelwood/Instagram