Tuesday, September 11, 2007

We've got a winner here (I just don't know who it is)

This afternoon, my cell phone rang. I almost let it go, as I was amid a frenzied nap-time cleaning binge, but my curiosity got the best of me. Good thing, too, because I would have otherwise missed out on the following treat from the (877) number on my screen:

ME: Hello?
THEM: (Static sounds)
ME: Hello?
THEM: (Muffled "Sorry" as if to someone else)
ME: HELLO?
THEM: Yeah, um, is Nancy there?
ME: I'm afraid you have the wrong number.
THEM: It took you that long to figure that out? J*** C***, stop wasting my time.

At this point I hung up. My mouth closed a few minutes later. A few minutes after that I had to resist the palpable urge to call the person back and curse them out. I figure that whatever good karma I get for being so genteel with telemarketers would be undone by the language I'd use on this nut job. But seriously, I don't even know where to start.

A few hours later, I got another phone call from the same number. This time it was a woman, who promptly asked for Nancy (again). "I'm afraid you have the wrong number," I answered politely as if there was nothing usual about this whole experience. Does that make me supremely nice, or a supreme doormat?

3 comments:

Melissa said...

No, it makes Nancy an [insert insult that I'm too nice to type on the internet] for giving out your cell phone number to people she doesn't want to talk to ever again.

Or maybe I'm just projecting.

We used to get calls for a Marcella. From drunken men who'd met her in a bar. "But this is the number she gave me!" Yeah, um, I can't help you, dude.

Heather said...

Can I rant about something else? we still get mail from the previous owners of this house. We bought the house _over five years ago_. And they didn't even live in it when we bought it--they had been renting it for a while. Which means they haven't lived here for going on (at least) seven years.
For the first four years, I'd give the mail to the woman's mother, who lives next door. But now? I just toss it.
Here's the conundrum: should one be annoyed at the former owners? Or the frickin' companies that keep sending stuff to this address?
Sorry for the off-topic rant. :)

Diana Duke said...

Both, as they have both entangled you in their unruly webs. As if we don't all have enough problems without taking on those of the bar-hopping, mail-non-forwarding, number-misrepresenting masses.