When we moved into our house, we got a new land line that I jokingly refer to as the Kathy Line, because Mike’s mom is the only person who ever calls on it. Everyone else calls us directly on our cell phones. This means that whenever our land line rings, Mike answers it, since it’s always for him.
Yesterday our phone rang nine times, and it was only Mike’s mom four times. Just kidding! She actually called twice. Seven calls, all asking for Eric. The first time, Mike told the caller that she had the wrong number. The phone rang immediately after he hung up, and when he answered it the caller “made an angry noise” and hung up.
Me: What’s an angry noise?
Mike: Like a deep sigh, like a HMMPH.
Twenty minutes later, the phone rang again. Mike answered, and another woman asked for Eric.
Mike: There’s no Eric here. What number are you trying to reach?
Caller: [our number] Why you playing, Eric? I know it’s you.
Mike: Um…I’m Mike. There’s no Eric here, sorry ma’am.
Caller: Liar!
A few calls like this later and we were both going nuts. When the phone rang for the sixth time, Mike and I looked at each other.
Mike: You get it.
Me: No way!
Annie: HELLO! HELLO PHONE! IT’S GRAMMA! ANNIE SAY HI!
He finally picked up the phone.
Mike: Hi, this is Eric.
Me: !!!!!!!!
Caller: Hey Eric, I had SUCH a good time with you this weekend! Why didn’t you call me?
Mike: OH NO! I was just kidding, I’m not Eric, we’ve just been getting a lot of calls for him and I thought it would be funny to answer as him and you know what, I’m sorry. I’m not Eric.
Caller: Um, what?
Then he hung up.
Me: I can’t believe you did that! What were you thinking?
Mike: I clearly wasn’t.
The phone rang again.
Annie: GRAMMA!
Mike: Heather! You have to answer it!
Me: Dammit Mike!
If there is one thing I really dislike, it’s talking on the phone.
Me: Hello?
Caller: WHAT THE HELL! Where is Eric?!
Me: I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.
Caller: I don’t think so! How do you know Eric?
Me: Um…I think that some guy is giving out our number to a bunch of women. But have a nice day!
After that, we unplugged our phone…which is probably why Mike’s mom only called twice.
Kayla says:
Clearly Eric didn’t want to get back in touch with these lovely ladies!
Kayla says:
Also, (as I clearly have no life in responding to one of my own posts) an alternate nifty title for this post could have been “3-6-9, damn you’re fine. . .”
Yes. No life. Oh, well!
Bianca says:
You should have let Annie answer the phone But seriously, that exchange was hilarious. I would never have thought of it
Karen says:
Please tell me I wasn’t the only one secretly rooting for you to let Annie answer the phone….
THAT would have been priceless.
(Kidding, I know that would have been too creepy. Still, imagining him explain THAT one is rather delicious.)
Emily says:
nope, I was totally waiting for Annie to answer the phone too!
Beth says:
Yes! You should have let Annie answer the phone hahaha! She might be turned off by the fact that ‘Eric’ has a kid and thus is probably married
Krissy Guerrero says:
Haha! She is so funny. I imagined her really angry and shouting to the one behind the phone. What a very cute girl. She seems so clever.
Meghan says:
we have had our phone number and we still get calls for Jane and Jim Cox. Apparently they are not doing so well in the credit area…but seriously…SIX years later!
Emily says:
At a previous house, we got similar phone calls for the previous owners, then we got them from lawyers looking for them, and THEN one day, a tow truck showed up outside our house to repossess their vehicle! It was fun running outside convincing them not to take my car!
Kristin says:
I once got a bunch of calls and messages from a woman who was trying to reach some guy to tell him she was pregnant with his kid after a one- night-stand. She was not determined – not dissuaded at all by my outgoing voicemail message, spoken by me and identifying myself by name. My husband finally picked up one of her calls with the thought of messing with her head, but instead he decided to simply try to explain that she had the wrong number, and was rewarded with accusations that he was hiding this other guy, etc. It’s amazing the stories that people will choose to believe rather than that they were given the wrong number!
NAtalie says:
Now I’ll have Jenny stuck in my head all day. And I was hoping you’d let Annie answer too!
Sara Mc. says:
Too funny! Well, I’m sure after all the phone ringing, it wasn’t for you. My twisted family would have taken this opportunity to completely mess with these fine women.
Kristen @ The Chronicles of Dutch says:
In my single days I was guilty of giving out false numbers too. I felt mildly bad then but even more so now!
Also, I hate talking on the phone too! Just text me!
Allison says:
Oh man, I would have totally messed with them. You should have answered the phone and then started yelling at Eric (Mike) accusing him of cheating, etc…. although I do have to say that Ive also given out a false # but it was the non-emergency line to the police station
Carol says:
I had a similar situation years ago – some woman kept calling for Otis…it took forever to convince her that I wasn’t Otis’ woman. And why do people think that just because you have the same phone number as someone that you also live in the the same house/apartment? Phone numbers aren’t tied to addresses!
Kristen says:
Did no one else do that in their youth??? I so used to give out some random number, but (being the analytic person I am) I’d managed to find a number which always rang busy. This way, if I did by chance see the guy out again and he were to get mad at me for giving out the wrong number, he would only be irritated because the phone was always busy. Ahhh school days. You should let Annie answer!
Auntie_M says:
That’s hysterical!!! I have to admit that I was rooting for Annie to answer and call the lady “gramma!”
Whoever Eric is, he’s rude!
But gave you a great story!
Jay- The Dude of the House says:
My number used to be one digit different from a 24-hour Jerry’s Deli. At first I used to get irritated with the calls. Then I started taking their orders. I bet they were as happy when their food wasn’t ready as I was to receive their calls.
Becca_Masters says:
My mom once did that! People would call to order pizza and she would say “I’m sorry, but we’re all out of pizza today, but I can offer you something else!” and then proceed to list what food she had in the freezer!
Miranda says:
When I was growing up, my home phone # was 1 digit off from a place that sold expensive fitness equipment. We probably got at least 1 wrong number a day . Once I got to be an adolescent, I started trying to sell fitness equipment over the phone. I’m still waiting for those commission checks.
Becca_Masters says:
That’s kinda funny. You Definitley should have let Annie answer the phone!
I remember once a while back (my husband and I were living with his dad) the phone rang and I answered it.
It went like this –
Me: hello?
Lady: hi, I’d like to arrange a tour.
Me: sorry?
Lady: I’d like to arrange a tour? For a party of 12.
Me: um, we don’t do yours here. What exactly are you wanting a tour of?
Lady: of your stadium
Me: I don’t have a stadium
Lady: silence
Me: hello?
Lady: is this Twickenham stadium?
Me: um, nope, I think you might have misdialled.
2 minutes later, the phone rings again.
Me: hello?
Same lady: hi, I’d like to set up a tour please.
Me: we still dont do tours.
Same lady: oh crap
She redialled our house twice after that and eventually I went on to google and gave her the correct phone number!
I also had an old lady call our house once and scream down the phone at me that she wasn’t paying her ” damn electricity bill cause my company was a ripoff merchant”
Wrong numbers eh?
Sleeping Should Be Easy says:
OMG! Hilarious. Eric must have had him a great weekend. Next time you should have Annie speak on the mouthpiece and freak them out haha.
Carrie says:
We’ve been getting calls for the previous owners of our phone number for three years now. Lots of bill collectors and even the person’s daughter, which was a little sad. But I loved the messages that this crazy old lady from their church would leave for them, ranting about things that she didn’t like and making demands for the people to do things for her. I was sad when those stopped
Cory says:
Apparently the girl that had my cell phone number before me was a crazy younger girl named Katie…I’ve had the number for about a year and I STILL get calls and texts for her, including getting texted drink specials from clubs in the area. A few times when I’ve been really bored I’ve responded to some of the texts…really mature things like “pooping” after a “What R U doing?!” – the last text I got was only a few weeks ago and it was informing me to “not let Zac smoke because he’s on probation”.
Kelly says:
Oddly enough, the person who had my cell phone number before I did worked for a company that did various different support type things for people in my line of work.
I would get calls from all over the state, from people who do the same work that I do, asking for him.
I had to call to have a piece of equipment serviced, and he happened to be the person who came out. I was able to tell him my distress at receiving all these calls for him. He actually gave me his number, so when I got phone calls at all hours I could give them the correct number.
Small world.
Marty Eller says:
I had the same problem years ago, heart broken men looking for a girl a named Quita. The phone rang for her all hours of the night. Finally, one day I started calling numbers like mine. My number ended in 8633, so I tried variations like 8363 asking to speak with Quita. After 3 tries, I had Quita on the phone. I told her to stop giving out my number, because now I know hers. I told her if she does, I would be happy to give them the correct number. Never had another one those again!
Leah says:
Land lines are a funny thing these days, aren’t they? My husband’s parents call on ours, plus robocalls and surveys, and that’s pretty much it. A friend of my husband’s from college who became schizophrenic and had to go live with his mom used to call and leave long, rambling messages about how he was going to write a novel and found a political party and get assassinated. He hasn’t called in over a year. I hope he’s OK.
Eric says:
I am so so sorry.
jeannine says:
this is kind of funny actually
Jackie says:
He was probably giving out his old number which happens to now be your number. How irritating. On another note: I also haaaaaate talking on the phone!
Jodi D. says:
I used to get calls for Mason Dixon ALL the time. I have a feeling his life wasn’t it the greatest place. Credit card companies, his parole office, the county jail, etc, etc… HA!
AmazingGreis says:
That is great!!!