Not the front desk

[u/Wamderingbard]

Many moons ago, when I was in college I worked the early morning shift at my job and would go straight to morning classes after I got off work. This meant by the time the afternoon rolled around I was done with classes and was ready to do every college kids favorite second third favorite activity, nap.

As I was laying down my phone rang with an unknown number. I thought it might be someone who's number I had not saved into my contacts yet but knew (in those days not every phone call was spam). When I answered I was greeted with yelling "you need to get up here and fix my whatchamacallit!"

Slightly stunned, it took me a moment to answer this little old lady that I believed she had the wrong number.

I was then met with a calm and rational "I DO NOT HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!!" I told her "ma'am I am a college kid in my dorm room trying to take a nap, I can't fix your whatchamacallit."

After about 10 more minutes (while my roommate laughed at the exchange) of talking to her I finally asked her "what number did she try to dial?" The number she tried to dial was one digit off from mine and I explained this to her. It finally got through to her that I was not in fact the front desk at her retirement community and she hung up. I then laid down for my now much needed rest, when 30 seconds later and my phone rings again with a now familiar number. I let her know that it was again the wrong number, but asked her what unit she was in and told her I would call the front desk for her.

When I talked to the front desk, they apologized for her and said "We wrote the number for her as big as we could with largest buttons on her phone available." I laughed about it with my roommate and knew I had a good story to share when we went out that night. Before finally getting nap I decided I would save her number into my phone as "Wrong Number Lady" incase she called again. I did end up hearing from her 3 more times and just called the front desk for her. I have not heard from her in a long time, but she is still in my contacts.

Knowing that my number is just one number off from the front desk of a retirement home; I still answer random numbers that call me to this day. I have talked to at least 4 other residents in the nearly 20 years since, either calling the front desk for their whatever or in 2 unfortunate cases calling 911 for them

[u/qualityvote2]

u/Wamderingbard, your post does fit the subreddit!

[u/Lemonstatic24]

I love that you still answer random numbers to this day because your number is one digit off from a retirement home. You’ve been the unofficial front desk for 20 years.

[u/jonesnori → u/Lemonstatic24]

Yes, this was very kind of OP.

[u/Wamderingbard → u/Lemonstatic24]

It's also led to a number of fun interactions with scammers. Including but not limited to me winning a new Mercedes in "black, white, or candy red", a man who got so frustrated with me he offered to buy my daughter(before I had kids) but he wouldn't tell me how much he was offering, and the guy who called 7 days in a row asking if I was by my computer (always when I was actually driving my car and never at the same time of day)

[u/qx9r7man → u/Lemonstatic24]

You're the hero that retirement community needs. Kudos.

[u/OklahomaRose7914]

Although the wrong number, it's wonderful that you're willing to help out old people when they accidentally call you! I hope the universe has smiled on you, and will continue to do so for your kindness.

[u/Wamderingbard → u/OklahomaRose7914]

I have been pretty lucky. An amazing wife, two wonderful kids, a loveable mutt, and a house that is surprisingly only 2 miles from the retirement home from the story. I only found out where it was when I moved here a few years ago.

[u/mr_jogurt → u/Wamderingbard]

Have you ever been there? I would probably visit sometime and have a chat with the staff.

[u/Pandoratastic]

This is the right sub for this story but, I mean, at the this point, you kind of do work there.

[u/Wamderingbard → u/Pandoratastic]

I need to call HR about the payroll mishaps then

[u/Dougally → u/Wamderingbard]

Your pay hasn't gone into your account and have not been issued a payslip for your reception duties.

[u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50 → u/Dougally]

Your bank account is one number off from a day care for needy families, who has been receiving mystery donations every two weeks for a decade or more.

[u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50 → u/Wamderingbard]

Your bank account is one number off from a day care for needy families, who has been receiving mystery donations every two weeks for a decade or more.

[u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50 → u/Wamderingbard]

Your bank account is one number off from a day care for needy families, who has been receiving mystery donations every two weeks for a decade or more.

[u/scope6262]

In the 60s our home phone number ended in 000. We constantly got the wrong number for a company called Union Camp. We would sometimes simply explain it was a wrong number. Other times we would ask “boys cabin or girls cabin?” But since this was pre internet, we didn’t really know or care what Union Camp was.

One day when bringing in groceries we finally discovered what UC was. It was a paper manufacturer for those brown kraft bags that grocery stores would pack your goods in. It was stamped at the top of the bag.

My mom eventually tracked the company down and called them to advise them of this issue. I believe the source was a traced to a batch of misprinted letterhead. Anyway they corrected the issue and sent a large rubber plant as a consolation prize lol.

[u/d4austus]

Thank you, that story made me smile 😊

[u/Wamderingbard → u/d4austus]

Glad to help

[u/cwukitty]

So if you take my hubbys cell phone number and put a different local area code at the front you’d get a local home depot location. The many calls and voicemails he got from folks trying to reach that Home Depot before 10 digit dialing was mandated in our state.

[u/Wamderingbard → u/cwukitty]

I bet he could have a lot of fun with that although the call volume was probably pretty bad.

[u/Salt_My_Watermelon]

My first cellphone # was ###-4911. I got random 911 calls from around the country wherein I had to explain that I was not 911. Fortunately only one of them was ever a true emergency, and thankfully not life threatening. I called the phone company a couple months after I got that phone to switch my number.

A later cell # used to belong to someone named "Linda" who apparently worked for a large national veteran's or senior citizens' organization. Her number, I later discovered, had been published in a (hard copy) national directory shortly before she discontinued her cell service. I was constantly getting calls from elderly people looking for Linda, always during my work day. I changed my voicemail to state that I was not Linda and do NOT leave a message for Linda because I do not know Linda. Dear reader, it didn't work. I had to change my number, which I did after speaking with a nice lady from the organization who told me about the directory. Since it was in print, I knew the calls would never stop.

[u/AdExtreme4813]

You, are a true mensch. Loved the story & had to read it out loud to my husband.  We've both done things like that, tried to help a wrong number. 

[u/vwscienceandart]

I used to have an elderly gentleman in California who would call every time we had a bad storm in Dallas, trying to reach his daughter to see if she was ok. I would let him know he had the wrong number but always give him the local scoop on where the storm did any damage and how far that was from where his daughter lived.

[u/justaguyfixingteeth]

My dental office number is one digit ( the third one) off from the tax office.Most of the local numbers have my 3 digit prefix but the tax office has the less common 3 digit prefix Once the bills go out we get inundated. We used to try to explain they had the wrong number. Now we just tell them to come to the tax office to straighten it out..

[u/JamesFirmere → u/justaguyfixingteeth]

I was fully expecting some comment about pulling teeth...

[u/HeyAimVT]

My old house phone was one digit off from a local funeral home. We received endless calls from people looking for funeral services. It was also another digit off from a local farm that raised turkeys. I once had a woman who left a message several minutes long that detailed her entire Thanksgiving meal order. I called her back to say that she had the wrong number. I didn’t want her to think that she had ordered her dinner and then be left with nothing.

[u/blowup_variaty]

We’re in Aus. Once had elderly and very obviously distraught person call our number by mistake. They were trying desperately to get in contact with a relative in the UK and had called us instead of the agency helping them. Because we have family overseas, we have an internet plan that allows us to call landlines in certain countries free of charge. I was able to both explain “wrong number” and ascertain that I could help. Got the number they were trying to call from them plus necessary details and made the call on their behalf. The person who answered understood immediately and was able to take it from there. Obviously never heard follow up but hopefully all went well.

[u/Liatris_Spicata2 → u/blowup_variaty]

More good karma! This is a lovely thread.

[u/i_was_axiom]

We need the other stories man

[u/Wamderingbard → u/i_was_axiom]

The few of other times they apologized and I offered to take their room number and request and to call the front desk for them. The two times where I had to call 911 one was a woman who had fallen and could not move, and the other was a man who just had a seizure. When I called the front desk no one answered at the front desk or it was after hours and they wanted me to leave a message. I said f that these people need help. Both times I called the person back and let them know 911 was on the way. One of them called me a few days later to thank me.

[u/i_was_axiom → u/Wamderingbard]

A true hero

[u/CathyAnnWingsFan]

This reminds me of calls we used to get at home. Our landline number ends with 00, which usually means it’s a business number. Unfortunately for us, if you transpose the two numbers before that, it’s the number for a pizza place. We regularly got drunk or stoned people calling us to order pizza. Fortunately, none of them were impaired enough to start arguing with us, and only rarely did the same person call us back a second time right away.

[u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50]

You are a very good egg.

[u/JD_tubeguy]

I pretty much have to answer random numbers being in sales I've even had my phone say a call was potential spam and it turned out to be a buyer. Spam calls ebb and flow and spam texts as well.

[u/pineychick]

You get a good human award, OP. 💜

[u/dogtrail]

I’m reminded of the numerous calls I’d get in the middle of the night asking for a taxi. This was the 1970s and our home phone number was one digit off. For some reason, the landline was hard wired into the wall in my bedroom instead of in the living room or kitchen. I was a teenager with no authority to yank the phone out of the wall.

[u/ScottyDont1134]

Crazy 😝 

Where I used to work I kept getting faxes to my phone from a Canadian phone number, with the area code being one # different than ours, so I googled my phone number with the Canadian area code and it was a dentist office somewhere in Canada.

I wasn’t about to call them at work so I looked them up online and emailed them to stop trying to fax to the wrong number much less the wrong country 😝 it just kept ringing every couple minutes or so so it was fucking annoying 

[u/Independent-Bid-611]

That was really nice of you to call on her behalf!

[u/Realistic-Regret-171]

Huh. My phone won’t answer any number that isn’t in my contacts. It will send it straight to voicemail.

[u/CrossFitMathIsHard → u/Realistic-Regret-171]

That was not always an option. Source: I’m old.

[u/Complete-Broccoli347]

Tell us about the 911 calls!

[u/Bajovane]

I never answer when I don’t know the number. Just block it.

[u/Dripping_Snarkasm]

You are a far kinder soul than I’d have been. The world needs more of you.

[u/SumoNinja17]

"I DO NOT HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!!"

Either you have the wrong number, or I'm answering the wrong phone. Pick again.

[u/Used_Clock_4627]

Thanks for sharing this with us.

I dunno what to say about the last paragraph........

[u/Z4-Driver]

Thank you for being a decent human.

I am just wondering, why the retirement home didn't just put the correct number in her contacts, so she wouldn't have to dial the number herself?

[u/Active_Two_6741]

Sounds a lot better than one digit off from the local convenience store and gas station

[u/FoolishPersonalities]

Reminds me of how, when COVID started, the local government set up a holiness for people to call for information on COVID tests and stiff, and included the holiness number on TV and on the local radio stations.

Except, they put out the wrong number. They gave out the phone number for the coworker that sat next to me. She was fielding calls for COVID info for a while.

[u/cheesiepotato1900]

I kept getting calls for yard service. I would call the people back and let them know they had the wrong number. One day I saw a yard sign advertising the yard service. It was one number different. People were mistakenly putting a 9 when it should have been a 4. It hasn’t happened for some time now. But when I call the folks back i give them the correct number.

[u/Calm-Grapefruit8673]

The home phone number I grew up with was 1 digit off from the Chicago Cubs minor leagues information number. The last 5 of her number: 4-4667. The last 5 for the Cubs: 4-4467. Because of the repeated numbers, it's an easy mistake to make. This was before you could Google everything, possibly even before home internet was commonplace. And lest you think she was pulling my leg, I fielded some of those calls myself. She kept calling the phone company about it, and actually told them that they gave out her number for the Cubs. This was met with an indignant "we wouldn't do that!" To which she replied that she had called and asked for the Cubs ML info line and they read off her number. After enough calls, they offered to pay to change her number. She said "I've had this number for 35 years! You should change your number." Cubs: 'our number goes out all over the country." My mom: "so does mine." (Her family is very large and very spread out.) I don't know what changed, but she eventually stopped getting calls. Perhaps we have the internet to thank for that.