No... now quit calling me!
Yesterday, I got several calls on my cell phone. All of them were from the same number and same guy. I missed the first one while I was in class, but answered the second after I got home. He started the call with, "Did you call me?".
I told him no. His number and mine were very similar. Change my 8 to his 7 (in the 10's position) and it's the same number. I told him I didn't know how it might have happened, but maybe he'd misdialed somehow. He said OK and hung up.
He called again a couple of hours later. "Did you call me?" "No, same as last time." "Oh, OK." Click.
He called again a couple of hours later. "Did you call me?" "No, still not me. I think there's something wrong with your phone." "Oh, sorry." Click.
He called again a couple of hours later and it was getting late. "Did you call me?" Click. I was getting tired of it.
He called again after I had gone to bed. When I saw the number on the caller id, I just hit the disconnect button.
He called again at 4 AM. "Did you call me?" "NO, I didn't call you yesterday. I didn't call you last night. I didn't call you this time. I won't call you ever! Please don't call me again!" CLICK! (Well, you can't slam a cellphone down, but that's what I wanted to do.)
It's 8 AM and still no calls. Hopefully he got the clue.
This all reminded me of my last tour to Korea. My barracks phone number was either the same as a heating oil company (with a different area code prefix) or I had gotten the number after they changed theirs. I'd get calls all the time (especially in winter) for heating oil.
They'd ask for a particular person and I'd tell them there was no such person.
They'd try to verify that this was the heating oil company. I'd tell them no.
Then, they'd try to verify the phone number. They'd always say my number. I'd tell them that was the number, but it was mine, not that of the oil company.
It's with a little bit of pride that I tell you all of that above conversation would be in Korean and sometimes, the caller would have no clue I was a foreigner up to this point. I'd tell them that they were calling a barracks room on an American base. Most often I'd get a click at this point. Sometimes, they'd ask me if I knew the right number for the heating oil company. Sometimes, they'd even compliment me on my Korean (those were the best callers).
The best was when they'd call back two minutes later. They'd be in disbelief of everything I told them the first time and try again. Nope, still not the heating oil company. I had one guy call me regularly. I could recognize his voice and accent. It got to the point, I'd just hang up on that guy. Once, a woman yelled at me for messing with her. Apparently, she thought it was my fault that I didn't have any heating oil.