Can't.Make.This.Stuff.Up!

- Enter hand clap between each word -

We just got a call from what sounded like a 50 year old Canadian male. 

I know I am profiling, but it sounded like a mid range extreme northerner. 

The house phone is ringing and my mother isn't picking up because it's a number she doesn't recognize. 

So I told her I'd see who it was. 

"Hello?" I asked. 

"Oh thank goodness! I've been trying to call and text you guys for three days!!!" the voice said. He seemed so enthusiastically out of breath. 

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. I am so glad to finally get in touch with someone. I've been calling and texting for three days!  To whom am I speaking with?" He wanted to know.

Okay, first off, you've not been calling or texting us. You've been calling someone else. Secondly, why be so formal all of a sudden, asking "whom am I speaking with"??

I asked him who he is trying to reach, and he responded the name of a taxi service. I told him he has the wrong number, and he started apologizing immensely for calling us, and I said "they've actually been out of business for a few years, so you are better off trying someone else" and he kept apologizing for calling us, but thanked me for picking up the phone and letting him know. 

It was the most random phone call, but then again, we are used to it.

For almost as long as we've had this landline number (yes, we have a landline), people have been calling all day and all night. Doesn't matter if they're sober or straight, 10am or 10pm. People called. It used to be more frequent in the beginning, but it's calmed down a lot in the last few years. 

People misdial the taxi number and use our number because they are so close in digits. It's really a matter of moving your fingers differently on the keypad. The taxi service's number stays around the same square on the keypad and ours shifts slightly. Basically, the difference is, two of the same digit changes to s different number but the rest of the string is the same. It's like saying "3369" and entering "3569" instead. The taxi service being the 3369 and us being 3569. 

I don't know if that makes sense, without giving out phone numbers or actual taxi company. 

There's also a reason that company's online reviews feature comments that "they don't show up", "they don't answer their phone"... we are getting the phone calls! The ones that go through to the company, do nothing. Plus, the last reviews are from 2016. They've got two Facebook pages - one hasn't been updated since 2016 and the other has a help wanted post in 2018, a meme video in 2019, a meme video in 2020 and a meme video in 2022. The videos are not business related or of them. Why post that stuff if this is your company page? Plus, further digging has two different websites too. Both with similar information, except one is a little more streamlined. 

Sometimes, crazy amazes me. This is not the reason we keep our house number - to get spam calls for customer service information. I thought it was "in case of power outage or emergency"....

Safe travels for those who need a ride somewhere!

Cheers;

Okay, I googled the area code that popped up on our caller ID. Google says the area code is the "southwestern suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota". So I was close enough to the northern border.