> > At our last place, we frequently fielded calls for someone who had previously had our number. The bad part was that apparently these folks, whoever they were, had left a trail of debt behind them. We got many calls for them that could have been considered "threatening," from the phone company, the bank, I think maybe even once from the IRS.
> >
> > Gri"no, this is not the ________ residence"shny
>
> A few years ago we started getting calls from people who were looking for the Carroll County Highway Department. After about three or four of those,I got out my Tennessee map and located Carroll County. It was way out west past Nashville. In those days there were only two area codes in Tennessee and Carroll County was in the one that covered the western third of the state. Our number, naturally, was the same as the CCHD but the area code was different. So I started answering the question. "Is this the Carroll County Highway Department?" with "No, their area code is 902." I got a few gasp reactions, but they almost all thanked me and hung up.
> How"Yes, do you have my bulldozer fixed yet?"ard

I told my story to some of the guys at work, and they got a good laugh over it. Then Jeff (one of the guys) told the story about how his number used to be very similar to the number for a video rental store. He answered his phone with a simple "Hello," but people still assumed that it was a business. One time, he answered the phone and a guy said, "Hi. I reserved 'The Breakfast Club' and was wondering if it was in yet." Jeff said, "Hold on, let me check." A few moments later, he replied, "Yes, it's here." The guy on the other end of the phone was thrilled and said he'd be right over to get it.

Ell"Is that mean or just funny?"myruh