Friday, September 25, 2020

One ringy dingy

 Do you still have a land line in your home, or are you totally dependent upon cell phones?

We have a land line, but we seldom answer our home phone. We allow the answering machine to pick up the calls. Typically the messages are from the pharmacy. Those times when we do answer the home phone, the calls are ususally someone telling us in a foreign accent they are our grandchild in need of money from a serious accident. We play along, then play GOTCHA!

Other times the calls are from Medicare insisting we accept the FREE support brace for our knees or back, which we do not require.

And the best ones are when Social Security or the IRS insists we are about to be arrested if we do not respond to their bogus attempts to access personal info.

I ANSWERED THE HOME PHONE YESTERDAY...

"Hello."

A male voice, sounded to be in 20s, mumbled something.

I asked, "What did you say?

He said, "Clock me out!"

I asked, "Who IS this?"

"This is Rick. Clock me out!"

"Sorry, you have the wrong number."

"No I don't. This is Rick. CLOCK. ME. OUT!"

"Okay." I said and hung up.

Rick is going to be sorry.

Many years ago my neighbor Rose received a phone call from her husband Ray at midday.

They made small talk and he asked her to pick up the clothes from the cleaners.

She said she would and she mentioned one of his buddies by name.

They conversed for fifteen minutes before she asked, "Who is this?!"

He responded, "Ray! Who is this?"

She replied, "Rose."

They were both married to the same named spouses.

THEN they realized they were talking to the right names but the wrong people.


9 comments:

Kim Lehnhoff said...

Poor Rick.

My parents bowled in a couples league with Gene and Jean. They named their son Gene, too. Their daughter was the only family member with a different-sounding name.

Can you imagine trying to reach the correct person on the phone in that family?

DUTA said...

Yes, I do have a land line and I like to use it. Cell phone is mainly used when I'm out. The land line phone has a screen which gives us the calling number. If I don't recognize the number I might not answer the call. It's up to me.
Names can create confusing, and sometimes even dangerous situations.

Sandi said...

Landline here. I rarely answer it. Yesterday an old friend from high school called--- strange, I thought. But it was just one of those faked caller IDs that happened by chance to use a name I knew. 😂

Most of the calls are asking about the election. I don't tell them anything.

BECKY said...

We gave up our land line years ago. Sometimes I miss it, probably just nostalgia! I never answer a call on my cell if I don't know who it is. I assume if it IS someone important, they will leave a message. One time I did answer and as soon as the gal began talking, I practically yelled into the phone, "Congratulations! You are the 5th caller here on KZZZ radio! I paused...and she paused...LOL Then I hung up.

Sioux Roslawski said...

Your title took me right where you wanted me to go to--to Lily Tomlin and her "operator" routine.

We still have a landline, and recently, our daughter was visiting when it rang. She laughed, and said, "Who still has a landline?"

We do.

Val said...

Of course I still have a landline. I'm old! This morning it woke me with a bothersome call from "SPRINT FAR," and mid-morning it teased me with a call from Hick's "girlfriend," the one he drives to cancer treatments.

Good thing I answered both, since they were actually HICK calling to report that his cell phone was broken.

Karen Lange said...

We still have a landline for home and a business line (husband's/son's carpentry biz). Our cell coverage in the house can be spotty on occasion so the landline is handy sometimes. Plus my mother in law can't remember our cell numbers and hasn't gotten the hang of hitting "redial". :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Red Rose Alley said...

Those stories are something else. I'm old school, and use a land line phone all the time. I usually pick up when I know the caller. Once in awhile, I will get a call from someone that has an unfamiliar accent, and talks jibberish, and sometimes I will get telemarketing stuff. But I think people are on their cell phones too much and they don't even look up to see what's going on around them, and that's why I still like the land line phone. Thanks for sharing your stories. You have a way with words, Linda.

~Sheri

Pat Wahler said...

LOL, too funny, Linda!