Home Phone

When Norm and I first moved out here (almost 7 years ago), we got a home phone. Right after we got it installed we started getting calls from lawyers and collection agencies for this one particular person (whose name I am not going to disclose - just know that we have no idea who this person is, never have heard of her, total stranger. Let's call her Default Lady).

Some calls were automated, others were live people. I clearly remember one particular call when the caller asked for Default Lady and I patiently explained that this is no longer her number and how we've been receiving multiple calls a day for months and every chance I get I let the caller know they need to do further research because she's no longer at this number. The lawyer then proceeds to accuse me of hiding Default Lady. For obvious reasons, that conversation quickly spiraled into a not so pretty dialogue that involved me saying things like "come search my house if you would like" (I was over the multiple calls a day, I would do anything to have them quit calling).

Finally the calls stopped. We moved on with life and every now and then thought about Default Lady - had she paid her bills and straightened up? had she had things repossessed? what did she do to get herself in this situation?

A couple of weeks ago, we started getting calls for Default Lady again! Every day I have come home to a message on my answering machine.

"This message is for Default Lady, if you are not this person, please hang up. If you are this person, please call blah blah blah"

This lovely Saturday morning I'm drinking my coffee and harvesting my farm (FarmVille) and the phone rings at 9:40am and it's for Default Lady. I called the number right away. The first option? "If you are receiving this message in error and would like to remove your number, press 1". That wasn't enough, so I pressed "0" and spoke with Dominic and he removed my number completely (hopefully). He said that their system triggered these calls on April 13... I think it might have something to do with taxes.

I was polite and proper with Dominic... now if I had been sleeping when that call had come in at 9:40am this lovely Saturday morning... I do not know what would have happened.