Caller ID annoys me

[DeeBye]

I honestly think that caller ID is severely broken.

Just tonight I got a call on my cell phone. This was wierd, because maybe 3 or 4 people know the number. Those people would also try calling me on my landline first, because they know it's Friday night and I have no life, so I'll most definitely be home.

The guy who called me was a complete stranger, and a rather rude one at that.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hello?"
Him: "I just had this number show up on my caller ID. Did you call me?"
Me: "Excuse me? I don't know who you are and I haven't used this phone all day. I didn't call you. There must be some mistake."
Him: "Your number [recites my phone number back to me] appeared on my caller ID. I wanna know who you are and why you called."
Me: "I can guarantee you that that's an error. I haven't made any calls from this number all day."

(Why would I call someone from my cell phone when it costs me minutes and I have a perfectly good landline at hand?)

Him: "So who are you then?"

(I really hate it when people call me and then demand to know who I am. They called me; it's up to them. Telemarketers are notorious for this.)

Me: "I'm sorry, but that's really none of your business. You called me, and I have no idea who you are. I'm certainly not going to give you my name."
Him: "Listen up, #^%&#@! WHY DID YOU %@*^$# CALL ME?"
Me: "I did not call you. Have a nice evening."

*click*
*turn off cell phone*

I've received enough of these types of calls over the years to know that caller ID is not 100% correct. When I see a strange number appear on my caller ID, I always just assume it was a wrong number or a mistake. I don't go calling back the numbers and investigate the matter any further.

I can understand this guy's curiousity, but I cannot fathom why he wouldn't just accept it when I said I didn't call him and that it was a mistake.

Is it common practice to call back unrecognisable caller ID numbers? I've never done it because even if I was as polite as possible about it, it still seems rude to just call someone you don't know and ask them who they are and why (if?) they called you.

Here is a picture of my cat, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of my post.

[--Pete]

Hi,

As to the other matter, the word "idiot" was invented because there are people like your caller. And, no, rational people don't call back on caller ID numbers. Unless one number is the source of a lot of calls and/or threating or abusive calls. And even then it's better to call the cops than the idiot making the calls.

--Pete

[Kartoffelsalat]

I've never had any issues with caller ID. Well, unless you count the fact that 75% of the calls show up as "PRIVATE" or "OUT OF AREA". But when it shows an actual number, as far as I know it's been the person who is calling.



Here is a picture of Bill Clinton's cat.

[Count Duckula]

Yeah, that's a nice fluffy kitty you got there. :)

I do summer paging work at a library where two pages per shift wear reference desk cell phones. The reference librarians call the pages on duty and ask them to fetch and retrieve books and holds and whatnot. One of our phones got stolen and apparently the new phone owner forwarded the stored numbers to everybody because the pages would answer the phone with the usual "This is <NAME>" and the person on the other end would either hang up or ask for bizarre people. The pages all thought there was drug trafficking going on with that lost phone, due to some very interesting calls on the night shift, but then we got new phones and forgot about it. :P

[Vandiablo]

As long as we're posting cats:



-V

[Selby]

I had the exact same thing happen to me Friday morning as well. Some guy calls my cell phone and asks why I called him. I asked who he was and he was some hair styling place. I tell him that I never called him and he then goes off saying that the caller ID says so and he REALLY wants to know why I called him and why I don't admit that I did. I said buddy, it's a cell phone and anyone could pick it up and dial it when I am sleeping or not wearing it (not really true as I live with only one other person, but the guy was annoying me). He said that was a good enough explanation for him and hung up. People...

[Dozer]

Nice cat ^^

[Sir_Die_alot]

Here is a picture of Bill Clinton's cat.

As I recall that isn't the Clintons' cat anymore. I remember them giving away the cat when they got a dog... which was later run over by a car after they left the White House. :unsure:

[WarLocke]

[Vandiablo]

Yes, Socks was given to the person who had actually bonded with the cat, White House secretary Betty Currie. She was the one who sat outside Clinton's office and was the one who said "Sir, the girl is here with the pizza" referring to Monica. You can find out about her by googling "girl is here with the".


(Edit: shortened the google string.)

[DeeBye]

As I recall that isn't the Clintons' cat anymore. I remember them giving away the cat when they got a dog... which was later run over by a car after they left the White House. :unsure:

US Presidents have lousy luck with dogs.

George Bush dropped his dog on an airport tarmac as some horrified teenaged girls looked on.

(dog not injured; Bush cleared of dog-abuse charges; teenaged girls get over it by swooning to posters of the Backstreet Boys and Orlando Bloom)

[WarLocke]

I bow down to the Image King.

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

[Rhydderch Hael]

Maybe I should stop answering strangers' calls with the opener of "Area 51 Delicatessen. You find 'em, we grind 'em..."



Miss Indiana Jones, so-named because of her pluck, energy, and utter craziness to have scaled a bathroom counter when only two or three weeks old. The rest of the litter (and mommy) were in the blankets below— and this little kid was riding high on the countertop.

[DeeBye]

I bow down to the Image King.

We're not worthy!&nbsp; We're not worthy!

Do I get a special hat as the reigning Image King?

A king deserves a special hat. I like this one (without the goofy-looking kid underneath said hat).

[LochnarITB]

Wow Rhydderch Hael! I cat-sat my sister's cat (Koshka) last week and he is the mirror image of Miss Indiana Jones. My nickname for him is Boogers because of his marking to the right side of his nose. He was also a climber. We used to find him sitting on top of the grandfather clock. In his younger days, he used to love to play fetch with his little rainbow balls too. Quite the character.

[DeeBye]

I fixed your cat's face.

[WarLocke]

I fixed your cat's face.

I don't know why, but this line had me ROFLMAO.

[DeeBye]

I don't know why, but this line had me ROFLMAO.

I fixed the eyes while I was at it. Now it looks like a normal cat.

[Bob]

And here is a picture of my cat:


and dog:



:blink:

-Bob

[LemmingofGlory]

I fixed the eyes while I was at it. Now it looks like a normal cat.

DeeBye: GIMP/Photoshop plastic surgeon.

Now serving pets, people, and presidents.

[o: *LEMMING* :o]