Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Murderous rage.

"Is Keisha there?" the voice on my cell phone asks.

"There is no one named Keisha who has anything to do with this phone number," I tell the guy on the phone. "I've had this phone for 8 months, and I don't know a Keisha. Please stop calling m-..."

[click.]

I work deep nights.
I have children.
I have to keep my phone on.
I have taken to turning off the house line, and leaving the cell phone by my head while I sleep.

I've been getting calls from these people for the last month, asking for Keisha. I'm sure she had some problem paying her bills, and somehow they got my number from her. Mistake? Past owner of this number? I don't know. But I have 300 minutes a month on my cheapo cell plan, and they get about 10, right now.

They also wake my butt up in the middle of my sleep during the day.

And nobody answers when I call the number back on my house line to request that they stop it.

I'm on the Do Not Call list.

There is a pink tint emanating from the edges of my vision.

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20 Comments:

At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:01:00 PM, Blogger JD said...

I had a problem like this on my work phone, after I had business cards and all made. Seems the last owner of the extension that got laid off had a money problem. The did not take no, did not take HR telling them she was gone, did not take my voice mail. They didn't listen to me either about her. What finally worked after a week or so was that when their number came up on the display I would pick up the phone and set it next to my speaker so they could listen to my MP3s or I would just tap on the phone so they would know I answered but I would not talk or listen to them. Took a week or two of doing this a few times a day but they finally got sick of me and gave up. . . .

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:24:00 PM, Blogger Officer Wright said...

I know all too much of that. It's been a year now, and the calls for "Tanya" are finally starting to die down. It was hell when I worked graveyard.

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:31:00 PM, Blogger Old NFO said...

You need to 'reach out and touch' somebody... I'd be calling the cell phone provider about blocking that number.

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:37:00 PM, Blogger The Lily said...

The unfortunate thing is unless those are telemarketing calls, I don't think the DNL can help you.

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 5:57:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Couple of years and Collection Agents will walk away (hopefully). In my case it was robot calling and referring phone number to call back.
After calling back and explanations they silenced for couple of months, and then it's robot calling again. :(

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:26:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep. I had the same problem at my last phone number. We had all kinds of collectors calling for Jose.

The law is on your side, if you can get them to stay on the line long enough. The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act requires collectors to cease calling a number once they have been informed that the number is not correct.

The trick is getting them to stay on the line long enough to find out who they are and then still have time to deliver the warning. In my experience they usually hang up and block caller IDs.

I asked the VP of Collections at the financial institution I worked for what his advice was. He told me to turn off my ringer and screen all calls with an answering machine. Great.

You could try recording the conversations but then you get into murky waters.

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 8:01:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can you block those numbers from ringing through?

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 8:03:00 PM, Blogger GUYK said...

yeah. I keep getting these damn rext messages that I never open and still get billed for them..I refused to pay and the server finally stopped the text message ability I reckon..ain't got any more of them. It is a function I did not set up and did not want..heck, all I want is a phone..I don't need nor want all the thrills and bills

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 8:15:00 PM, Blogger DixieLaurel said...

Next time say Keisha is "busy."

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:03:00 PM, Blogger Ambulance Driver said...

Relax Kesha, it'll pass.

BTW, wassup wit yo phone, gurlfriend? I keep calling and some white boy answers...

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:52:00 PM, Blogger Rogue Medic said...

If this is on your cell phone, you might be able to set individual ring tones to different numbers.

I had one number calling me regularly, I put a name on it "Scammers," and I changed the ringer for that number to silent. Now it only lights up the screen when they call.

Maybe you need to take the phone back or get the number switched (and hope the new number has fewer problems).

I hope this helps.

 
At Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:14:00 PM, Blogger frostedlexicharm said...

Are you sure it's a collection agency? If it's not a company, then a Do Not Call listing doesn't do much. Our phone number was apparently handed out by a girl at a party instead of her own (no idea why) but for MONTHS we got calls from people looking for "Crystal", someone they'd met "at Pablo's par-tay". We had about 4 different guys calling, so apparently she'd handed "her" number out quite a few times.

--lexi

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:02:00 AM, Blogger The Lily said...

I'd be surprised if you couldn't block numbers. Just make sure there isn't a cost associated.

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:16:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmm....

If you're working graveyard and getting called during the day then just wait until you're awake and have time (i.e., during your shift) and call back to politely explain that they really do have a wrong number.

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:50:00 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I agree that you should contact the company and see if the number can be blocked. I can do that on my own phone right from the companies website.

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:50:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=J5z4Vs26-TI

:-)

Jim

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 9:32:00 AM, Blogger J.R.Shirley said...

Beware the pink mist. All the Bad Times Narrowly Avoided were because of long-term sleep dep, followed by someone being really stupid.

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:31:00 PM, Blogger closed said...

You might try looking up this person's first name and your current cellphone number on google or somesuch.

Then use another search service to get a current phone number.

Give the bill collectors her new phone number ... once the new number gets in their records, they will stop calling you.

 
At Wednesday, March 26, 2008 12:37:00 PM, Blogger Rabbit said...

Keisha's not at my phone number, either. Neiter is Juan, Enrique, or Rashiquia.

I've gotten some incredibly nervy text messages from someone wondering where the !F#*@ Myra was at 0400is as well, followed by phone calls a half hour later, looking for the same party as mentioned.

My usual response, formulated years ago, is that "she's currently unavailable, as she's busy providing 'oral pleasures' at the time".

My office/group main phone number is one digit off from an alphanumeric mnenomic for a certain tattoo removal service. On occasion I've provided the correct
phone number (digits, that is), to the caller, but there have been a couple of times when the uppity person on the other end was told that Makita belt sanders are much cheaper, faster, and no less painful.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 
At Saturday, March 29, 2008 2:25:00 PM, Blogger Hobie said...

I used to get phone calls from a woman asking for a "Chris". Never believed that "Chris" wasn't at this number. Finally I just said, "Chris and his wife just left to go to dinner." Immediate hang up. Never got another call.

Now I'm just sayin', you know, that maybe the dumb butt has reached the point of needing a wake up like they're giving you... Just sayin'...

 

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