Don't Call Me I'll Call You

  We all get robocalls and telemarketers trying to sell us duct cleaning services or free vacations from airlines we've never traveled on. I get them every single day. Even on my cell phone. That lady who speaks Mandarin when you answer is pretty common on my cell. But today something weird happened. Weirder than normal that is. 

  At around noon today, my home phone rings and it's a number I don't recognize. My son's phone battery was low and I thought maybe he borrowed a classmate's to call me. It's happened before. But the woman on the line wasn't school aged. She was elderly and fragile sounding. Trying to sound as courageous as possible she demanded to know who I was and why I kept calling her.

  Over the last three days, she has received several calls per day from my number. Most of the time no one is on the line. You know, that pause when it is a "spoof" call by a computer. But other times it was a person who asked her questions she couldn't quite make out. And it scared her. While she was trying to be brave when speaking to me, as soon as she understood I wasn't the culprit her entire demeanor changed. She allowed her fear to come to the surface.

  Imagine being elderly and alone and getting these calls. Over and over and over again. She did write down the number and call it several times, never getting an answer till this morning. When she did finally get someone to pick up she started unleashing her anger at me. That didn't last long when she was met with understanding and concern. In fact, she apologized for being nasty initially. I felt bad for her. I really did.

  Normally this would be the end of it. But two things really bothered me. One, of course, was her uneasiness and fear. It was tough to hear in her voice and the sound of tears was sad. The second was how did these scammers keep using my number. Over and over again to the same number. That was something new.

  I did call my phone company and explain what had happened. They had no explanation as to how my number could keep being used. It was a new phenomenon to them. And they honestly said theses telemarketing/scammers technology was ever changing and they couldn't keep up...not with the phone system at least. Internet security is their number one priority. As it should be.

  Hopefully that lady has no calls today. Fingers crossed she isn't scared when the phone rings. And let's all pray that these companies find real work and stop harassing innocent people. Especially the elderly.

  Ang