By orangemango - 22/04/2014 06:18 - United States - Lahaina

Today, my 808 area code phone number has yet again been mistaken for a 1-800 number. I've been getting phone calls at three in the morning from people on the east coast who are trying to return their shoes. They want to speak to my supervisor because I "don't sound professional enough." FML
I agree, your life sucks 47 847
You deserved it 4 008

orangemango tells us more.

orangemango 3

Hello! OP here! Nice little surprise when I woke up this morning! This happened to me about two months ago and my husband thought the situation was funny enough to post. I keep my phone on because my husband's 90-year-old grandmother lives in the same community as us and he's the first person she calls in case of emergencies. When he's off island on business trips, that responsibility falls on me. Since I'm a really heavy sleeper, I leave the ringer on pretty loud. And yes, I know there's a do not disturb function on my iPhone, but I never used it cause I've never gotten a phone call at such odd hours. I didn't check the number when I answered the first time cause I was already in a mad rush to wake up and find my phone without my glasses and freak out that something might've happened to grandma while my husbands away. I was pretty groggy when I answered and I guess the lady didn't appreciate the fact I kept saying "huh?" and "what?". She thought I was sleeping on the job or playing a prank on her and wanted to talk to my supervisor. I told her it was three in the morning and that she had dialed a Hawaiian residential number. There was a long pause and she just hung up. My phone rang a minute later from the same number, but it was a man this time. I told him the same thing and he gave me a half-assed apology and hung up. This happened for the next two nights (also rang during the day) and I found out from one of the calls that the shoe company had actually misprinted their 1-800 number on their packing slip (it was printed 1-808-XXX-XXXX). So I did start using the do not disturb function on my phone and I even changed my voice mail to tell people that this isn't the number they're trying to reach. However, some of them didn't even bother listening to my message and started leaving me voice mails. They were pretty funny. The shoe company specialized in plus-sized shoes for women, but I don't think they were very good. One lady got two left shoes and another was threatening to sue if she didn't get her refund. I already had to change my number back in December (a Samoan family somehow got my number and kept calling and intimidating me cause I apparently got beaten up by their son/brother/nephew/grandson and "it would be wise if you kept your mouth shut") and I was going to be charged $36 for a new number and I didn't want to deal with updating everyone my new number again. What I did end up doing was every time someone called, I'd start trolling them. Some highlights were Teniqua, angry black lady who was wondering why some woman is calling her baby daddy; Sugar **** Mandy, phone sex hotline; Rainbow Waterfall, hippie doomsday and conspiracy preacher; and my husband's, Dick Johnson, Swinging Salami Inc., every order gets you a free complimentary *****! The calls stopped coming about a week after we started trolling with a few stragglers here and there. Probably from people who dialed an 8 instead of a 0. We assumed either the shoe company finally fixed the mistake, changed their phone number, or went out of business. Happy to say I got my number back!

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Top comments

LCPLStewie 23

Is this the shoe store? NO THIS IS PATRICK!!!

389 7
dawnimus 21

"Wrong number" *hang up* Problem solved!

296 13

Comments

dawnimus 21

"Wrong number" *hang up* Problem solved!

296 13
mt631 18

Also annoying to be woken up at 3 am, especially if OP has to work in the morning.

72 3
PrimeEvilTahir 24

Change the ring tone (The one caller will hear while your phone rings) to a message: "This is not a shoe store"

71 1
oddities 20

#57, you mean the voice mail, right?

36 10
schween 6

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway
0 9
ElementaryEdGuy 18

65: No, some people have the option to change the ring that some people hear while calling them. It may be a song or a funky ring that's unique to the person being called. It's called a ringback tone. Not all carriers have that option.

36 0
s7evin 12

65, 69, & 72 I believe y'all are referring to a ringback tone!

7 20
oddities 20

69, hm, I've actually never heard of that. That sounds like it'd be really cool to have though. I guess I've been using the wrong service companies for my phone.

8 0
incoherentrmblr 21

Does your number have the last seven digits as 867-5309?

15 0
mpkpm 19

#87 wins the comment battle for this fml.

1 6
blinked_281 29

Why don't you leave your phone on silent?

1 9
LCPLStewie 23

Is this the shoe store? NO THIS IS PATRICK!!!

389 7
LCPLStewie 23

Why are you even answering anything at 0300? No way in hell I'd wake up to deal with people asking about a return policy on a stupid shoe

72 5
glabberfasted 16

I agree. I'd put my phone on silent, or off, during the night if this was happening to me.

44 2
LCPLStewie 23

Same here... could modify the voice mail greeting. "you have reached my phone blah blah blah If you're calling a bout shoes go F yourself and remember to put 1 before the 800" lol

68 4
Enslaved 36

I always keep my phone on just in case of emergency calls. If someone is calling me a 3AM? ... That means there's something tragic happening. (Sadly, I've gotten those type of calls) Plus my phone is my alarm clock. Can't shut it off for that purpose.

49 2
morella_xx 29

The iPhone has a sleep mode where all of your calls are automatically silenced, so you can have it on for your alarm, but won't be woken up by calls/texts. And you can add individual people whose calls are allowed to bypass the Silent setting in case they'd be calling you in an emergency. I don't know about Windows or Android-based phones but they must have similar options. Your sleep shouldn't be interrupted every night by your phone, especially for something stupid like poor OP is getting.

38 1
B1ackthesun 31

I agree #50 I'd like to pretend life stops when I go to sleep but sadly things can go wrong at any time. I have an app though that will silence calls and other notifications, but still till let your alarm go off. You can also set exceptions so your phone will ring if certain people try and call, such as family. I love it.

8 0
sweetprettykitty 10

If anyone has the name to those apps that would be appreciated!! I have an android but no silent feature that allows certain calls

9 0
ThatSlappinBass 32

#56, If you have an android smartphone, it's built right into the phone. Go to system settings, Sound, and then Quiet Time. Enable it, and go through all the options as for what times/what days of the week. I have to use it during finals week, otherwise I'm a total, distracted mess. :/

16 0
thefastnfuryass 14

"Hi, you've reached the XXX **** hotline. Please choose one of the following: 1) Gay, 2) Fetish, 3) Straight, 4) Transsexual, 5) Thunder Beads Galore, 6) ***********, 7) Midgets, 8) Surprise! Butt-Sex! Also, keep in mind you'll be charged $20 a min for having stayed on this call for the current duration.

12 3
littlem91 29

On newer Androids it's called blocking mode. Can set it so alarms and calls from set contacts come though, nothing else. It's there under some name on most devices people will still own, unless your phone make has customised that option out I suppose. Probably apps that can do it too.

4 0
conaidws 7

I'm not a Krusty Krab.

0 0
Brandi_Faith 33

Is no one else thinking his phone may be a landline? I Just assumed it was a landline and maybe that's why he couldn't turn it off or put it on silent. However it could be a cell. And if it is a landline having an answering machine with a message sounds like a good solution however he will still have to listen to it ring, unfortunately.

1 0
littlem91 29

They will probably hit redial. People really are idiots.

9 0
yoursucklives 36

that sounds frustrating. i know i wouldn't sound professional if someone dared to disturb my precious sleep. not that you needed to do so anyway.

67 1
BicBoi996 12

I think that she should tell anybody that calls her that the store is closed.FOREVER.I think that should solve her problems.

2 2
rbalboa76 5

You can't block the area code though.

17 5
Bigfabthetruth52 22

if its a cell phone there's many apps to block phone numbers,I've never had to on a landline before though.

1 21
LCPLStewie 23

You can't block your phone from receiving any one who is mistaking your # for a shoe store... "Ring ring* phone detects unwanted shoe store caller... automatic blocking sequence activated." NO... You would have to manually have to block every number that had ever miss dialed and called you by mistake

67 2
aireeahna 23

But if the area code is the only difference between his number and the shoe place, he could get a new number and hope that there isn't a 1800 number that is similar to the new number

22 1
Kevin1157 10

@ #24 Actually you can change your area code on your cell phone. My sister in law lives in Colorado and has a California area code and number now

9 1
laden_swallow09 34

36- Oh, suuuuure. Hope and happy thoughts are reeeeeally effective against getting wrong numbers at 3 in the morning or any other misfortunes, for that matter. Do they have pixie dust on eBay? Maybe I'll find a unicorn that ***** ice cream while I'm browsing. Seriously, since the problem is the 808 area code, you can ask the phone provider to have it changed.

3 39
Soundslikeothers 15

Why are you answering unknown numbers at three in the morning unless you are in a on-call position?

28 7
Spyderbane 10

turn off ringer, or put it in another room with the ringer off.

5 0
MisterEx 28

Everyone is an on-call position. What if one of your parents/siblings died 3 in the morning or are in dire help?

11 4
Steve95401 49

Why don't you turn your phone off at bedtime?

26 4
Bigfabthetruth52 22

maybe because it could be a landline or the cellphone can on for emergencies.

17 1
niallo 23

I have a phone that you can program to go silent between certain hours. It's a wireless phone with 4 handsets that can all be programmed separately. So the bedroom phone never has to ring again if you want.

12 1
Norvi 26

I have a land line and in our neighbourhood we tend to call each other when there's an emergency. I understand OP's reluctance to just ignore calls in the middle of the night.

11 0
pdp_fml 21

I live in Hawaii too. I get calls from all kind of people from the East coast, like credit card companies or political action committees asking for donations.Just turn your phone off when you go to bed.

32 2
FrankHotpants 31

I used to get calls all the time from people looking for either the recycling center or a gentleman's club, both places shared almost identical numbers with mine. Sucks

20 1
VeganVampyre 26

Yeah, we used to have a number one digit off from a nearby pizza place, so we constantly got calls from people trying to order pizza. It gets old really fast.

2 1
TheDrifter 23

I used to have the same issue with my local pizza place. I was 2226, they were 2266. I just started taking orders like I was the actual pizza place until they paid me to change my number.

0 0