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.

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!

Top comments

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

"Wrong number" *hang up* Problem solved!

Comments

lenalee96 22

Ooh, 808 is what I have. A Hawaii area code

I do believe that's what OP's name refers to.

lenalee96 22

Put it on "do not disturb" if you have a smartphone

sweetestbitcheva 14

It still goes off even if it's on do not disturb

52 - No it doesn't, that's the whole point of it.

Bigfabthetruth52 22

honestly if its a area code i don't know or its late at night that shit not getting picked up.and if i don't receive a voicemail i consider the call even less important.

ZY1431 24

just say "nope wrong number" and hang up. keep it simple :)

How does this happen? Please don't hate, the phone system in my country is totally different.

simply miss the #1 when dialing a 1-800-###-####

The 1 doesn't have anything to do with it. They're misdialing and hitting 8 when they mean to hit another 0 because the two are right next to each other on the number pad.

Oh god lol I'd probably be one of the people calling the OP then for ******* up the number

Just give them your address and you'll get lots of shoes

Besides the fact you'll be heavily sued when they figure out their shoes are not going to be refunded

Bigfabthetruth52 22

id give them an address that i could gain access to but wouldn't able to be traced back to me.just find one that's in postal system somewhere near me that i know isn't occupied.

Octwo 16

Except they have your phone number which can be easily traced back to you, grats.

or how about let's not try to steal shit

^This is like my thought process whenever I have "darker" thoughts

just put them on hold until they hang up

valentinov 15

You should up your game then. It just won't do to sound unprofessional... Seriously, if I were you I'd tell the caller that he doesn't sound "customer" enough. :))

its time to call your mobile service and play the customer game... your mobile service can help you on this...

dave20012 15

Haha just that's messed..even with the time difference it's only a few hours...who the hell calls wanting to change their shoes in the middle of the night?? Change your recording to this is.....not a shoe store get the f,I go number right lol

There's like a 7-hour time difference between Hawaii and the east coast... Plus the last part of your comment made no sense whatsoever.