sorry, wrong number

just had a wrong number on my mobile phone. i answered my usual, 'hi, jeremy speaking' when i don't know the number, which was followed by a pause... then *click* the person hung up. the same person called back and when i answered they hung up again.

i get this a lot as if one dials a 02 prefix instead of a 01 followed by my number it'll connect you to telewiz, a chain of mobile phone shops. wasn't always this way- about two years ago the number was changed for a telewiz outlet somewhere and the wrong numbers started.

in the beginning i'd answer with a simple 'hello' and would get an earful of thai after which i'd have to politely explain in thai that they have the wrong number, and if they dial 02 they will reach telewiz. sometime after about the 100th wrong number i grew tired of this and started answering the phone with the phrase 'hi, jeremy speaking', which was enough to let (most) callers know they didn't reach a mobile phone shop.

what i found was that instead of letting me know they dialled a wrong number, most hung up. a few times when i've been busy and annoyed i called back to ask the person why they had called- one or two apologized and explained they dialled the wrong number but a couple of others (from mobile phones) hung up! i suppose it's down to a lack of confidence in english, or not knowing what to say if a scary farang answers the phone.

had one amusing missed call which i could see from the incoming number was from a northern province. the old woman on the phone ignored my 'hi, jeremy speaking' and politely requested to speak to someone. i replied in thai that she had the wrong number. she asked me who i was and i told her i was a farang (foreigner) and she had called my mobile phone. she then started asking me where i was and if i was a farang then why could i speak thai! after a few minutes i convinced her that i didn't know her daughter/friend/etc and she hung up. :-)

on a more bizarre note i once received a series of sms text messages from a clearly irate girl who asked me to stop my wife(!) from contacting her. i replied she had the wrong person, that i was not married, and i had no idea what she was on about. she didn't believe me and launched into a text message tirade about my having met her a few nights earlier when i was out with my wife and how the wife was now bothering her and if i didn't do something about it she would go to the police. after double-checking to make sure i hadn't blacked out one evening i just stopped answering her messages. finally the next day the girl on the other end sent me an apology, saying the number was wrong. nice one!!!!!