The telephone is a miracle of the modern world.
We can speak, instantly, to anyone we’d like no matter the time of day or distance.
A little over a hundred years ago, this would have been considered science fiction.
Of course, not every call placed gets to the intended recipient.
Redditor cowgary decided to find out how strange these misdirected calls could be when they asked:
“What is your strangest wrong number story?”
Some calls were born of good news.
“I got a call at like 6 am, and I was still sleeping so I kind of didn’t understand what was happening- but this person was SO EXCITED to tell me that they got the new job.”
“And they recognized I was still half asleep so they said they’d call me back later, and said ‘I love you’ – I just said ‘I love you too, I’m glad you got the job’.”
“I absolutely did not know that person and they never called back, but I think of that call all the time.”~ boobookittyf*ck28
Maybe it wasn’t a wrong number after all.
“An old friend of mine got a wrong number text from a mother responding to an ad about a used electric wheelchair for her child.”
“For some reason, he used got a lot of wrong number texts. He would usually have a little fun with the sender before telling them they had the wrong number, and share it on social media.”
“But this time, he didn’t mess with her (obviously).”
“He posted it on social media and asked around if anyone knew where to find a used electric wheelchair.”
“The mother couldn’t afford a new one. It got a lot of attention, but nobody could find one for sale.”
“After a couple days of no luck, anonymous donors bought and donated to them a brand-new electric wheelchair.”
“More heart-warming than strange, but a good story either way.” ~ Buckle_Sandwich
A shared moment in time.
“I called a wrong number when I was in high school (I am a male and 43 now) and a teen girl answered.”
“We quickly realized it was a wrong number but started having a little fun banter.”
“She seemed really cool and funny and so we kept talking.”
“I asked her what she was doing and she said she was watching OJ Simpson in a police car chase on TV.”
“I turned it on too and together we talked for an hour and watched the slow-speed chase of OJ in the back of the white Bronco.”
“At the end, we laughed that we had shared that together and then said goodbye. I don’t remember her name or anything but it was a really memorable night.” ~Imaginary_Worth682
Party time!
“I was home for from college for Christmas break around 2014, and ended up chilling downtown with a few buddies from high school who were also in town for the holidays.”
“While hanging out, I received a group text with a bunch of numbers I didn’t recognize.”
“The message was a group picture with people who were obviously at a Christmas party.”
“I made the only logical choice and immediately sent a selfie back with the message ‘wrong number’.”
“The rest of the people in this text absolutely loved this and responded with ‘hahaha’s’ and ‘you’re kinda cute’ texts until one person said ‘You should come to our Christmas party’!’
“The party was only a few blocks away from where I was hanging out, so I left my friends and went to the party.”
“I find the apartment, walk in, and it had a “record scratch moment’ like from a cheesy 90s movie.”
“Everyone goes silent stares at me: I am the only white person there.”
“After a few seconds the host shatters the silence with the shout: ‘It’s wrong number guy’!’
“We end up doing shots and partying for The next few hours! By far the BEST wrong number experience ever!” ~ monty2
The G-Files.
“Got a call from a government agency, FDA maybe?”
“Anyway the first thing the lady says to me is, ‘We got a call that you have a problem with goats?’ “
“I’m like no, sorry, wrong number.”
” ‘Are you sure you don’t have a goat problem?’ Nope. ‘Ok thanks, sorry about the confusion’.” ~ Thac0_is_Zero
Behold the power of Snacks.
“So… I got this group text about a break room installation. It showed snacks, coffee, etc. It looked beautiful.”
“I responded with a text of my office break room. It was sad sight. No coffee or snacks.”
“I got a response about how it was a company who does that service. We scheduled a visit to my office to sample the snacks and coffee.”
“The branch manager LOVED the coffee. He ordered a completed redo of our break room; snacks, coffee, etc.”
“I don’t work their anymore but… “~ Askirby
A grim coincidence.
“Years ago, while I was living at home, I got a phone line for my computer (yeah, I’m old), but also had a phone connected to it, because phones are cheap.”
“My parents’ room was all the way across the house and upstairs, so they’d call me sometimes instead of walking all that way.”
“One day, in our sleepy little town, some guy killed his wife, shot his kid, and drove into town shooting at random people and buildings.”
“He was killed in a shootout with police at the main intersection in town.”
“He happened to have the same first name as me. At some point during the investigation, they contacted my mom, because she’d made a call to his house shortly before he went on his rampage.”
“As it turns out, his phone number was the same as mine, but with the last two digits reversed.”
“My mom called him that day, and just said ‘<First Name>, get up here, I need help.’ then she hung up.”
“Since I never showed up, she got my brother to help her with whatever it was and forgot about it until the cops showed up asking how she knew the crazy guy.” ~ Wadsworth_McStumpy
Extra crispy.
“Not me but a friend of mine.”
“Gets a text one day that simply says ‘Dan I burnt the chicken.’ Alongside a picture of an almost comically huge fire with a burnt chicken in the center, shoved into a pan that was way too small.”
“This was followed by a stream of increasingly panicked texts about the chicken.” ~ Chancellor_Valorum82
Phone number reincarnation.
“Bought a cell phone you pay by the month.”
“Basically a burner phone, but I only had that one.”
“Bought it at a BestBuy when I was out of town. 3 hours away from home. Same state.”
“2 days later I get a random text from a friend on the new number. I didn’t give anyone my new number yet.”
“Turns out the number I had was a recently old number from a mutual friend. So all my friends had my number already. Just had to update the name. Weird sh*t.” ~ newtizzle
And lastly, the spice must flow.
“Had someone text me for meth.. I think.. They called it ‘cream’ which returned meth in google.”
“Anyway, I didn’t really care but I couldn’t assist them. I responded with a random cop selfie & the message ‘wrong number.. don’t do drugs’.” ~ Mr_Beemer
The telephone is a miracle of the modern world, sure.
But sometimes the real miracle is ever getting in contact with the person you were trying to reach in the first place!
Be sure to check the number and dial again.
Though, clearly, some wrong numbers are just the start of fantastic adventures.