Weird Conversations & Interactions Involving Mistaken Identity

[EnolaGaia]

What's interesting to me about this call and others like it is that it wasn't just conversational details that made sense (until the final fatal comment, "Say 'hi' to your sister"), but each participant accepted the other as a well known voice!

The same thing struck me as well ... It's the transparent acceptance of the voice and phrasing that makes this wrong number most remarkable.

 

[escargot]

And if you quoted the post you were responding to we would know who it was who forgot they had already posted that story.

I hadn't forgotten anything. At the time I was accessing the board on my phone which isn't as easy to search on as the computer.

 

[PeteS]

What's interesting to me about this call and others like it is that it wasn't just conversational details that made sense (until the final fatal comment, "Say 'hi' to your sister"), but each participant accepted the other as a well known voice!

Possibly happens more than you would think. The same has happened to me twice, as I have related before. On both occasions the conversation started with Hi Pete and then launched into conversations about cars etc, only to come to an end with a Hi to your sister type comment.

 

[escargot]

What's interesting to me about this call and others like it is that it wasn't just conversational details that made sense (until the final fatal comment, "Say 'hi' to your sister"), but each participant accepted the other as a well known voice!

This occurred to me too. You could understand it if the story came from someone who wasn't used to using the phone or to talking with that particular person but that doesn't apply here.

 

[Sgt Girth]

This occurred to me too. You could understand it if the story came from someone who wasn't used to using the phone or to talking with that particular person but that doesn't apply here.

Unfortunately I can’t revisit this with my mum as she has now passed on.....I can only really put the acceptance of the conversation as being partially due to confirmation bias where one side at least was expecting the regular call to discuss family matters and went with it with the mind subconsciously choosing to discount the minor detail of the voice sounding different!
I’ve done it myself where I was expecting a call at work from a pal of mine and when the call came in I started giving him all kinds of abuse (because as young idiots that’s what we did on our calls!) This good tempered but rather brutal abuse went on for a good long while until I finally twigged that the banter wasn’t being reciprocated....only then was there a sizeable pause and the caller said “...........I don’t know who you think you’re talking to but that person isn’t me” I had quite merrily slagged off a rather senior officer.....I felt this horrible all over chill go over me and I went into some kind of auto-babble apology. Fortunately he took it all in good humour otherwise I would never have made it to Corporal Girth, nevermind Sgt Girth.

 

[escargot]

Unfortunately I can’t revisit this with my mum as she has now passed on.....I can only really put the acceptance of the conversation as being partially due to confirmation bias where one side at least was expecting the regular call to discuss family matters and went with it with the mind subconsciously choosing to discount the minor detail of the voice sounding different!
I’ve done it myself where I was expecting a call at work from a pal of mine and when the call came in I started giving him all kinds of abuse (because as young idiots that’s what we did on our calls!) This good tempered but rather brutal abuse went on for a good long while until I finally twigged that the banter wasn’t being reciprocated....only then was there a sizeable pause and the caller said “...........I don’t know who you think you’re talking to but that person isn’t me” I had quite merrily slagged off a rather senior officer.....I felt this horrible all over chill go over me and I went into some kind of auto-babble apology. Fortunately he took it all in good humour otherwise I would never have made it to Corporal Girth, nevermind Sgt Girth.

My squaddie son often answered his phone with 'Yes sir!' as if he were still on Guardroom duty.
Probably a good habit to get into.

On recognising voices: back when the ex and I first went on the phone as it was known then, I was home alone with the baby one day when I had a series of obscene calls. This bloke was looking forward to doing all sorts with me.

As I wasn't used to talking on phones I didn't recognise the voice, although it seemed to be some acquaintance as he mentioned things like family names that a stranger wouldn't know.

There was no caller display or 1471 yet so I couldn't get the number. Phones were wired in so you couldn't unplug them. Leaving the phone off the hook made it play a whining tone after a while, and anyway I needed it working.

When I hung up it rang again, over and over, so I couldn't even ring the operator for advice.
I took it as a creepy prank rather than anything dangerous. No-one who knew me that well would expect me to be intimidated.

When the then Mr Snail came home I told him and he answered it, and slammed it down after hearing what Mr Caller would like to do to him too.

After that we left it off the hook covered with a pillow to damp the noise until next day, and it never happened again.

We never told anyone. No point, nothing could be done, and I knew I'd find out who it was one day.

At least ten years later, chatting with an ex who'd been away from the area for that long, I suddenly recognised his voice as the Creepy Caller's.
I pointed at him and said 'You rang my husband and offered to suck his big dick!'

Bloke's face was a picture. It was him.

 

[Sgt Girth]

Bang to rights.....the dirty fecker!!

I too was on the receiving end of an obscene call donkeys years ago....it was about 2am and I rather groggily answered the landline phone to a running commentary about what this bloke wanted to do to me.....He was straight into it and was very (and I mean very) enthusiastic about the whole process. I had no idea that guys rang other guys to do that kind of thing and honestly thought it was just a guy on girl kind of crap! Anyway he reached his “conclusion” to coin a phrase and rang off......2 minutes later he called again to apologise leaving me to return back to my bed in a rather bemused state. Whoever it was must have known something about me at least as he repeatedly referred to me as “soldier boy” during the call but not enough to know that he had the wrong branch of the Armed Forces. Never happened again though thankfully....I certainly wouldn’t have wanted Mrs Girth to be on the receiving end of one of those calls.

 

[catseye]

What's interesting to me about this call and others like it is that it wasn't just conversational details that made sense (until the final fatal comment, "Say 'hi' to your sister"), but each participant accepted the other as a well known voice!

A LOT of voices sound the same on the phone. I've had an entire conversation with one of my daughters, thinking it was one of the other two (two of them have very similar voices). Also, if you are a little hard of hearing as I am, voices distort over the phone and a 'well spoken man' is a 'well spoken man' not necessarily Uncle Gerald (although it may be, and you have to ask searching questions to determine whether it IS Uncle Gerald or some other well spoken bloke). If you fail to ask the right questions, you can be in the middle of a conversation before you realise it isn't who you think it is.
Also, older phones were not so great for faithful voice reproduction. Add in some background noise and, yep, voices are not always as distinctive as you think.

 

[escargot]

The only other time I've had dirty phone calls was on my first mobile, which I'd had for about a week.
It rang at about 1:30m one morning and I answered groggily.

A man's voice started wittering on about a car. It sounded like one of my brothers in law so I assumed he'd broken down and needed help, which wasn't unusual in my family at the time.

However, he was actually offering to return the knickers I'd left in his car after having it off in various ways with him and his mates.

When I hung up he rang again, hung up, rang again, etc etc.
I turned it off until we got up and had no more trouble.

The number had registered but I didn't know it and wasn't about to call it back!

This time I couldn't confront the caller because I didn't know him.

However, I had my suspicions.
It wasn't a wrong number as he called me by a name only close family used and only my family had my number.
Also, there might have been a girl giggling in the background.

It was most likely a teenage niece, C, and some boyfriend. C had my number because she was a troubled kid who sometimes needed picking up from wherever she'd got stranded.

When she later rang to ask for a lift or whatever I replied with 'I don't appreciate prank phone calls.'
There was a little gasp and she hung up.

Pissed on her own chips there, what!

 

[BlackPeter]

One of the oddest conversations I had was at a local show a few years ago (a big event with loads of craft tents, fairground etc) when a young woman with a small boy seated on her shoulders came up to me said 'hello Alan' and introduced the small boy as 'this is Philip' we then had quite a long conversation that made it clear that she knew me and quite a lot about me (even asking after my partner by name) - unfortunately I had no idea who she was and still to this day haven't the foggiest -I suppose I should have asked her who she was but it always seems so embarassing under these circumstances!

 

[escargot]

One of the oddest conversations I had was at a local show a few years ago (a big event with loads of craft tents, fairground etc) when a young woman with a small boy seated on her shoulders came up to me said 'hello Alan' and introduced the small boy as 'this is Philip' we then had quite a long conversation that made it clear that she knew me and quite a lot about me (even asking after my partner by name) - unfortunately I had no idea who she was and still to this day haven't the foggiest -I suppose I should have asked her who she was but it always seems so embarassing under these circumstances!

Had something like this yesterday!

Was chatting with a market trader I know well who started asking me if I'd seen much of (I dunno) Bill and Jane or someone since the Covid started.
Apparently this couple and I are thick as thieves and he'd been hoping to see me to ask about them. As I know a lot of people who might be Bill and Jane by sight and for a chat it could've been anyone!

It crossed my mind that he might've meant my old mucker 'Sooty' and his missis. I used to bump into them when walking the dogs with Techy.
Early on I couldn't work out who Sooty was, apart from being someone from a long time ago, and I didn't know his very nice missis at all until then.

At some point when they and Techy and I were chatting I caught him looking at me in an imploring way, as if he was worried I was going to spill the beans about something. I kept the conversation to canine-related subjects.

Eventually I remembered who Sooty was and how I knew him. Motorbike-related. 'nuff said.
Wonder what he thought I knew about him? I let those sleeping dogs lie!

 

[Austin Popper]

One of the oddest conversations I had was at a local show a few years ago (a big event with loads of craft tents, fairground etc) when a young woman with a small boy seated on her shoulders came up to me said 'hello Alan' and introduced the small boy as 'this is Philip' we then had quite a long conversation that made it clear that she knew me and quite a lot about me (even asking after my partner by name) - unfortunately I had no idea who she was and still to this day haven't the foggiest -I suppose I should have asked her who she was but it always seems so embarassing under these circumstances!

This reminds me of another nearly forgotten experience from decades ago. I was at an event at the local university with my sister, four years my junior. Don't recall the event, but as we were leaving, walking down an empty corridor, we came upon a very striking young woman. She smiled and greeted us, and we had a pleasant conversation during which it was obvious she knew us, or at least knew my sister. This did not surprise me, as they both were students there and my sister has always been gregarious and seems to know everyone. The woman was younger than my sister. She was gorgeous. Long wavy hair, well spoken, and she knew how to dress too. Most impressive.

After we had moved on, out of earshot, I asked Sis, "Who was that?" She said, "I was about to ask you the same thing." Some days later, Sis told me she thought it was Jane Bennett. That was a bit mind bending, as the last time I had seen Jane she was a cute high school kid from our home town. We had both known her pretty well. As it turned out, we each ran into her a few more times, and yes, it was Jane. My, had she blossomed!

 

[escargot]

This reminds me of another nearly forgotten experience from decades ago. I was at an event at the local university with my sister, four years my junior. Don't recall the event, but as we were leaving, walking down an empty corridor, we came upon a very striking young woman. She smiled and greeted us, and we had a pleasant conversation during which it was obvious she knew us, or at least knew my sister. This did not surprise me, as they both were students there and my sister has always been gregarious and seems to know everyone. The woman was younger than my sister. She was gorgeous. Long wavy hair, well spoken, and she knew how to dress too. Most impressive.

After we had moved on, out of earshot, I asked Sis, "Who was that?" She said, "I was about to ask you the same thing." Some days later, Sis told me she thought it was Jane Bennett. That was a bit mind bending, as the last time I had seen Jane she was a cute high school kid from our home town. We had both known her pretty well. As it turned out, we each ran into her a few more times, and yes, it was Jane. My, had she blossomed!

Heh, and you hadn't asked for her number?

My squaddie son used to be sent on recruitment drives in town centres. They were teams of smart young blokes on their best behaviour who naturally attracted the attention of the local ladies.

Sonny was popular when they visited our town and nearby ones because he knew most of the girls! He'd been to school with them or they were pals of his sibllings.
His awed colleagues would ask for introductions and he'd think about it.