I'm a very honest person. Perhaps too honest...

Monday, November 27, 2006

Weirded Out

At the end of my holiday weekend, I received a somewhat disturbing phone call.

Basically, the person that called said they got my number through a mutual friend but wouldn't tell me who they were, who the mutual friend was or why they were calling. The first thing this person said after I answered the phone was "Hi Linda, is it too late to call?" I said, "No, it's not too late. Who's this?" and they said, "Oh, I get the feeling it's too late. I'll call back tomorrow." To which I responded, "No, it's not too late, but who's calling?" Again, they responded, "No, I feel it's too late to call, we'll talk tomorrow." I eventually got him (it was a male voice with a foreign accent) to say the call was regarding "friendship", but he kept saying "we'll talk about it tomorrow." It was just overall strange. Probably just a "mutual friend" with very poor social skills...but I didn't like the secrecy and "we'll talk about it tomorrow". I told him not to call again. Also, the call was a "restricted call".

I hate these types of incidents because I become really worried and start obsessing over all the possible things that could go wrong - is he a stalker? did he hurt a loved one, steal their phone and is perversely messing with me? - and until I get confirmation that everything is okay and I'm being overly paranoid, I worry myself sick.

Word to the wise - if you are socially inept, please have your friend call your "mutual friend" and forewarn them before you spook this "mutual friend" out by calling from a restricted number at 11:00pm on a Sunday, and then refusing to talk to the person YOU called and refusing to give them your name, reason you are calling or the name of the person who gave you their number.

Next time - just don't bother. Because the next time, I will call the police.

1 comment:

Tony said...

I'm surprised you were so patient and understanding. I have a "two funky answers and you're out" rule.

I hate to sound paranoid, but you should also be concerned about identity theft. Maybe you should freeze your credit reports.

And when you get your next phone bill make sure there aren't a bunch of calls on it you didn't make--which you'd probably notice immediately. Don't hesitate to call the police if you get a call like that again--possibly from someone different.