 Comedy: November 06, 2013 Issue [#5977] |
  Comedy
This week: What's in a Number? Edited by: Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥ  
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The confusion that arises, when your up North area code is just one digit off your down South area code ... |
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Hello, folks, Happy November! Welcome to another edition of the Comedy Newsletter.
I live part of the year in Massachusetts and the other part in Florida. Who would have thought that because my northerncell phone has an area code similar to the city, area code where I reside in Florida, that it would cause so many problems, for so many people?
My cell phone is the only phone I use in Florida, thus, when WL and I make appointments, it's the number we always give. We noticed we never received any call-backs from businesses we expected to hear from at a scheduled time. We complained the next day about their not replying to us and were told, "We did call you, and we left messages!"
I thought, maybe the sound was off the phone. So I checked the voicemail, and there were no messages from this doctor's office or that repair person or the management's office. Nothing - Nada!
I was puzzled for weeks over this lack of communication with business people.
Finally, someone alerted me that my number was very close to the area code in this particular city, thus, when they started to read the first two digits, they just assumed the last digit was the local area code, punched it in and then looked at my last seven numbers.
After that, I took special attention in reminding these folks that my cell phone number is not the local one, and that they are one digit apart. To this day, my third year down here, most of these business people are still dialing the wrong number to get me. 
Finally, I went in person to an office that was supposed to call me that day and asked if they'd written my number correctly? I was told they tried calling me and left a message; however, this time someone called them back and told them all the messages they were leaving were at the wrong number. She said she never made an appointment with that doctor's office and should re-check the phone number.
I was irritated by their incompetence, however, I thought about the plus side to this mistaken number identity. What it means, folks, is that there is a person in my town who has exactly the same phone number as I, except for the third digit in the area code. Since I know the local area code, I also know her phone number. Thus, if I am expecting to hear back from a service person or doctor's office, I know who to call!
It's like having my very own answering service. It goes something like this:
"Hello, nice lady, I'm the person whose phone number gets confused with yours. Did you receive any calls or messages for me, today?" She then tells me that the AC guy called and he will be available tomorrow, or, the doctor's office said your appointment is at 2:45.
But it always ends in, "Is there any way to make them stop calling me?"
"Believe me, I am trying! I've been to their offices in person, wrote and rewrote my phone number down, and they still keep yours in the computer. It's all that computer technology, you know. Once there is a bug in the system, it takes about six-months to fix." 
She tries to be polite, but I know this great service I'm receiving won't last for too much longer. She's considering changing her number. That means, it will take a few more months before they recycle her phone number again and I can connect to my very own, Southern living, answering service.
For now, It's great to know I won't miss a message for a while. Because, seriously folks, some of these business people just don't get it! They assume I am daft, and don't know my own phone number. The daft part is probably true, but my phone number is something I know. I can be really sure about that because I carried it around with me for months so I could repeat it when someone asked. Okay, so it takes me a little while longer to memorize new numbers; that doesn't make me an idiot. However, that is a subjective thing.
To conclude my phone number rant, I'd like to add that I'm really going to miss the nice lady who now takes my messages for me. Perhaps she'll call and ask how I'm doing when she gets her new number. That would be great. However, I do fear that since she knows my phone number, she may start handing it out to businesses in the area, making ME her very own answering service! 
That's all she wrote for this edition of the Comedy Newsletter.
Until next time--laugh hard, laugh often!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving, folks!
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LJPC - the tortoise 
Hi WW! So you've become a migrating Florida bird and fly south before the first frost is on the ground. I'm glad you enjoyed your Monster Mash, but I bet you still miss fall leaves, decorating for Halloween, cute kidlings dressed as not-so-cute movie monsters, and white Christmases. But I've learned to live without, too. Temperate weather is a blessing in itself.  Have a Happy Halloween, WW!
~ Laura
Thanks, Laura! I did actually leave my area after peak foliage was reached.  Perhaps next Halloween I'll stay longer and spook the little monsters. We'll see. 
brom21 
“You’re only as old as you feel.” I’ve always agreed with this saying. I’m thirty years old and I’m proud to say I’m still a kid. Lucky for me most people say I look I’m in my mid-twenties. Whenever I ask my fellow WDC authors how old they think I am, they get the idea that I’m like seventeen or something. I take it as a compliment. What about you guys; would you consider yourself as young at heart? Thanks for the article it; makes feel better. BTW, is it just me or do people give out less candy than they used to?
WL and I are so young at heart, so I know what you mean. And, yes -- they are getting cheaper with the candy. Heck, it's not all their fault, the chocolate bars are now half the size at twice the cost! However, I gave my trick-or-treaters, full sized candy bars, along with the little assorted boxes of candy. I was such a generous witch.  Thanks for the feedback! 
drjim
OHH-kay, Webbie, time for a dignified response to your crazy-as-always NLs that makes us all laugh loudly ... and sometimes...often. Webbie, in the beginning, you mentioned how, with kids "decorating" their heads with paper bags, et al, could use psychiatric care - and that you YOURSELF SHOULD HAVE BECOME A SHRINK - I SO BEG to differ. Months ago, you mentioned in response to MY saving lives through the years through various means that YOU, by NOT becoming a Nurse and/or Healthcare Professional, no doubt saved enormous sums of lives likewise. It is with great levity that I now remind you in a most dignified manner that your going into the mental health profession as a Psychiatrist is a DEFINITE NO-NO!! (WebLock suffering daymares of people, hands atop their heads, nostrils flared, pupils dilated and screaming at the top of their lungs while racing out the doors of your psychiatric facility yelling, "PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY!! PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY!!" comes straight to mind.) SO, Webbie, warmest wishes to be conveyed to you in earnest sympathy for such an endeavor but NO, NOT A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL ARE YOU TO BECOME A SHRINK!! Think of all the MINDS you'll save!!! HAHAHAHAaaaaaahahahaaaaa! Too funny! The episodes of creating costumes for family members comes to life yet again as your kids, now parents, take up the mantle and bring holiday costumed joy to all corners of the home! It is TRUE, Webbie, as you so well know, tha Sugar Patrol, enforced by radar airborne, comes to the rescue of lost Double Bubble, Jawbreakers, Sugar Babies and so many others within a matter of hours... if not minutes. Indeed, we know what we know!! Thanks for the Comedy in our lives, in the form of this Newsletter!!
Thanks, WL -- I think there's a compliment in there, somewhere. 
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
Sometimes you have to check your sanity. & Submits: "Big Fat Pig City Guard"
I try, I really try! 
Thank you for your feedback, folks. We editors really appreciate it!
See you next month
WW
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| ASIN: 0996254145 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.95
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