Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Reason #2 not to answer your phone at 2:30am

2:30 am.
I am fast asleep in my dorm room.

*Ring, ring*

Me: Hello??

Unidentified male: I just wanted to let you know that I just got back, I was pretty late.

*Note- I was very fuzzy headed at this point. I think he talked for a little while, but I am not terribly sure what was said, as I was just trying to decipher what was going on, where I was, and who he was. I know he asked if he woke me up, to which I said yes. At some point, in my befuddled state, after he has spoken for a bit, I make the decision that he sounds like my dorm neighbour, C., who may be calling his roommate and got the wrong number.*

Me: Is this C?

Unidentified male: No, this is Derrick.

Me: *Laughing and thinking that he is another guy from the program, as the name sounds vaguely familiar* Oh, you've got the wrong number! I was so confused! This is Princess' room!

Unidentified male: Oh, I was looking for Sarah. Sorry, I have been having a hard time with the dorm phone system!

*This furthered my ease, as there is definitely a girl name Sarah on my floor who is in the program.*

Me: Well, I will let you go to try and reach her.

Unidentified male: Wait! We should talk! I'm never going to know who you are!

Me: *a little nervous* It's two in the morning, so I should probably go.

Unidentified male: But you sound so nice! Your voice sounds really young.

Me: I have to go. I have to get up early.

Unidentified male: You're so polite! You sound like you could be a receptionist or something! And it's so funny that you thought I was your friend-- no one every mistakes my voice for someone else.

I get substantially more creeped out, but am still rather half asleep and, for some reason, trying to rationally end this conversation rather than just hanging up on the guy. He tries to find out more about me, and continues complementing my voice and such.

Me: I really need to go.

Unidentified man: Wait! You have an accent or something! I don't even know where you're from!

Me: Bye. *click*

***

It was only when I woke up and became a little more clear-headed that I realized what an odd interaction that was. The guy tried to start a conversation with me at 2am! However, I just wrote it off as a drunk guy who was happy to have a young sounding woman answer his wrong number.

So I tell a friend about it. And it turns out she had the same call around the same time, with a guy saying the exact same thing (Hi, I just go back... Oh, sorry, I was looking for someone else. But who are you?). Then I find out that at least two other girls in my class got the phone call, with the whole "You sound so nice and young" schtick. Same as me, they just thought it was another guy in the program at first who had called the wrong room, so they tolerated the conversation for a few minutes before they got creeped out. Then I find out two guys had calls and hang-ups around 2am last night.

So some guy is calling various dorm rooms in an attempt to start conversations with half-asleep women, and hanging up if a man answers! The weird thing is that it didn't sound sexual at all... no heavy breathing, and he sounded so normal and consistent with the wrong number thing for the first few minutes.

I need to stop answering my phone. Can anyone teach me smoke signals or morse code?

27 comments:

Airam said...

Wow that guy needs a hobby. Or you know ... some therapy.

The Author Of This said...

That's VERY weird...run to the hills!

Princess of the Universe said...

Sounds like a risky way to try to meet girls. You really run the risk of getting some people very angry with you...

Anonymous said...

A very similar thing used to happen to me and my friends when we lived in student dorms.

I think it really is just some guy's pathetic attempt to meet women!

Unknown said...

"Your voice sounds really young"

So you're saying that's not a good pickup line, right?

Yoda said...

He was right ... you're way too polite. I don't spend a second more than "wrong number". Wrong number *click*

The Duke said...

"You sound like a receptionist"
"Oh... that's so sweet - I NEED to have your babies, NOW."

Lord Chimmy said...

Cold-calling random (hopefully it is random) girls at 2am?

Sounds like a candidate for a psycho award.

Ant said...

You're not having the best luck with phones...

That is just too creepy - and unfortunately I'm chalking that up as yet another black mark (on a very long list) against hostels...

eric1313 said...

That's weird, for sure.

Great story, however. If you framed this story within another tale of smooth deception (great reversal if you can set up the narrator in her own attempted deception that gets derailed somehow because of the phonecall incident, you would have a hit. Unfortunately, this weird business seems to be right up your alley, lately. Make some lemonade with all the sour stuff.

Beth said...

Geez, you have the strangest experiences with phone calls.

Middle of the night calls are never good.

And it doesn't matter if the call didn't sound sexual in nature - any guy who calls women at that hour is some kind of sicko.

Anonymous said...

Whoa. That's creepy. This reminds me of a premise for a really lame scary movie...

PG said...

Yeah...I'd probably be the curious sucker that stays on the phone. Very wierd though. I didn't know this was an established tactic.

Maybe it's like exposing yourself in public (I know you're thinking, where is she going with this?). Basically, my understanding is that the person exposing themself gets off on the other person's shock/horror/surprise. So, maybe this guy gets off on people being curious about who he is. Or, more likely, the (very) remote possibility of a midnight rendez-vous with a stranger.

Eve said...

Weird!

Don't answer unknown numbers. Although I'm always curious who is calling.

The Author Of This said...

I've given you an award! Come see!

The Author Of This said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
L said...

Oh man that is so weird!!! That's such an odd pickup attempt.


Maybe the only women he can get are confused, sleepy women at 2am??

Unknown said...

Wow. That's totally creepy.

Usually, when I answer the phone at 2:30 a.m., it involves yelling cusswords. I do NOT like calls at that time.

Dizzie said...

See, that never happens to me! All the wrong-number-calls I get are from people that can't speak the language and are asking for someone who's name I can't pronounce...!

Why can't fate send a really hot guy with a really nice voice my way? If only by telephone... *sigh*


LOL

di.di said...

It's always awkward getting wrong number calls, because I don't understand the etiquette. Do you say thanks for calling or just a plain good-bye, or do you hang up on them?

Princess, u can always turn your phone off at night or let everything go to voice mail..:P

Chris Benjamin said...

yikes, the creeps are getting slicker. it never fails to amaze me what some guys will try to pull.

Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

That's a pretty good stalking tactic. I'll remember that one.

Oops!

Did I say that out loud?

Crushed said...

I think he might be more sinister than you realise.
He probably wants to lure girls down.

You need to report this.

Princess Pointful said...

A few follow-up points...
This was a dorm number, not a hostel (so no need for another black mark, Ant!), or any number personally associated with me. So no call display, either.

And, yes, it was reported, given that so many people got the call. We figured it was a good thing to report it, considering that younger girls often stay in the dorms for summer camps. The police actually insisted on coming to talk to the woman who reported it.

cinemec said...

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Anonymous said...

I thought that this was going to be another addition to the last phone problem. Glad it wasn't but damn do you seem to have cruddy luck with phones as of late. Makes me glad I rarely answer my phone. Ever. Regardless of the time. I detest the things.

Indiana James said...

That was mildly disturbing. God help people like that. Time for me to get a new shtick.