Rencently I read somewhere that you should blog about the things that keep you up at night, because, chances are, those things are keeping someone else up at night, too.
I wish I knew where I read that, so that I could credit the genius who said it, and also so that we could all go soak up some more of his or her wisdom.
So, I’m working on a post that’s going to take me awhile to get just right. It’s something that I wasn’t sure I’d ever write about, but it’s a subject that has kept me up more than a few times in the last few years. Maybe it keeps you up, too? Or not. Either way, I’m working on it.
In the meantime, I’ll tell you about a minor annoyance I’ve been dealing with for the past year.
My brother-in-law lived with us (well, technically not in the house, but in the guest house, which was bad enough) for about 6 months last year. We were happy to help him while he and his wife were separated*.
Without going into too much detail about the man’s personal woe’s, let me just say that there were quite a few collections agencies and various legal-type persons trying to get ahold of my brother-in-law.
Which doesn’t really effect me, right? It’s his business, not mine.
Except. When he moved out, somehow every. single. one. of the people trying to find him suddenly had our phone number as his, our address as his. I find it very interesting that he would give out my home number, when there isn’t even a phone line in the guest house.
Every day for 365 days, I have received, at minimum, 10 automated collections calls for my brother-in-law. My phone rings all damn day, 7 days a week.
It’s gotten to the point that I don’t answer my home phone. It’s never for me, so why should I bother? And since it’s automated, and they begin the call with, “If this is not *insert brother-in-law’s name* please hang up. It is illegal for you to listen to the following message.” I can’t even stay on the line to try and get a real person who could take my freaking phone number off of this particular account.
I’m thinking about changing our phone number, because every time the phone rings my blood pressure goes up. Especially when I’ve just gotten the kids to bed, you know what I mean? They do tend to prefer calling between 7-9 in the evening, when I need the house to be quiet.
Yes, I’m mildly annoyed. And I’m considering giving my brother-in-law’s number to every single charity
*It should be noted that when I say “we” I really mean my husband, and I happen to love him.
8 replies on “Only a Minor Annoyance”
A few years ago, there was a guy with the same first and last name as my husband, who happens to live in our town and went to the same high school as my husband, and who also got himself into a ton of debt. I can’t tell you how many arguments I had with collections agencies that my husband was not the guy they were looking for. Those constant phone calls are a nightmare.
I understand the annoyance, the same thing happened to me for a year, and in the end I stopped answering my phone at all. All the calls were for someone totally unrelated to us, who had our number before. Everybody was after him, from banks to lawyers, and the one time I did manage to talk to a real person it took me 10 minutes to convince them I was not this person or his wife.
It must be ultra annoying to have this from a member of the family. I would just change your number and be done with it. Oh, and check your credit record to be sure this has not affected your credit rating, you can protest if it has.
Am I missing something? You never use your phone and you’re only considering changing the number now? I definitely would either change it, or disconnect it entirely! We only have a home phone because we overseas relatives! We only give out our cell phone numbers when asked for our home phone. You have dealt with this for a year? Clearly you have WAY more patience than I do!
I would consider that a MAJOR annoyance. Just in case you need to hear it–I wanted to say that you are completely justified in feeling angry about this. I’d change my phone number too!
UGH! I hate when people do dumb things like that when you are dong everything you can to help them. People suck. You are a sweetheart for putting up with it, though.
And seriously, taking your phone hostage is more than a minor annoyance!
This happened to us with the girl who lived in our house when we went overseas. We did change the number!
I’ll be looking for that other post. XO.
Change your number. Then, take full advantage of his “new” number and graciously spread the word. Don’t you love it when family takes advantage?
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Have had that happen a few times. One, with a friend of hubby’s who didn’t ever live with us. Somehow, creditors got our number. Two, my ex-mother-in-law, who has never lived in this town and doesn’t have the same last name as me. I’m getting calls for her RIGHT NOW. Makes me see red.
And three, my name is very common & I have a listed number, so agencies are trying to see if I’m the same person as in their records all the time. I got indignant when one co wanted to know the last 4 of my social before removing me from their list. I immediately set them straight and informed them that I do know my rights under the fair debt collection practices act.
Yeah, gets me fired up just thinking about it! I would be considering a number change, too. ASAP.