Wrong number, with a laugh

I sat down at my desk this morning to read my e-mail and suddenly the phone rang. This man on the other end with a burly voice said, without first saying hello, Bush Menshaw can kick your ass. I thought, what a great way to start a phone conversation. I knew before answering the phone (caller id) that it was not a friend or relative, so at this very moment I was thinking he had the wrong number. Sometimes it's fun to play long with the joke so in this case that's exactly what I did.

So I responded "oh yeah, really" and the guy went on to say "yeah, that Bush guy is one mean man". At this point I was laughing inside because the guy had no clue he was called the wrong number. So I asked him again who was this tough guy. At this point the guy on the other end asked who was speaking, maybe I should have told him it was Bush Menshaw! Instead I told him my name and he was somewhat speechless. After a brief pause he said "oh, okay have the wrong number".

For a brief moment I thought that it was a prank call, someone just trying to have a little fun so I was hoping it would turn out to be something where we both get a laugh. I remember when I was young I would just call random numbers and ask all kinds of silly things and many times I pulled good pranks. The pranks that I enjoyed the most though, were when the person on the other line played along with me. It was one of those defining moments where at the end of the prank you want to get the know the person - because of the fun personality. Unfortunately for today's "wrong number" friend, he missed that opportunity.

My advice to people before calling is to check the number. Almost all digital phones now have an LCD where you can see the number before the phone rings on the other end. I would say that that is a good practice in making a phone call.