I Do Not Call Wrong Numbers
In New York I sometimes get phone calls from wrong numbers. Sometimes they are speaking in Spanish. Come to think of it, that happened once with my US number in Beijing. Can you imagine living in Washington Heights and accidentally calling China? Anyway, callers are usually apologetic in the US, or sometimes embarrassed causing a quick hang up. Occasionally the person will ask what number they have reached to compare their records to reality.
In China, wrong numbers are a whole different thing. The most typical reaction is for people to repeat the name five to seven times in the insistence that you must be wrong. In Chengdu people used to tell me that my number was an office. I would explain that, in fact, it was my living room, and that I didn’t even have roommates, so there was no chance someone had opened operations under my nose. Fortunately, in Sichuan, if you announce that you are foreign and start speaking in English, people usually get scared off (hanging up doesn’t work because people inevitably call back). Once I even had someone call and ask if I could hand over the phone to an office mate because he couldn’t speak Mandarin well, only Sichuanese. (Sure…if I were in an office!)
The desk behind me in my office has the unfortunate distinction as the most frequently called wrong number in the world. Apparently the line was once that of a very popular person. Unfortunately, people always argue with whatever poor sap foolishly picks up. (”I’m pretty sure the person I’m trying to reach is in your office. Keep asking until you find him.”)
At home I got a call the other day where the caller insisted that he was trying to reach a man named “Gao.” My Chinese name is Gao, but I knew he wasn’t looking for me. Mostly because I have never given out my land line to anyone. I don’t even know it. Anyway, he went through the name three times after I told him he had the wrong number before I finally said, “unless Mr. Gao is a white dude from Brooklyn, I think you got the wrong house.” (Note: that was not a literal translation.) He relented. Five minutes later his wife called asking for the same guy. I could even hear him in the background talking to her.
So what is it that encourages so many Chinese people to insist that they must be calling the right number, and that surely you, sitting in your own living room, must be unaware of the office full of workers in the other room? It seems to me that out of all of the situations in life, arguing that someone is not who they think they are would be the most difficult argument to win. And yet I have these fights virtually every day. What makes it so hard to believe that maybe the foreigner who picked up the phone isn’t living with Mr. Gao?
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Meg responds:
Posted: July 15th, 2008 at 12:02 pm →
Haha! This has happened to me as well! But I’ve assumed the confusion was related to my limited Chinese. I usually end up “Not here. Not here. Foreigners live here” over and over… and then not picking up when the phone rings a second later.
Tina responds:
Posted: July 15th, 2008 at 1:18 pm →
That’s funny. Something similar happen to us a couple of days ago, but not nearly as frustrating as you experienced. After a few tries with the same response, we received a text message apologizing for disturbing us.
Nick responds:
Posted: July 15th, 2008 at 6:54 pm →
Happens on my mobile all the time. Once or twice the callers have gotten abusive or asked for my name or worse my address, convinced i am F#$king with them.
Leslie responds:
Posted: July 15th, 2008 at 10:37 pm →
This happened to me a lot in Washington Heights- the person who had my phone number before me apparently was not very resposnisble. Child Protective Services called and left messages every month or so asking for her, and in spite of calling them back explaining that she no longer was at that phone number, they always called back. Also, one night someone called collect from Rikers 5 times, asking for her before they finally understood that Maria Carmen didn’t have that phone number.
chriswaugh_bj responds:
Posted: July 16th, 2008 at 9:24 am →
In Changsha wrong numbers would call repeatedly every few minutes for hours on end until I eventually had to either leave the phone off the hook, get online (ah, old-fashioned dial-up, did have some uses) or go out somewhere. I suppose on the bright side the wrong numbers did get me a lot more fresh air and exercise. I never understood why it was so hard for Changsharen to understand they had the wrong number. Never had anywhere near as much trouble up here, although I have had one or two incidents when it seems somebody in the office gave out my home phone and sent a demanding parent my way…..
Jeremiah responds:
Posted: July 16th, 2008 at 10:53 am →
That’s hysterical, what a great post!…Though I find switching to English doesn’t always deter the more intrepid Beijing mis-caller, they often run around the neighborhood rounding up somebody’s kid to call you back and then repeat the request in Chinglish. I’ve found a better response is on the third attempt, answer the phone in Spanish/French/Japanese/Navajo…pick your random language. That usually does the trick.
Pete Braden responds:
Posted: July 16th, 2008 at 8:44 pm →
I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that so many people here use calling cards or codes and so manually enter the number each time they dial instead of using speed dial. It sure is vexing.
DKwan responds:
Posted: July 17th, 2008 at 2:51 pm →
I think it’s because lying is so common in China, and there are so many shady businesspeople, so callers just assume you’re lying.
nanheyangrouchuan responds:
Posted: July 19th, 2008 at 2:15 pm →
It is a sign of bad number block management. Just another indication of how backward and primitive China is.