...because we all have our motley moments!


Monday, January 25, 2010

Stranger Danger

So dear friends, what should I do about the jerk who is stalking my cell phone? For over two weeks now, some guy has been calling my phone to harass me. The first time I answered, he asked me something very crude, so I hung up the phone. The next time he called, I didn't answer, so he only called four times that day. The very next day he called, I answered and hung up without saying anything so he would know I was not going to talk to him. That really made him mad, so he called my phone over ten times that day. They are usually back to back calls. I guess he prefers one concentrated spell of annoyance instead of equally distributing the drama. The call comes in as "Restricted," so I called my cell phone company to see if they could help. They can't see his number either, so their best suggestion was to restrict my phone calls to people in my contact list. This sort of works. If someone not on my list calls, I do not know they are calling, and they do have the ability to leave a message. I do not get alerts that I have a message. Today, I had a message from someone looking for Heather because her rent check is late. He didn't leave a number, and I can't call him back to tell him he has the wrong number because my phone will not keep a record of the call. So, I turned off the restriction to see if he would call back, and within hours, my stalker had called. He kept calling and calling as I quickly turned my re-restricted my calls.

I am pretty sure this is harmless, just irritating, but how do I really know? This person has never called my home phone and probably doesn't even know who I am, but I am still bothered. I am even more concerned that it is still going on. What should I do? Do I change my phone number? Do I contact the police? What do you think?

9 comments:

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

I have had some weird calls as of late too... I guess someone on a chat site (NOT ME!) gave out my number instead of their’s (I am not sure if it is on purpose or accidental) but "Ken" keeps calling. Most times in the middle of the night. I never answer. I only answer numbers that I know. He has texted me a few times too (which really makes me mad since I do not have unlimited text and have to pay for them.) But he has never said anything crude... just leaves a message calling me "baby" a lot. The next time he calls when my hubby is home I am going to have him answer and see if that will help. Maybe if he thinks a boy owns the phone he will stop calling.

If it keeps up for you I would call the phone company again and see what they suggest. Or I would change phone numbers... it seems a bit creepy to me.

I hope that is stops soon!

Unknown said...

that IS creepy! I'd contact the police. the worst they could do is say they can't help you, which is likely, but it couldn't hurt. you might have to change your number.

Lindsay said...

Have hubby answer the phone next time, and see if that will stop it.

Anonymous said...

I'd change the number.

Rachel said...

This person is probably just an attention-seeker, and if you stop answering his calls he will probably eventually stop calling, though it may take a while. (Having your husband answer the phone would probably just give the guy more reason to call because he is getting that attention.) If the calls aren't threatening, I would just ignore the ringing or restrict the calls (Heather's rent check isn't your problem, by the way--don't worry about it. If the landlord wants his money then let him dial the correct number in the first place. If Heather gave him the wrong number to throw him off, who cares if she gets the message?)

Do take notice, though, if anybody has come into your life recently (no matter in how small a way) who may have taken an interest in you or your family and who may have access to your cell number. If your spidey-senses start to tingle, don't ignore it!

Liz said...

Yeah, what Rachel said! Don't let Charlie answer - just ignore this obvious loser.
Rachel - 10 points for using the term "spidey sense."

Donna said...

Definitely ignore the calls. If it doesn't stop, change the number. That gives you a chance to redetermine who really needs your cell number in the first place.

Bryssy said...

I have a free Google Voice account. It is basically a free voicemail service that screens calls for you and forwards them where you want them to go. They have a feature that puts nusance calls to an old-school "this number is no longer in use" type message. I now use it as my main phone number and have been able to get rid of all kinds of junk (telemarketers, etc) callers in less than a month using that outgoing message. My contacts still get through to me, so do my students, but not others!

Pam said...

Thank you everyone for your great advice! I had thought about letting Charlie answer, but he usually calls during the day when he is at work. I really like Bryssy's voice mail idea. That would also solve the Heather situation too. I think for now, I will ignore it and contemplate just changing the number. It's not like I am attached to it. Thanks again everyone for helping me get some ideas. I hope you all have a great night!