Sometimes the easiest way to help someone is just to play along.

Imagine your house phone kept ringing with the same sweet but confused voice on the other end, trying to make a doctor’s appointment. You explain it’s the wrong number, but she keeps calling. Would you stop answering? Or would you go along with what she thinks?

In the following story, one mother finds herself in this exact situation and ends up making everyone’s day a little easier. Here’s what she did.

Old lady verses phone

My mother got a phone call on the house phone (pre-mobile/cell phones) from an older-sounding lady looking to make a doctor’s appointment.

She says, “Sorry, wrong number,” and the lady apologises.

A couple of moments later, the same woman phones again. It turns out she had just hit the redial button.

The lady just can’t seem to understand.

My mum says, “No, you have to actually manually dial the number again.” Once again, the lady apologizes.

A minute later, the same thing.

After a time or two more, Mum just pretended she was the doctor’s receptionist and took the woman’s details and gave the woman an appointment for a couple of days’ time.

Then my mum phoned the doctors herself, explained the whole situation.

The receptionist had a good laugh, took my mum’s details, and told her she’d sort something out.

Awww! That poor old lady!

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit have to say about this story.

This lady wasn’t giving up either.

According to this reader, the mom deserves a badge.

These people had a similar experience with a dentist’s office.

Their stepdad learned fast.

What a sweet thing to do!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.