Some phone calls have a way of leaving you questioning reality.

So, what would you do if you answered your phone as a teenager, only to hear a stranger demanding to know the tide conditions?

Would you hang up immediately?

Or would you help the caller understand that you’re not who he thinks you are?

In the following story, a teen girl finds herself in this very baffling situation and finally convinces him that he’s got the wrong number.

Here’s what happened.

I am not a harbour

I just watched a video about some misdial, which reminded me of the weirdest call I’ve ever received.

Let me start by saying that I’ve never sailed, never been on a cruise, and have no clue about seafarer terms.

So, when I was around 14 years old, I received a phone call on my new mobile phone.

As the call went on, the guy got more annoyed.

A guy asked me how the tide was and if he’d be allowed to reach port (the wording he used was “einlaufen,” which has a double (triple) meaning: it’s either to reach port (uncommon in every day language), reaching a goal in a running event (a little more common), or shrinking laundry when it got washed too hot (common)).

Needless to say, I was super confused.

The man on the phone got more and more agitated and kept tossing words left and right, most of which I’ve never heard in my life.

This went on for what felt like forever, until he yelled at me at some point: “WHY CAN’T I COME IN? HOW DON’T YOU KNOW ANYTHING??? WHAT KIND OF HARBOUR ARE YOU?!”

He didn’t really know what to say when she told him the truth.

I. Was. So. Confused.

But I managed to say, “Err .. I’m not a harbour? I’m a 14-year-old girl.”

It was his turn to be confused now.

He stammered something about how this couldn’t be possible and that he was sure he got this number right. At the end, he insisted that MY phone number was printed in some nautical atlas he used.

He weakly apologized and hung up.

I’ve never gotten another call about this, and I’m pretty sure he must’ve misdialed, but was too embarrassed to admit it 😂

Wow! That must’ve been very confusing for her.

Let’s see if the folks over at Reddit can relate to this situation.

This person knows all about misdials.

Here’s someone who would play along with these types of calls.

According to this person, the sailor was scared when he realized what he had done.

This reader gives the story an ending.

Such an honest mistake.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.