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Have you ever been in a situation where someone called you by mistake because they were really looking for someone else? Wrong-number phone calls happen from time to time, but it can really become annoying when it happens a lot.

In this story, a man who owns a pharmacy gets a lot of wrong-number phone calls from people looking for a trucking company. At first, he shares the correct phone number. Then, he calls the trucking company owner. When the owner doesn’t seem to care about the problem, the pharmacy owner decides it’s time for revenge.

Let’s read all about it.

My dad’s revenge on a trucking company.

My dad just told me a story from when he was in his twenties. This was around the time that switchboard operators were recently phased out and automated systems were taking over to allow for direct dialing.

This happened when he was back in his home country but I will put it in the context of North American phone numbers and cities.

My dad’s pharmacy and a truck business in a different city had the same last 7 digits of the phone number.

Area codes weren’t a thing when the switchboard system was in place. You would just call the switchboard office, talk to an operator and give them the 7 digit phone number and the city and they would connect you.

Now we have area codes.

When they started phasing it out, they started adding area codes to the beginning of the numbers so that the call could automatically be directed to the appropriate phone in the appropriate city.

So for example:

Dad’s pharmacy in Toronto: 416-555-5555

Trucking business in Ottawa: 613-555-5555

But there was a problem.

Now when they started automating the system, something weird happened. If someone dialed both 555-5555 and 416-555-5555 they would both go to the the Pharmacy in Toronto.

And so my dad started getting around 20 calls a day at his pharmacy from people who just dialed the 7 digits without the area code and were hoping to connect to the trucking business.

My dad would tell them the correct number to call and did this for a week hoping the calls would slow down.

When they didn’t slow, he called the Ottawa number and told the owner what was happening:

Let’s listen in on the conversation.

(Paraphrased)

Trucking business owner: Well this isn’t my fault, there is something messed up in the telephone system.

My dad: Yes, I understand, but you should still let your people know the right number to call, its become an annoyance for me and none of this is my fault either. I have been directing the calls to you but they dont seem to slow down at all.

Owner: I don’t care, I’m not going to tell my workers anything.

OP’s dad got revenge.

My dad: In that case you’ll be losing some business.

Owner: pssht, you can’t do anything * hangs up *

After that, any time a call for the trucking business came to the pharmacy my dad would tell them to do the opposite of what they’d been told.

Here are some examples.

A trucker calls to ask about directions for his pickup, dad would tell him that the order got cancelled and come back with an empty truck.

A trucker calls to tell that his truck got a flat tire and to let the place he was supposed to drop off merchandise know that he was going to be late, dad tells him to come back without dropping it off.

This also continued for about a week before he got a call from someone higher up in the cities political network, something like the mayors office:

Let’s see what the mayor’s office had to say.

(Paraphrased)

Mayors office: Hey, how’s that shipment coming along and what is the estimated delivery date?

Dad: * swears a bunch * * tells the man calling to back off * who do you think you are talking to me like this, I dont want to hear from you again.

He made sure the mayor’s office was upset.

Mayors office: You’ll be losing a lot of business from us, why are you talking to me like this?!

Dad: I don’t care about you or your business. I don’t want it and don’t ever call me again * swears again *

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Mayors office: Fine, we will find someone else and lose our number, we will never work with you again.

The calls stopped the very next day

It really is a problem when people are calling the wrong number for a business. It’s surprising that the trucking company owner wouldn’t have realized that right away.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

I’m sure it was!

This sounds like a very big problem!

I haven’t tried to figure it out.

This person wishes it had ended slightly differently.

At least the phone calls finally stopped!

The trucking company owner could’ve been proactive and helpful to avoid any problems, but refusing to solve the problem was not a solution.

At least he eventually realized how serious it was for everyone to call the wrong number.

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Author

Jayne Elliott

Jayne Elliott | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Jayne Elliott is a contributing writer and editor for TwistedSifter specializing in human interest stories, internet culture, and family dynamics. With over 12 years of editorial experience in digital publishing, Jayne excels at analyzing complex online communities and transforming viral social debates into thoughtful, highly engaging narratives.

Rather than simply aggregating internet drama, Jayne brings a sharp, empathetic editorial eye to everyday dilemmas. She has a unique talent for unpacking the nuances of pop culture and online conflicts, providing readers with relatable, well-researched commentary.

Based in California, Jayne spends her free time outside the newsroom exploring theme parks with her family or beach-combing along the coast.

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