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eregyrnOkay, this is TOO WEIRD... so I HAVE to post about it!
Earlier today at work, my cellphone rang. I answered it, and the person on the other end said, "This is the Stoughton Library, there's a video on hold here for Tracy."
So of course, I said, "I'm sorry, there's no-one by that name here." And they said sorry for the wrong number, and that was it.
Just now, I'm sitting here, and my landline phone rings. (Actually, it's a Vonage internet phone, but, whatever.) I pick it up. "Hello, this is the Stoughton Library, there's a video on hold here for Tracy."
...
NOW, LOOK. The first one? Fine, wrong number, somebody transposed a digit, WHATEVER. Very easily explained.
NOT VERY EASILY EXPLAINED that the Stoughton Library has a record for a patron named Tracy, on which both my cellphone and my home phone happen to be listed instead.
HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???
Note: I have a library card with the Minuteman Library Network here in MA. I would have to go and double-check to see whether I even have my cellphone listed on there, because I *always* ask them to email me about request pick-ups and so on. BUT? The Stoughton Library is apparently *not a part of that network*.
And? I have given my Vonage home phone number out to almost nobody. I'm not even sure right now how I could double-check that, but, I just *don't*, because I always feel like I can't be sure I'm remembering it correctly (probably because... I never give it out). I always give out my cellphone as my "home phone".
Honest to god, I'm getting a little freaked out about this.
Do any of you conspiracy theorists out there want to suggest to me what sort of identity-theft has happened to make this possible? Or what?
(And yet... I am trying to come up with why someone who was committing identity theft re. giving out somebody else's phone numbers would go so far as to give it to their *town library*. Apart from anything else -- there's no way for Tracy to know that her video is in!)
ETA: OKAY! OKAY! False alarm.
So I went and looked up my Vonage service, and it turns out that when I set it up last year or whenever, there was a bit where you could tell it to forward your Vonage calls to another number should there be an interruption in internet service. And I didn't even *remember* this feature. But yes, when I got home, I saw that the modem-thingie was blinking, so service had been interrupted. (Actually, this just seems to... *happen* sometimes, I don't think it's always my internet, I don't know what it is, but I have to reset my router and then reset the Vonage modem-thingie.)
When I looked at the log of calls from today, it turned out that the *earlier* call to my cellphone was actually a forwarded call from my Vonage home number, because it must have gone out that early.
So, fine -- we're just dealing with Tracy of Stoughton Library having my Vonage number down on her record, erroneously. Not both of my numbers. (Which I think we can all agree would be freaky.)
Earlier today at work, my cellphone rang. I answered it, and the person on the other end said, "This is the Stoughton Library, there's a video on hold here for Tracy."
So of course, I said, "I'm sorry, there's no-one by that name here." And they said sorry for the wrong number, and that was it.
Just now, I'm sitting here, and my landline phone rings. (Actually, it's a Vonage internet phone, but, whatever.) I pick it up. "Hello, this is the Stoughton Library, there's a video on hold here for Tracy."
...
NOW, LOOK. The first one? Fine, wrong number, somebody transposed a digit, WHATEVER. Very easily explained.
NOT VERY EASILY EXPLAINED that the Stoughton Library has a record for a patron named Tracy, on which both my cellphone and my home phone happen to be listed instead.
HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN???
Note: I have a library card with the Minuteman Library Network here in MA. I would have to go and double-check to see whether I even have my cellphone listed on there, because I *always* ask them to email me about request pick-ups and so on. BUT? The Stoughton Library is apparently *not a part of that network*.
And? I have given my Vonage home phone number out to almost nobody. I'm not even sure right now how I could double-check that, but, I just *don't*, because I always feel like I can't be sure I'm remembering it correctly (probably because... I never give it out). I always give out my cellphone as my "home phone".
Honest to god, I'm getting a little freaked out about this.
Do any of you conspiracy theorists out there want to suggest to me what sort of identity-theft has happened to make this possible? Or what?
(And yet... I am trying to come up with why someone who was committing identity theft re. giving out somebody else's phone numbers would go so far as to give it to their *town library*. Apart from anything else -- there's no way for Tracy to know that her video is in!)
ETA: OKAY! OKAY! False alarm.
So I went and looked up my Vonage service, and it turns out that when I set it up last year or whenever, there was a bit where you could tell it to forward your Vonage calls to another number should there be an interruption in internet service. And I didn't even *remember* this feature. But yes, when I got home, I saw that the modem-thingie was blinking, so service had been interrupted. (Actually, this just seems to... *happen* sometimes, I don't think it's always my internet, I don't know what it is, but I have to reset my router and then reset the Vonage modem-thingie.)
When I looked at the log of calls from today, it turned out that the *earlier* call to my cellphone was actually a forwarded call from my Vonage home number, because it must have gone out that early.
So, fine -- we're just dealing with Tracy of Stoughton Library having my Vonage number down on her record, erroneously. Not both of my numbers. (Which I think we can all agree would be freaky.)
