a man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle

[ this is a keeping-up-with-the-joneses posting]

a few years back, sometime in 2002 if i recall correctly, there was this three weeks in my life where i received the weirdest of phone calls, ever. at around at 1 to 3 am saturday morning, a particular chinese lady called, and started sobbing on the phone. it was a number that i didn't know, and a voice that was not familiar, so it was, a genuine wrong number. but no matter how many times i said "missy, you got the wrong number" or "leng lui, you got the wrong number" or "i'm not the man you're looking for", the replies were sad, and worst of all, desperate. the lady, who was obviously tipsy, and judging from her constant sobbing, to a point where she could hardly talk will reply in cantonese. she would say (no, i comprehend a bit of cantonese but i just can't speak it) something along the lines of "where are you?". or after i hung up, she'd called and said "why do you don't want to talk to me? why do you don't want to talk to me? why do you don't want to talk to me? why do you don't want to talk to me?" or sometimes "why are you being like this? why are you being like this? why are you being like this? why are you being like this? why are you being like this?".

after the first call i was quite pissed. i mean, can't she tell that she got the wrong number? she'd called four or five times, each time almost exactly a minute after i hung up, and each time she would repeat, in a sad fragile and utterly desperate voice why the person in the other end would ignore her calls, not speak to her, and lied to her.

on the 3rd week i ignored the calls. that was when it stopped. thinking back about this, i feel very sorry for the lady. i don't know who she was, and she had no idea that she called the wrong person. she was obviously drunk, drunk due to some kind of heartache, and there was nothing i could do except saying wrong number. she didn't even understand my english - maybe she did understand what i was saying but she was adamant that i was the right person so she kept talking cantonese. and she was sobbing all the way. really, i feel sorry for not being able to help.

so, what's the weirdest call you've ever get?

listening to: the cure - wrong number