The Direct Correct: Bad Behavior is Calling

I have a number stored in my cell phone with the name “crazy guy”. I don’t know the person who owns the number, I just know that he speaks a language other than English and is incapable of not calling me, when he is so clearly trying to reach someone else.

There were a few random calls initially, always with voicemails, always in pairs of two calls one after the other. I found it sort of odd that someone speaking some Middle Eastern language wouldn’t realize he had the wrong number when my clearly American voice mail started talking, but I let it go.

I kept the getting the calls, though, so I sent back a text message one day that said something like “I think you have the wrong number, the person you are trying to reach is not me and please stop calling me”.

And still I kept getting the calls. When I got them last week at happy hour we saved the number as “crazy guy” and when he made his typical 2nd call, my friend answered. She told the guy he had the wrong number.

A few days after that, I answered the phone when he called and told him he had the wrong number. I asked him to make a correction as he had consistently been calling it and it was the not the number of whoever he was looking for. He said sorry, but then he called me about 10 minutes later. We had the same conversation again. He seemed even sorrier.

He called during work today, and we again had the same “this is the wrong number” conversation we had had before only my tone was much stronger. More apologies, but I’m expecting a few more calls. He’s clearly not very intelligent.

Why do I tell you this story? It’s another example of THE DIRECT CORRECT! The Direct Correct is when someone does something inappropriate that you can admonish them for without worrying about hurting their feelings. Calling the wrong number also includes the ability to escalate your tone and shortness with the offender as they continue to make the clear mistake over and over. I’m not advocating being mean, of course, but it can be a good release to be firm with someone when they’re out of line and those opportunities are limited.

Although I haven’t been successful at getting “crazy guy” to stop calling, I’m confident I will. Well, that or I’ll figure out how to block his number.