NEW CASTLE —
I received a phone call a few weeks ago that kind of startled me.
It was from a very irate man.
Sounding very upset he asked, "Are you the person that hit my car?"
He went on ranting that I had left a note on the windshield with my phone number on it.
I told him that I hadn't hit his car, nor did I leave my number on his windshield.
He didn't accept my answer. He became more irate and wanted to know who I was.
I'm not an idiot. I didn't tell him.
He then started to threaten me about visiting me while I was sleeping.
I told him he had the wrong number and hung up on him.
He sounded like a very bad hoodlum.
Just to make sure, I checked to see if all the doors were locked.
About a half an hour later, he called back.
I started to become a little irate myself.
This time he accused me of calling his girlfriend.
I hung up.
About a half hour later, the phone rang again. I was getting really perturbed at this guy.
I was ready to hold my police scanner next to the phone and tell him I was a policeman and was checking on where he was calling from.
Thankfully, it wasn't him.
It was my lovely friend, Jen Fazzone McNully.
She said some guy had called her and told her that I had hit his car.
I started to become a little suspicious.
Technology in the hands of my crazy friends is a dangerous thing.
She confessed that they had downloaded a practical joke audio and were calling their family and friends.
She also said how they were cracking up laughing at me fighting with this recording.
This could be payback from my younger days.
I might have made a few prank calls myself.
Probably the worst call I ever made was when I selected a person at random from the phone book.
I called the number and said I was from WKST. I told them their name had been selected for a contest to win free groceries.
After asking them an easy question, they responded with the correct answer.
It wouldn't have been so bad had I stopped there, but I didn't.
I called Berkley’s Market and ordered some groceries to be sent to the winner’s home.
They never caught me.
I guess calling a store and asking, "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" isn't the thing anymore.
The pranks may have changed, but watch out, the pranksters are still out there.
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About Gary Church: Gary is a columnist and contributing writer for The News. He’ll share his thoughts on this blog each Tuesday and Friday.
Discussion
Gary Church: A phone prank for this old crank? Uh, don’t call us, we’ll call you
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