Lost in transit

A really sorry wrong number...

Earlier this week, we had the first meeting of a local computer group that I helped organize. One guy emailed me saying that he'd love to come but wouldn't be able to get there in time for the meeting, so could I send him an SMS and let him know which bar we'd be going to afterwards, so he could join us. When I got his email, I sent him a text message that said, Hey, I'm not sure yet where we'll be, so if you SMS me when you're done with your class, I'll let you know what bar we've gone to.

A minute later, I received a message back: Sorry, but I don't speak English. But the guy's email was in perfect English, so I figured there was just some kind of mistake. I wrote back Omlouvam se. Nejste James Smith? (Excuse me. You're not James Smith?) Soon after, I received No, I am John Tom-cat. Why??? I sent back Prominte, mam spatne cislo. (I'm sorry, I have a wrong number.) and figured that would be the end of it. I would turn out to be very wrong.

So then my phone rang and immediately stopped, as if cut off in the middle of the ring. It was this same number I'd just been SMSing with. Then I got a new message: A nechces/te se seznamit? :))) (And you don't want to meet?)

My phone rang and stopped again. In the Czech Republic, since you're charged for each minute you talk or each message you send, this is generally a signal to say, "Hey, call me back", "I'm downstairs" or whatever, without using up your money. I figured just ignoring him would be best, but he kept ringing me, so finally I wrote back No, I don't want to meet. Stop calling me.

If I thought that would end it, I had clearly underestimated Mr. Tom-cat. I got a few more of the quick calls, along with the message Why??? A muzu aspon vedet zkama jsi kolik Ti je let? (And can I at least know how old you are?)

I was really getting pissed off by this point. Clearly, this guy figured he was having some cute little phone flirtation with some hot foreign girl, so I thought disabusing him of the assumption that I was female might get rid of him fast. I wrote Jsem muz a nespat s muzy. (I am a man and I don't sleep with men.) Now fuck off already.

Apparently he was a little fuzzy on what "I don't sleep with men" means, because his next message a minute later read: Ty jeden zasrany buzerante. Kdyz pises sms svemu priteli tak si priste nesplet cislo. Buziku! PS: nauc se poznavat cislice. (You're one fucking bugger. When you write an SMS to your friend next time, don't mix up the numbers. Faggot! PS: Learn to recognize the numbers!)

He sent one more quick ring and then, thankfully, my phone went quiet. Some people really just have to have the last word, don't they?

Posted by wildsoda at November 1, 2003 04:45 PM