> My dad's name is shared by 3 or 4 guys in our city, and a few even have his middle initial. It's a rather boring, commonish sounding name, but still. We get phone calls for the other ones occasionally, and the person calling has to describe the guy they're looking for before we figure out that we don't know them.

A girl I know, named Ellen, told me this story: The phone rang at her home one day, and her mother answered it. A woman asked: "Hi, is Ellen there?" The mother answered: "Yes, just wait a moment, I'll get her for you." When Ellen came on the phone, the woman started talking to her, but Ellen had no idea who this woman was. After a couple of minutes they discovered that she had dialled a wrong number, but coincidentally came to another house with an Ellen in it!

Oh, and have you ever picked up the receiver and have the person you're going to call already on (in other words, picked up the receiver before the phone started to ring)? Or dialled someone and heard that person pick up the phone and start dialling your number without realising you've already called them? I've done both.

Travholt.