Daily life in the USA: the unknown callers

One of the first things you do when moving to another country, is making sure you can call and be called. Not too hard, getting an American phone number is actually very easy. You go to a provider and after buying a sim card you just choose a number you like from a short list. You could say: a little too easy...Because the numbers obviously belonged to other people not long before (as soon as you don't pay your bill, the number is released again for someone else to pick). This results in phone calls from all over the US, sometimes more than twice a day. And where most people apologize for calling the wrong number, others keep calling daily. I suspect that the providers aren't too strict about privacy... Anyway, a good thing that comes from this is the text messages that are all kinds of strange:

"Are you home. (no I am not)

I forgot to leave back door open for Lindsey. (I do not know anyone with that name)

Got it open." (I surely hope not)

And it gets kind of suspicious when someone sends you a message intented for a person with the same name as the husband. The first thought, even though half of the world has that name, was 'what the *** do you want from him?' :

"Mike. This is Hillary" (me to husband with accusing tone: 'is there anything you need to tell me?' Husband: 'why would I give her YOUR number?' Me:...)

"This is not Mike." (I actually wanted to reply with something like 'no this is his wife', but wasn't sure if that would ruin whatever kind of relationship she might have with THIS Mike (so not mine...)

"Ok. Sorry" (Right, you better be)

And all kinds of funny after receiving this on Valentine's day:

"HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. LOVE YOU" (now husband gets suspicious)

So, where the phone calls are a little bit annoying sometimes, the text messages from strangers really can make my day. And that makes choosing my number very much worth it!

"Hey Mike. This is Hillary." (no way.....)