'A company gave out 10,000 flyers that had my phone number on them': Office employee is inundated with calls, gets even with the mistaken company

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Feb 24, 2025 11:00 AM EST

These clueless customers just couldn't understand how they were calling the wrong number. 

Taking phone calls can really eat up your work day. It depends on your profession, but in some workplaces, a single call can take an hour or two per day. Whether you're assisting clients, talking to customers with urgent issues, or relaying an update to your boss, all that yapping is going to eat up your free time. Instead of doing your actual work, you find yourself dreaming about the moment you can press that "end call" button.

No one knows that better than this person, who suddenly found themself doing nothing else but phone calls. Instead of making a couple calls, scribbling out a few emails, and then spending time on actual work, this person quite literally was stuck on the phone all day. Thanks to a mistake, they couldn't do anything else on their phone, due to getting constant calls. At least they got back at this company! These customers aren't going to renting chalets from that place any time soon. 

After that, read about these managers who got stuck with some awful employees and shared their stories, like one boss who shared that an employee "thought it was perfectly okay to just take a nap."

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10471347712
    via Daniil Onischenko on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    A company gave out 10,000 flyers that had my phone number on them. This happened quite a long time ago when i had my first office job. I did fairly well & after a while, was promoted & got my own room, with it came my own phone line.
    via u/gt2810
  • 03
    The day after it was installed, i arrived at work to find the message light blinking. I checked, & the mailbox was full (with 20 messages). Odd, i thought, there must be some mistake... There sure was, message after message from people wanting to book a chalet. While i was still checking the messages, calls started coming in.
    via u/gt2810
  • 04
    Me: hello? Caller: yes, i want to book a chalet. Do you have one available for this weekend? M: er, you have the wrong number... C: pauses for a moment but this is right? M: no, this is an office, in town. C: pauses again but the number is xxxxxxx? M: yes, that is my number, but this is an office, we don't have anything to do with chalets. C: but i want to book a chalet. M: um, we don't do chalets, you have the wrong number. C: but your number is
    via u/gt2810
  • 05
    XXXXXX right? M: yes, its my number, but this is an office, not XXX, we don't do chalets. So the conversations went, & the moment i hung up, another call came in, and another. I had the phone off the hook all day.
    via u/gt2810
  • 06
    The next day, i decided to put the phone back, it rang immediately. M: hello? C: hello, i want to book a chalet. M: you have the wrong number. C: is this xxxxxx? M: yes that is my number, but this is not xxx. C: but the flyer has this number, x, x, x, x, x, x. M: flyer? What flyer? C: this flyer for a special offer on all chalets. between these dates...
    via u/gt2810
  • 07
    So i ended the call & looked for the main line of company. I called them & told them i couldn't do any work because of all the calls that were coming in. Because they printed MY number on their flyers.
    via u/gt2810
  • 08
    Me: so you printed my number on your flyers, my phone is ringing non-stop. I can't get any work done. Them: that is not possible. M: do you have a flyer? Or the artwork? T: yes, i'll just have a look and..... M: yes? Is that my number on your flyer? T: erm, uh,
    via u/gt2810
  • 09
    yes... it must be a mistake. M: i'm sure it is, a big one. What are you going to do? T: the flyers have all been given out, there's nothing we can do. M: how many flyers were printed? T: 10,000....
    via u/gt2810
  • 10
    They couldn't do anything, they did'nt want to do anything. I asked them to pay for changing the line & they refused. They didn't offer anything and even asked me to direct all the callers to them, at the correct number.
    via u/gt2810
  • 11
    So, i started answering all the calls, it took a week, but i told everyone we were fully booked till the end of the promotion.
    via u/gt2810
  • 12

    People shared their own stories of similar incidents!

    SatBurner I have had my cell number for at least 15 years. About 5 years after I got it, there was a woman who would call every couple of weeks looking for a hair appointment. I chalked it up. to her being old, and messing up the number, and politely told her she had the wrong number. Then I got a bunch of calls from random
    via u/SatBurner
  • 13
    people asking for appointments. Come to find out we had the same number, but different area codes but in the same geographic area, so no one thought the area code thing. was weird. In their latest ad the wrong area code was used, leading to me getting all of their calls. They apologized, and just ignored most local calls from people
    via u/SatBurner
  • 14
    I didn't know. Six months later, they ran a new ad, and the same thing happened, so I started accepting appointments for them. I am sure their business was chaos for quite a while there.
    via u/SatBurner
  • 15
    shaftofbread A friend of mine had this probiem with a nearby pizza shop. Eventually he stopped trying to explain the 'wrong number' stuff and simply accepted folk's orders.
    via u/shaftofbread
  • 16
    Cheezburger Image 10471347200
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 17
    notunexpected 420 You should have taken the bookings and set them for all the same day
    via u/notunexpected420
  • 18
    Eugenefemme The very first rule in TV production is to call ANY number that's put up on the screen from the graphic, not from notes. It's just incompetent not to check this, no matter what the medium: print, video or audio, especially when it is so simple.
    via u/Eugenefemme

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boss workplace-stories jobs phone number job bosses call work coworkers phone numbers workplace phone calls flyer
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