"Is this still you?"
November 7, 2012 4:28 PM Subscribe
On Election Night 2008 in Seattle, Renee received a random celebratory text from a stranger. She saved that text for four years, until last night.
I can't wait for the movie!
posted by crossoverman at 4:36 PM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]
posted by crossoverman at 4:36 PM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]
Good god people are mad...
posted by dfriedman at 4:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by dfriedman at 4:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
And by "mad" I mean "nuts".
posted by dfriedman at 4:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by dfriedman at 4:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
GET MARRIED AND MAKE BABIES UNLESS YOU'RE GAY FOLKS IN WHICH CASE GET MARRIED AND ADOPT BABIES AND RAISE THEM TOGETHER
posted by nathancaswell at 4:47 PM on November 7, 2012 [36 favorites]
posted by nathancaswell at 4:47 PM on November 7, 2012 [36 favorites]
That was totally worth sharing.
posted by shoesietart at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by shoesietart at 4:52 PM on November 7, 2012
Somebody still has the same phone 4 years later?
I kid, that was really sweet.
posted by vytae at 4:53 PM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]
I kid, that was really sweet.
posted by vytae at 4:53 PM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]
I'm so glad you posted it and I'm glad I read it. So simple but lovely.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:56 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:56 PM on November 7, 2012
This is so like the movie with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Funny that movie was set in Seattle too.
posted by Cranberry at 4:57 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Cranberry at 4:57 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
texts from last election
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:00 PM on November 7, 2012 [14 favorites]
posted by 2bucksplus at 5:00 PM on November 7, 2012 [14 favorites]
The first cell phone I got upon moving out west to Vancouver, they gave me a choice between 778, a brand new area code at the time, or the traditional 604, warning that since it was recycled I might get some wrong number calls at first. Sure enough, this same girl called like 4 or 5 times the first couple weeks I had the 604 number, looking for someone named Chris.
The last time it happened, I was sitting at a bus stop at about 11pm, on the other side of the Lionsgate bridge, with a 40min wait until the next bus. I explained my state of boredom, so we wound up talking for almost the entire time, about movies and books and the weather etc. It was like having a stranger sitting next to me to chat with and kill time. I wish stuff like that happened more often.
posted by mannequito at 5:05 PM on November 7, 2012 [23 favorites]
The last time it happened, I was sitting at a bus stop at about 11pm, on the other side of the Lionsgate bridge, with a 40min wait until the next bus. I explained my state of boredom, so we wound up talking for almost the entire time, about movies and books and the weather etc. It was like having a stranger sitting next to me to chat with and kill time. I wish stuff like that happened more often.
posted by mannequito at 5:05 PM on November 7, 2012 [23 favorites]
Somebody still has the same phone 4 years later?
It's an iPhone, so all the texts get backed up and are probably transferred when you upgrade to the latest shiny version :)
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:13 PM on November 7, 2012
It's an iPhone, so all the texts get backed up and are probably transferred when you upgrade to the latest shiny version :)
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:13 PM on November 7, 2012
Last election, nickyskye called me while I was on the train to Grant Park to see Obama. No calls this year! Hmmff.
posted by desjardins at 5:14 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by desjardins at 5:14 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Anyone feeling left out? MeMail me your number, and I'll send you a free "Woohoo!" text.
posted by vidur at 5:27 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by vidur at 5:27 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
Somebody still has the same phone 4 years later?
I had my original iPhone, bought when they first came out, up until last year when I dropped it from the 18th floor of my apartment. (I'm really glad no one was walking by.) That did it in. Funnily, it still lit up when someone was trying to call. I wish I hadn't dropped it but crappy AT&T service had me on the balcony trying to get a signal.
posted by shoesietart at 5:28 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
I had my original iPhone, bought when they first came out, up until last year when I dropped it from the 18th floor of my apartment. (I'm really glad no one was walking by.) That did it in. Funnily, it still lit up when someone was trying to call. I wish I hadn't dropped it but crappy AT&T service had me on the balcony trying to get a signal.
posted by shoesietart at 5:28 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
I totally got a random text yesterday, but it was from someone hitting on, presumably, someone else.
posted by hoyland at 5:32 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by hoyland at 5:32 PM on November 7, 2012
I too got a random text yesterday. The entire thing: "Malapr". Maybe I'll write back in a few years.
posted by zoinks at 5:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by zoinks at 5:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
I totally got a random text yesterday, but it was from someone hitting on, presumably, someone else.
Clearly, you must save the text, then hit on them four years from now, preferably during their wedding ceremony.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
Clearly, you must save the text, then hit on them four years from now, preferably during their wedding ceremony.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:38 PM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]
GET MARRIED AND MAKE BABIES UNLESS YOU'RE GAY FOLKS IN WHICH CASE GET MARRIED AND ADOPT BABIES AND RAISE THEM TOGETHER
OR SMOKE POT! ALSO AT YOUR DISCRETION!
posted by mcstayinskool at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
OR SMOKE POT! ALSO AT YOUR DISCRETION!
posted by mcstayinskool at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
Fake.
I am being ironic in this case but fake iphone txt screenshots are a cottage industry on the net
posted by Ad hominem at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I am being ironic in this case but fake iphone txt screenshots are a cottage industry on the net
posted by Ad hominem at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I am disappointed in you all that the FPP went up over an hour ago and the words "meet cute" appear nowhere so far in the thread.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:42 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:42 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
The first cell phone I got upon moving out west to Vancouver, they gave me a choice between 778, a brand new area code at the time, or the traditional 604
I also took the 604 option long ago, now amoung my friends 778'ers are considered Van-Newbs.
posted by Cosine at 5:44 PM on November 7, 2012
I also took the 604 option long ago, now amoung my friends 778'ers are considered Van-Newbs.
posted by Cosine at 5:44 PM on November 7, 2012
Goddamned. Given all that's gone on in the last 24 hours and *this* is the thing that chokes me up? OK. I'll take it.
posted by donovan at 5:48 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by donovan at 5:48 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
OH shit . I forgot. Check out this txt I got this morning.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:57 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Ad hominem at 5:57 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
This made me absurdly happy to read. Thanks for posting.
posted by space_cookie at 6:02 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by space_cookie at 6:02 PM on November 7, 2012
today I learned a new word: brohonestly
posted by mannequito at 6:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by mannequito at 6:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
I remember years ago, someone getting calling, telling them wrong number, and then talking for the next hour. It's weird how sometimes you can connect to complete strangers.
posted by Margalo Epps at 6:44 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by Margalo Epps at 6:44 PM on November 7, 2012
Metafilter: It's weird how sometimes you can connect to complete strangers.
posted by victory_laser at 7:00 PM on November 7, 2012 [23 favorites]
posted by victory_laser at 7:00 PM on November 7, 2012 [23 favorites]
That was sweet.
From the comments:
"...If you add about 15 pages of monologue, a phone interview, and two instrumental tracks from The Album Leaf, this could totally be Act II on an episode of This American Life."
posted by LuckySeven~ at 7:01 PM on November 7, 2012 [19 favorites]
From the comments:
"...If you add about 15 pages of monologue, a phone interview, and two instrumental tracks from The Album Leaf, this could totally be Act II on an episode of This American Life."
posted by LuckySeven~ at 7:01 PM on November 7, 2012 [19 favorites]
Ooohh, a chance to post this video! Every time I watch it I end up with tears streaming down my face.
posted by HotToddy at 7:05 PM on November 7, 2012 [10 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 7:05 PM on November 7, 2012 [10 favorites]
Back when we had landline at my childhood home, I would get phone calls for someone who had the same first name, and as it turned out, was about my age. Our phone numbers were very similar -- two numbers rearranged. Over the years, it got to be a joke as my friends would call his house and get him by mistake and vice versa. Once, as teenagers we even spoke on the phone. It was brief and humorous, and we reflected on all these running calls, and the strange coincidence that had placed us here. A few years later we changed our number.
posted by iamck at 7:17 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by iamck at 7:17 PM on November 7, 2012
Somebody still has the same phone 4 years later?
I've had the same phone number since I was 18 in 1986.
posted by dobbs at 7:19 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've had the same phone number since I was 18 in 1986.
posted by dobbs at 7:19 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
HotToddy, thanks for that reminder -- I loved it four years ago and I love it today.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 7:23 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Pantengliopoli at 7:23 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
Too bad Nora Ephron is not with us anymore.
posted by captainsohler at 7:34 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by captainsohler at 7:34 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
I've had the same phone number since I was 18 in 1986.
She said phone, not phone number. And presumably the phone is the same, because the old text is on it.
posted by mrnutty at 7:35 PM on November 7, 2012
She said phone, not phone number. And presumably the phone is the same, because the old text is on it.
posted by mrnutty at 7:35 PM on November 7, 2012
My brother was running his first half-marathon down in New Orleans a few weeks ago, so I sent a bunch of text messages to friends, encouraging them to text him support during the race.
One of the numbers had changed hands and they guy texted me back saying, "I think you have the wrong number, but good luck to your brother."
Two hours later, I got the text "So, how did he do?"
It was a nice little moment.
posted by ColdChef at 7:42 PM on November 7, 2012 [25 favorites]
One of the numbers had changed hands and they guy texted me back saying, "I think you have the wrong number, but good luck to your brother."
Two hours later, I got the text "So, how did he do?"
It was a nice little moment.
posted by ColdChef at 7:42 PM on November 7, 2012 [25 favorites]
That was sweet. I'm willing to suspend disbelief.
posted by arcticseal at 8:02 PM on November 7, 2012
posted by arcticseal at 8:02 PM on November 7, 2012
Also: MetaFilter History.
posted by ColdChef
I missed that the first time around. We can be such dick heads sometimes.
posted by Optamystic at 8:48 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by ColdChef
I missed that the first time around. We can be such dick heads sometimes.
posted by Optamystic at 8:48 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
Back when I got my very first cellphone, the number I received was one digit away from the local number people could call to get the time. (For you young 'uns, back before most folks had internet or cellphones, we used to have phone numbers one could call to get the weather or the time.)
I got a lot of random wrong number calls from people wanting to know what time it was, and befuddled to have reached me. Eventually, I took to answering my phone by just announcing the time. People were a bit hesitant to have a human giving them that information, but generally said "thanks," occasionally prefaced by "They have people doing this now?"
A few of my random callers and I had conversations, mostly brief. One time, my caller actually recognized my (mostly eroded) New York accent, turned out also to have grown up not far from my childhood home, and we had a long an amusing talk about the perpetually alienated feeling of the New Yorker living in the Midwest.
Getting all those random calls was an annoyance, but I rather miss it.
posted by DrMew at 8:50 PM on November 7, 2012 [16 favorites]
I got a lot of random wrong number calls from people wanting to know what time it was, and befuddled to have reached me. Eventually, I took to answering my phone by just announcing the time. People were a bit hesitant to have a human giving them that information, but generally said "thanks," occasionally prefaced by "They have people doing this now?"
A few of my random callers and I had conversations, mostly brief. One time, my caller actually recognized my (mostly eroded) New York accent, turned out also to have grown up not far from my childhood home, and we had a long an amusing talk about the perpetually alienated feeling of the New Yorker living in the Midwest.
Getting all those random calls was an annoyance, but I rather miss it.
posted by DrMew at 8:50 PM on November 7, 2012 [16 favorites]
Hey, no fair linking to the other page I check religiously every day. I did a little double take, thinking it happened to two people somehow. Heh!
posted by zinful at 9:11 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by zinful at 9:11 PM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]
The state of Texas misprinted the area code on their print instructions for families looking to have their loved ones involuntarily committed to an MHMR facility in south Texas.
I got some really desperate phone calls. It was tough.
posted by roboton666 at 10:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
I got some really desperate phone calls. It was tough.
posted by roboton666 at 10:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]
There's a person who texts me pictures from holiday parties her/his family has--pictures of newborn babies, pictures of meat grilling, pictures of grandma with her new Christmas sweater. I've said a few times before that they have the wrong number, but I keep getting the photos. I have started kinda looking forward to them nowadays. :)
posted by so_gracefully at 10:55 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by so_gracefully at 10:55 PM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]
my cell phone number for 11+ years back in the states was 799-1000. It was totally random that I got that number and one of the hardest things to give up when I left the country. (I also felt like I needed to give it up as part of making the break, so yes I know I could have parked it or transferred it to google voice or whatever.) Anyways, that phone number was a whole lot of fun. I got frequent random calls for all sorts of various public services, businesses, etc..."Do you have that film where...?" "Yeah, my sink's broke, can you come out today?" "Is this the DMV? I have a problem..." (nobody gets right through to the DMV, c'mon!) And it made dating fun, too. "No really, that really is my number. Go ahead and call it right now." I also got surprisingly few spam messages, but I have no idea how that fared relative to anybody else, or if it was due to the number.
I think the absolute best though was back in Boston, summer 2010. I was walking to my friend's house and checked my voicemail. There was a long, rambling message from a guy, to me (by name), basically saying that even though he knows that things have been rough I should go through with it, what the hell, and meet him at the chapel in Vegas. And we'd figure out the rest from there. He didn't want to lose me. And so naturally, I couldn't let him go. I called him back. He was totally embarrassed, apparently knew who I was, but had misdialed this Kim in lieu of the other, betrothed one (had kept my number for years...weird!). I had noooo clue who he was, but tried to ask him lots of questions about how his life had turned out (selfishly, mostly for purposes of memory jogging and the rest for peering into others' lives). We ended up talking for a little bit about his situation and I have no idea if I helped or not. But I'm sure I changed things for him in this totally strange interception.
And so now I wonder how it all worked out between him and his Kim. And who has my phone number now. And what types of calls they're getting.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:25 AM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
I think the absolute best though was back in Boston, summer 2010. I was walking to my friend's house and checked my voicemail. There was a long, rambling message from a guy, to me (by name), basically saying that even though he knows that things have been rough I should go through with it, what the hell, and meet him at the chapel in Vegas. And we'd figure out the rest from there. He didn't want to lose me. And so naturally, I couldn't let him go. I called him back. He was totally embarrassed, apparently knew who I was, but had misdialed this Kim in lieu of the other, betrothed one (had kept my number for years...weird!). I had noooo clue who he was, but tried to ask him lots of questions about how his life had turned out (selfishly, mostly for purposes of memory jogging and the rest for peering into others' lives). We ended up talking for a little bit about his situation and I have no idea if I helped or not. But I'm sure I changed things for him in this totally strange interception.
And so now I wonder how it all worked out between him and his Kim. And who has my phone number now. And what types of calls they're getting.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:25 AM on November 8, 2012 [1 favorite]
Call it!
posted by mannequito at 1:58 AM on November 8, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by mannequito at 1:58 AM on November 8, 2012 [3 favorites]
Back in the days when people still had land lines, I moved to a new apartment and got the phone number 354-5333. I used to get hangups constantly. I mean like every day, all day, all night, at random intervals. After about a week of this insanity, I picked up on a call and the guy said, "oh, I didn't know this was a real number, I was just playing 'Mary had a little lamb' on the touchtone pad." Grrr.
Well that explained the constant hangups. I immediately called the phone company and bitched them out for giving me a number that was a constant nuisance, demanded a new phone number at no charge, and insisted they never give out this number to anyone ever again. They agreed.
A couple of months later, I wondered if they gave the number to some other poor schmuck. I dialed it, and someone answered! I asked him if he got lots of hangups. He said yes, lots and lots of them. So I explained it to him, and suggested he ask for a new number. He was really glad that someone explained why his phone was acting so crazy.
But that's not nearly as bad as when I moved to LA and my new land line started getting lots of calls from an overseas operator in Spanish, I couldn't quite figure them out but usually the operator did manage to say something resembling "collect call" and I always said NO! and hung up. That was only on occasional nuisance. But then on my phone bill, I started getting bills for overseas collect calls from places like Guatemala, calls placed months before I even had that phone number. I mean, hundreds of dollars of calls. I spoke to the phone company, I was really mad. I insisted that these calls weren't my responsibility, I didn't have that phone number when the calls were made, so why are these calls on my bill? The telco agent said that sometimes little telcos in foreign countries don't send their billings in on time, and they show up months later. They took the calls off my bill, but it took a few months for the erroneous charges to stop coming in.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:41 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Well that explained the constant hangups. I immediately called the phone company and bitched them out for giving me a number that was a constant nuisance, demanded a new phone number at no charge, and insisted they never give out this number to anyone ever again. They agreed.
A couple of months later, I wondered if they gave the number to some other poor schmuck. I dialed it, and someone answered! I asked him if he got lots of hangups. He said yes, lots and lots of them. So I explained it to him, and suggested he ask for a new number. He was really glad that someone explained why his phone was acting so crazy.
But that's not nearly as bad as when I moved to LA and my new land line started getting lots of calls from an overseas operator in Spanish, I couldn't quite figure them out but usually the operator did manage to say something resembling "collect call" and I always said NO! and hung up. That was only on occasional nuisance. But then on my phone bill, I started getting bills for overseas collect calls from places like Guatemala, calls placed months before I even had that phone number. I mean, hundreds of dollars of calls. I spoke to the phone company, I was really mad. I insisted that these calls weren't my responsibility, I didn't have that phone number when the calls were made, so why are these calls on my bill? The telco agent said that sometimes little telcos in foreign countries don't send their billings in on time, and they show up months later. They took the calls off my bill, but it took a few months for the erroneous charges to stop coming in.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:41 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Very cool!
posted by AbsolutelyHonest at 8:31 AM on November 8, 2012
posted by AbsolutelyHonest at 8:31 AM on November 8, 2012
got the phone number 354-5333... "oh, I didn't know this was a real number, I was just playing 'Mary had a little lamb' on the touchtone pad.
Raise your hand if you just tried it out. It worked! I didn't call it, promise!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:50 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Raise your hand if you just tried it out. It worked! I didn't call it, promise!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:50 AM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Hope and Change really was the best marketing campaign ever. It means something different to everyone, and it means you don't have to do anything to fulfill any promises, because there weren't any!
posted by palbo at 6:03 PM on November 8, 2012
posted by palbo at 6:03 PM on November 8, 2012
palbo: "and it means you don't have to do anything "
Huh. What's all this, then?
posted by Lexica at 10:11 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
Huh. What's all this, then?
posted by Lexica at 10:11 PM on November 8, 2012 [2 favorites]
« Older Serious Eats' Ultimate Turducken | "In this country, I can marry ANYONE I WANT!... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by orange swan at 4:32 PM on November 7, 2012 [6 favorites]