4.02.2010

Misdirected hostility

As I said before, I am a ward missionary. One of my responsibilities is to pick up youth for mutual on Wednesday nights. On Wednesday, I was asked to pick up two youth; they are siblings. When I got to their house, no one answered so I called the phone number I had been provided. No one answered the phone either. I knocked one more time, waited for a moment, and then left. I was annoyed that they weren't home but I figured something had come up.

The next morning at 8am, I received a phone call from a Restricted Number. I answered and it was a woman. [An important note is that my phone used to belong to my sister (Rachael) and I never changed her voicemail].

Below is the conversation as best as Sam and I can remember it:

Woman [in a very accusatory tone]: Can I talk to Rachael?
Emily: No, I am sorry, you can't. Who is this?
Woman: It doesn't matter who this is. Put Rachael on.
Emily: This is no longer her phone. Who is this?
Woman: The voicemail says, "Hi, this is Rachael."
Emily: Rachael died almost five years ago.
Woman: That's impossible. She called my husband's phone yesterday.
Emily: [quickly trying to think of who I called the day before] Wait, is this Mrs. ______?
Woman: Yes. Who is this?!
Emily: I am from the ward and I tried picking up your kids for mutual yesterday.
Woman: Oh. [Tone of voice immediately changes.] I'm sorry. I didn't mean no disrespect. My husband and I have been having some problems...
Emily: *click*

I was furious for three reasons:
1. She didn't believe me that Rachael was dead. I understand that the voicemail is confusing but she did not even ask for an explanation. She just claimed it was impossible.
2. She was very attacking and accused me of cheating with her husband. Gross.
3. While talking to her, I was getting angry that she wasn't listening to anything I was saying so I progressively started talking louder. This resulted in Alex waking up.

I know it was rude that I hung up on her but the utter disbelief I was experiencing was not allowing me to think clearly. I cannot understand how some people are so rude.

3 comments:

Geevz said...

Oh goodness. This is a great story.

Poor woman. I can see exactly why she was attacking you though. I wouldn't have asked you for an explanation either if I thought you were a home-breaking beast afraid of getting caught.

I'm sorry it woke the baby. That must have made it even worse.

Kasey Strong said...

That conversation is kinda funny. Only because they are having problems. Except that's not really funny, is it? Anyway, what I mean is, sorry that all happened. She sounds a little rude.

TrebleClef said...

You are mean for hanging up. 'nuff said.

BTW this is a COMMENT!

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