If The Shoe Doesn’t Fit…

(I work in a company that sells books, furniture, stationery, and other supplies to schools. The office I work in has several phones, but our direct numbers are not given out anywhere, and all calls come to us through the receptionist. One day, one of our phones starts ringing with the ringtone that means it’s an external call.)

Me: “Hello, this is [My Name] at [Company]. How can I help you?”

Caller: “Hi, I have a question about your footwear selection.”

Me: “I’m sorry; I think you have the wrong number.”

Caller: “The what?”

Me: “The wrong number. You’ve called the wrong place. We don’t sell footwear.”

Caller: “Well… What do you do?”

Me: “We sell supplies for schools, like books, classroom furniture, that sort of thing.”

Caller: “Do you sell school uniforms?”

Me: “No.”

Caller: “Shoes are part of uniforms, so you must sell footwear.”

Me: “We don’t sell uniforms.”

Caller: “Can you just check?”

Me: “Check what?”

Caller: “Can you just check with somebody else to make sure you don’t sell shoes? I just have a question about your sizing.”

Me: “I’m sorry; you have the wrong number. Please check the number for the company you wanted and try calling them again.”

(I hung up the phone, and relayed the story to my colleagues, who got a laugh out of it. Unfortunately, one of the other phones in the office started ringing, again with the external call ringtone, and we remembered that all the phones in our office, and the other large office on the same floor of the building, have consecutive numbers. The guy called eleven phones in our building to ask about shoe sizes before he either got the point, or reached the end of the phone number sequence!)