and now I know
About a week after I moved here, I changed my cell phone number to one that was local to resolve the fact that all my calls were roaming (and discovered that all I had to do was change my plan - but I figured it was time to retire that Chicago number and all that went with it anyway). Since I got the new number I've been receiving a steady stream of calls from local people I don't know, none of whom would leave a message. At the times when I would answer, the callers would immediately apologize, saying it was the wrong number. Naturally, I assumed the prior user of my phone number was a dealer of some kind, and I was getting calls from customers who didn't realize the number had changed. The calls got less frequent, so I just accepted it and moved on. Then yesterday, my phone was ringing off the hook with these calls, so I finally asked one person who they were trying to call. The woman told me she was trying to call Unemployment, whose number turns out to be two digits different than mine. Yes, the amount of calls is still annoying, but the fact that it most likely isn't people trying to score some hocus pocus is comforting.