Epic Communication Fail
So Friday I received the following text message from an unknown number:
"hey cuz just checking to see if u are ok."
I was a bit confused by this but assumed that this was either one of my co-workers as "cuz" gets through around a lot there or else my actual cousin, Quinn. Either way, it was clearly someone I knew but didn't have in my phone contacts. I replied typically for me:
"I'm good so far haha"
And got back:
"ok just wondering"
That was that. I figured I would find out eventually one way or another who it had been so didn't bother asking at the time and promptly forgot about it.
The next day I received two more texts with more information:
"hey just wanted to let u know my mom is having her panic attacks again from everything that is going on with Gmom. I know u guys used to talk alot. Maybe one day this week u can stop buy to talk toher. You guys always talked about everything together.@"
At this point I realized it must be Quinn informing me of problems between our grandmother and my aunt, Quinn's mom. She had had panic attacks or something akin in the past and there was a history of occasional conflict between the members of my extended family. I was a little surprised as I hadn't heard of anything going on with my grandmother or my aunt but I also hadn't been in close contact recently such that I would have. By this point I was a bit worried as I also recalled that while I'd been on break at work Friday my aunt had dropped by and no one told me until afterwards. I assumed she must have been seeking me out to bend my ear about recent events as I've been something of a confidant to both involved relatives over the years. I replied:
"Ok I think I just missed her at the store the other day. I will try to track her down :)"
And I made plans to spend my Tuesday off visiting family and if need be vaguely mediating.
Well, for better or worse it has ever been our way to be rather circumspect with one another. Neither my aunt nor my grandmother said anything pointing at such troubles and I was not about to pry. I was just putting myself in a position where I could listen if they wanted someone to talk to about anything troubling them, not being nosy. I also was concerned that Quinn might get into an argument with her mom if I revealed that I knew what was going on - they can also be a bit volatile at times.
Later that evening it was bugging me a bit and I had thought through a better way to ask my aunt about things without creating further discord but did not have her cell number. So I texted Quinn back:
"I don't have her number in my phone what is it?"
"xxx-xxx-xxxx" (number obviously deleted)
Here's where things got weird. Now all along I'd known that previously, Quinn, my aunt, my grandparents and a couple of other relatives in that bunch all had cell numbers that were sequential. These new-seeming numbers I wasn't concerned with since I assumed perhaps they simply changed carriers or something and opted not to port the numbers. Didn't know for sure but didn't especially care either. I didn't speak with them frequently enough by phone to have the old ones in my contacts so no reason they would have gone out of their way to give me new ones either.
Needless to say, I called the number. Something of a typical less-than-stellar cell connection, sounded enough like my aunt to me. I greeted her and she me, asking who it was. I gave my name and she seemed pleased and surprised to hear from me and I realized it was not Quinn's mother. I thought perhaps this had been a different of my cousins all along somehow and thus a different aunt. After all, she recognized me swiftly enough by my given name. She asked, "Jason and Quinn?" I thought. Odd, who would identify my by my younger cousin like that. But I affirmed it and gave my last name too.
She asked who I was trying to reach and I said that I thought I'd been calling Quinn's mother whose name I gave. "You weren't trying to reach Lulu X___?"
Quickly we both realized that this had all been a remarkable series of wrong numbers and mistaken identifications. Starting with her daughter trying to ask her cousin "Jason from Quinton" (which I'd misheard in this final conversation) via a wrong text number that nonetheless went to /a/ "cousin Jason" who happened to be accustomed to aunt/grandmother relations issues and proceeding through to the Quinn/Quinton misheard during the final conversation. We worked this out over a few moments and saw that on their end, my mention of "my store" in my text was the oddity that they saw but overlooked just as the cell numbers were oddities on my end. I wished her well (trying not to say too much about what her daughter had been saying or doing, just in case!) and we said goodbye. I did receive another text from her daughter:
"sorry about all the conversations we were having. I didnt know u were the wrong person. So sorry again"
To which I replied:
"No problem I hope everything works out okay."
The moral of the story apparently is the final text I received from the young lady in question:
"thanks. You can get in trouble withtexting"
^^
Goodness.
"hey cuz just checking to see if u are ok."
I was a bit confused by this but assumed that this was either one of my co-workers as "cuz" gets through around a lot there or else my actual cousin, Quinn. Either way, it was clearly someone I knew but didn't have in my phone contacts. I replied typically for me:
"I'm good so far haha"
And got back:
"ok just wondering"
That was that. I figured I would find out eventually one way or another who it had been so didn't bother asking at the time and promptly forgot about it.
The next day I received two more texts with more information:
"hey just wanted to let u know my mom is having her panic attacks again from everything that is going on with Gmom. I know u guys used to talk alot. Maybe one day this week u can stop buy to talk toher. You guys always talked about everything together.@"
At this point I realized it must be Quinn informing me of problems between our grandmother and my aunt, Quinn's mom. She had had panic attacks or something akin in the past and there was a history of occasional conflict between the members of my extended family. I was a little surprised as I hadn't heard of anything going on with my grandmother or my aunt but I also hadn't been in close contact recently such that I would have. By this point I was a bit worried as I also recalled that while I'd been on break at work Friday my aunt had dropped by and no one told me until afterwards. I assumed she must have been seeking me out to bend my ear about recent events as I've been something of a confidant to both involved relatives over the years. I replied:
"Ok I think I just missed her at the store the other day. I will try to track her down :)"
And I made plans to spend my Tuesday off visiting family and if need be vaguely mediating.
Well, for better or worse it has ever been our way to be rather circumspect with one another. Neither my aunt nor my grandmother said anything pointing at such troubles and I was not about to pry. I was just putting myself in a position where I could listen if they wanted someone to talk to about anything troubling them, not being nosy. I also was concerned that Quinn might get into an argument with her mom if I revealed that I knew what was going on - they can also be a bit volatile at times.
Later that evening it was bugging me a bit and I had thought through a better way to ask my aunt about things without creating further discord but did not have her cell number. So I texted Quinn back:
"I don't have her number in my phone what is it?"
"xxx-xxx-xxxx" (number obviously deleted)
Here's where things got weird. Now all along I'd known that previously, Quinn, my aunt, my grandparents and a couple of other relatives in that bunch all had cell numbers that were sequential. These new-seeming numbers I wasn't concerned with since I assumed perhaps they simply changed carriers or something and opted not to port the numbers. Didn't know for sure but didn't especially care either. I didn't speak with them frequently enough by phone to have the old ones in my contacts so no reason they would have gone out of their way to give me new ones either.
Needless to say, I called the number. Something of a typical less-than-stellar cell connection, sounded enough like my aunt to me. I greeted her and she me, asking who it was. I gave my name and she seemed pleased and surprised to hear from me and I realized it was not Quinn's mother. I thought perhaps this had been a different of my cousins all along somehow and thus a different aunt. After all, she recognized me swiftly enough by my given name. She asked, "Jason and Quinn?" I thought. Odd, who would identify my by my younger cousin like that. But I affirmed it and gave my last name too.
She asked who I was trying to reach and I said that I thought I'd been calling Quinn's mother whose name I gave. "You weren't trying to reach Lulu X___?"
Quickly we both realized that this had all been a remarkable series of wrong numbers and mistaken identifications. Starting with her daughter trying to ask her cousin "Jason from Quinton" (which I'd misheard in this final conversation) via a wrong text number that nonetheless went to /a/ "cousin Jason" who happened to be accustomed to aunt/grandmother relations issues and proceeding through to the Quinn/Quinton misheard during the final conversation. We worked this out over a few moments and saw that on their end, my mention of "my store" in my text was the oddity that they saw but overlooked just as the cell numbers were oddities on my end. I wished her well (trying not to say too much about what her daughter had been saying or doing, just in case!) and we said goodbye. I did receive another text from her daughter:
"sorry about all the conversations we were having. I didnt know u were the wrong person. So sorry again"
To which I replied:
"No problem I hope everything works out okay."
The moral of the story apparently is the final text I received from the young lady in question:
"thanks. You can get in trouble withtexting"
^^
Goodness.