We no longer have a land line or a "home phone". We use our cellphones. A lot of people do this- it makes sense. It especially makes sense at night. I can turn my cell off or stuff it in the bottom of my bag so that it doesn't wake me should it ring in the middle of the night. Of course, if you are the paranoid type who is convinced that someone will be in a life-or-death situation in the middle of the night and only YOU will be able to save them, if only someone can reach you by phone, then just leave the cell on your nightstand with the ring volume on high. (Also, if you are an ER doctor on call - by all means.)
But if you have a phone on in your room at night, you risk being awakened by a miss-dialing drug addict at 3 AM.
This used to happen to us pretty regularly in our last home when we had a land line. Apparently, we had a number that was very similar to a someone named Seymour and his partner, Rod, whom I had to assume were providing late night pharmaceutical services.
At least twice a month, and sometimes even several times in one night, the phone would ring between midnight and 4 AM. I would usually be the one to answer it, on account of the fact that my husband CANNOT sleep if I am quietly watching TV in the next room, but once asleep, would not wake up if a car drove through the bedroom.
Ring!
Me, groggily: "Hel-loww?"
Customer, rapidly: "Leh-me-spee-to-See-moh"
Me, groggy and confused: "Wah-uht?"
Customer: "See-moh! See-moh dere?
Me: Click
Sometimes they would call for Seymour's partner:
Ring!
Me: "Yeh-uh?"
Cus: "Hey Rah! Rah dere?!"
Me: "Rah? Rock? Who?"
Cus: "Rah- d!"
Me: "Wrong number - there's no Rod or Seymour here!" Slam
So my recommendation is that you turn the phone off at night and have a good sleep. And if you are looking for your pharmaceutical rep in the middle of the night, have him on speed dial so you don't miss-dial and wake up a doctor on-call unnecessarily!
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