Google Thought My Phone Number Was Facebook’s and It Ruined My Life

I used to get weird phone calls all the time for people having trouble with their phone service. Weird part was that I actually worked for the telecom, but making software in some obscure department, not as customer support. I was so confused the first few times how people knew I worked for the company and how they got my personal cell number.

What happened was that my cell phone number was one digit off the corporate switchboard. And people kept dialling me. I don't even know how they got the switchboard number, I have no idea where that thing would have been published. It certainly wasn't published on the company's website under customer support.

You don't have to publicly post your number to fall victim to this. Sometimes, you just have really bad luck that your number is similar to something that someone sees. Then they dial the wrong number twofold (first in that the company's support number is completely different or nonexistent, and second in that they couldn't even properly dial the number they were trying to dial).

I guarantee that there are people out there who had this guy's number, but one digit off, and they were receiving Facebook complaints too. I like to give benefit of the doubt to humanity, but when you get a steady stream of these calls, you tend to not want to give it anymore; you just end up wondering how stupid everyone can be. Logically, you know it's just a statistical quirk, but that's small comfort. For me, it stopped when I finally switched my number.

> After reaching out to Google to get my number removed, the company fixed it.

Yeah sure getting unwanted phone calls ruined your life. More like ruined your week/month.

My partner worked for a non-profit, who apparently traded her name and address to other mailing lists, and it steamrolled out of control. We get PILES of junk mail from various Christian and anti-choice organizations that I find repugnant. It is also just annoying to throw the mail into the recycling and have to deal with the security issues of having piles and piles of mail with our names and addresses on it.

This is our new reality: Constant kafkaesque bullshit that wastes of our time to keep these corporations from sucking our blood.

Lives sure are easily "ruined" in Vice land.