Do you ever just scroll through the contact list on your phone and wonder who some of these people are? Have you ever panicked upon realizing that you’ve saved numbers for five different Sarahs or Joes and you forgot to save their last names to help you differentiate them from one another?
For someone who spends an atrocious amount of time on my phone, you would think that I’d be more organized about how I saved my contacts. But no. I’m terrible at it.
I’m sure you all have received texts from unsaved numbers at some point, either because you forgot to save their number or your friend changed their number and forgot to mention it to you.
Usually when this happens, I just respond back pretending I know who it is, because it’s pretty easy to figure out who you’re talking to within a few texts.
There’s just something about texting “Who is this?” that seems kind of rude. I think it’s because I’ve been on the other end before, so I remember feeling bad when I excitedly texted a friend, only to get a reply of “Who dis?”
Anyway, back to my story.
So I was hanging out with my roommate, watching Netflix in the living room, when suddenly my phone lights up.
Ugh, why didn’t I save this person’s number?
I turned to my roommate, “Hey can you check to see if you have this number saved on your phone?”
She kindly looked up the number for me, but found no matches.
I’m just going to assume that the two y’s in the “Heyy” means that we’re pretty tight. But who did I make plans with this week? Why did I have to be THAT friend who always tells people “omg can we hang out please” and never follow through with plans?
In my defense, I feel like that’s normal for a lot of people I know. When you run into a friend or acquaintance, somehow telling each other that you have to “grab some food or coffee soon” makes it less awkward (which is another white lie, btw).
I’ll definitely be able to figure out who this is judging by their response.
Now it’s too late for me to admit that I don’t know who this is. Ugh why couldn’t I just figure out a friendlier excuse for not knowing who it was? Everyone knows I lose my phone all the time so I should have just gone with that. Whatever. Might as well just stick with this plan.
Okay so this person knows that I have a roommate named Alisa. So it’s def not a classmate or coworker.
Clearly this person is comfortable with low-key dissing us. So we’re friends for sure.
At this point my roommate Alisa was trying to help me figure out who this “friend” of ours was. She had the bright idea to suggest if they wanted Starbucks, since that might give us a hint on whether or not it was a girl friend of ours. (Sorry guys, I know everyone likes coffee, but at the time it seemed like a good enough idea, so I agreed.)
So it’s a girl. Right? It’s probably one of the girls we hung out with Freshman year…? It would make sense why I wouldn’t have her number anymore so…..
Um. Demanding much? Now I’m sure we were kinda close at some point.
Okay, I might as well just go and meet her. I’m dying to know. I could use a coffee anyway, since I’m supposed to be studying for a quiz or something before I go to bed.
I arrived at the only Starbucks on campus and sat down near the entrance. I was browsing around on my phone when suddenly someone sat in front of me.
It was a tall random dude I’d never seen before.
And, of course, he went, “I can’t believe we’re finally hanging out!”
Me: Wait, I’m so sorry. Who are you?
Rando: It’s Tim!
Me: Tim from…?
Rando: Uh, from just now? We were texting for like half an hour.
Me: I’m so sorry but I really thought I was talking to someone else.
Rando: Aww that’s too bad, I actually thought you were cool with hanging out with me.
Me: I’m not trying to be rude here, but I really don’t remember where we’ve met.
Rando: We met on Facebook!
At this point, I was feeling really awkward and uneasy, because I was almost a 100% certain that I had never met this guy. I’m one of those people who is good with faces, so I felt like I would have remembered him. We sat in awkward silence for what felt like a painful eternity.
Rando Tim finally decided to break the silence after a few minutes.
Rando: So.. How was Six Flags?
Me: Wait, what? I never told you about that.
Rando: Yeah I know, but I saw it on Facebook.
Me: I don’t think I even have you as a friend on Facebook.
Rando: Haha yeah, I don’t think so either. But we have mutual friends so I could see you tagged in the post.
Me: Then how did you get my number?
Rando: Just found it.
I was so confused and creeped out that I left shortly after that. My roommate laughed hysterically for a full minute when I told her everything at home.
The moral of the story is that I learned to keep my contact information and cell phone secure. And more importantly, I realized that there is absolutely no point in trying to pretend that I know something or someone, when I clearly don’t. What I thought would be an “innocent” white lie to prevent a friend from potentially feeling mildly irritated, ended up with me on a coffee date with a stranger.
Never again.
Next time I get a friendly text from an unknown number, I’m going to stick with responding with “Who dis?”
