Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The Joke's on Me

Happy April Fools Day, everybody!

I hope you were able to do something fun. I've always loved a good prank, but this year I couldn't think of anything to do. There are always the ideas that come to mind that are too obvious or too mean, but the perfect idea just didn't strike. So I didn't do anything.

I was, however, the subject of a good April Fools prank. Here's how it went down:

I was quietly working on some projects this morning, when at around 10:30 the phone rang. I didn't recognize the number so - as is usually the case when I don't know who's calling - I let it ring. I figured whoever it was would leave a message if it was important enough, and I'd call them back later. Sure enough, a minute or two after the call my phone buzzed to inform me of a new voicemail. Just as I was about to check my voicemail, the phone rang again. Another completely random number.

I let it ring out as well, and then heard my phone buzz as they, too, left a voice message. Once again, I was about to check my messages when my phone began ringing a third time. Different number. By then I'm thinking "What the hell is this? What's going on? Did somebody die?" To tell you the honest truth, there was a split second where I was genuinely worried that a bunch of people were trying to contact me to inform me of something awful. I almost answered the phone that time, but decided instead that I'd dial my voicemail as soon as the ringing stopped.

"You have three new messages. First message"

And then, a Chinese guy's voice, "Oh, hey Barry. I just want to talk about your TV. You call me and we set price. My number is ..."

What in the hell? My TV?

Next was a cowboy, "Hey there, Barry. I sawr yer ad in the kayesselles... Yeah, I'd love tuh buy that thang. Call meh back, man. My number is..."

I started laughing. Immediately, I went to the classifieds page of KSL.com. I searched under LCD TV's, and saw this, front and center:


My name! MY PHONE NUMBER! But I hadn't placed the ad! And all the while my phone was ringing off the hook. I mean, I was getting text messages EVERY FREAKING minute and my missed call list was growing into a novella.

All at once I felt respect and fury for the person (or people) who had pranked me. I wanted to congratulate them for a job well done, and then slash their tires. Take them out to lunch for the execution of the prank, and then punch them in the face. It was an odd dichotomy of emotion.

I reported the ad to be fraudulent and within minutes it was removed from the site and made unavailable (Kudos to KSL for this.) The incessant phone calls and text messages gradually waned, with only three or four bargain hunters repeatedly calling. I thought it was over.

But no.

20 minutes later the calls started again. I returned to KSL and saw, to my chagrin, that the ad had been created anew. DAMN THEM! This was war. My second attempt to mark the ad as fraudulent was in vain. I waited a few minutes, but the ad didn't disappear. 15 minutes later it was still there and the calls were pouring in. I had 12 voicemails. TWELVE!!! The ad didn't seem to be going anywhere, so I decided to mitigate the damage by altering my voicemail message to include, "If you're calling about the TV, I regret to inform you that it's nothing more than an April Fools joke."

The calls didn't stop, but the voice messages did.

I eventually found out who the perpetrator was when he called me and admitted, amidst barrels of laughter, to the heinous crime. He removed the ad while we were on the phone and we agreed to go to lunch on Friday. I'm going to punch him in the face and slash his tires. But it's all in good fun. :)

Tomorrow I'll post who the perpetrator is.

-Barry

4 comments:

  1. OMG!!! That is horrible...y funny! wow, cant wait to find out who it was! btw, Have a key made and hide it somewhere. There's no sense in being locked out once a month!

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  2. That is so funny! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. You'll have to compare stories with Courtney...via Katt!!

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