It's For You

My previous post reminded me of other distressing experiences with technology. In theory, telephones shouldn't be much of a problem but even they now come with all kinds of bells and whistles. Yeah, yeah, they've always had bells but you know what I mean.

One day I was expecting an important call (this was before I had a mobile) so I rang my home telephone from a public call box and keyed into my messaging service to see if anyone had phoned. Then I went for a few drinks with friends.
When I got home late that night I dialled 1471 to see if anyone had called. They had and I was given their number.
I dialled the number and it rang for a very long time.
Well, it would.
It was a city centre phone box.
The same phone box that I'd called from earlier.
Eventually, a passing yob answered the phone.
"You called me earlier", I said.
"No I never", he replied.
"Yes you did", I persisted. "You called me at 20.04 but you didn't leave a message. I'm just returning your call."
"You're a fucking nutter, mate", he said and slammed the phone down.
When the penny finally dropped ( as they used to in old-fashioned phone boxes when you pressed button B) I became concerned that he might not have been entirely wrong.