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When I was 19, I had friends from high school who were still younger, and one of them was my friend Julie who had helicopter parents (she would have been 17-18). I was doing security at an event where the radio headsets we had were super-shitty, and the guy running security was a dumpster fire on his own. Julie’s parents forbid her from going to the event, and grounded her to her room. Then her dad called the hotel where the event was being held, was told Julie had “run away” to this event, and that I was somehow responsible. Given she was a minor, the event runners were understandably concerned, although they were frustrated that Julie’s dad was unable to describe her in a way that was useful: “Asian, wearing black, or a tee-shirt, or something. Ask Punkie where she is.” So they contacted the head of security to find me on my rounds to see if I knew what this crazy man was talking about. The head of security said “okay” and did nothing.
At some point, the head of security was fired for a variety of reasons, and this increased the level of miscommunication. Meanwhile, Julie’s dad was calling every few hours, demanding to know where his daughter was. And soon there was a concerted effort to find me, which was complicated because of the communication issues. By the time someone found me and the connection was made, my response of, “I have no idea, Julie said her dad forbid her coming here,” was not what they wanted to hear, and met with skepticism “You’re not hiding her, are you? Like she ran away with you in some tryst? She’s 17 and you’re 19, that could have legal ramifications!” No. We’re platonic friends, I don’t know where she is. if I tried to bonk the poor woman, she’d clobber me.
Meanwhile, Julie’s dad finds Julie in her bedroom, right where he left her. Julie later told me that she was ignoring her dad calling for her, and didn’t “come downstairs” like he demanded because she assumed it was a trap to get her punished for leaving her bedroom while she was grounded. So naturally, her dad assumed she wasn’t in the house. Because he called for her and she didn’t answer.
Poor Julie. Her parents were crazy-nuts.
Are you still in touch with Julie? I hope she moved out and went on to become a well-rounded, functioning adult with a good job and healthy social life.
When that’s the type of parents you grow up with, having a well-rounded and functioning adult life with a healthy social aspect becomes a bit of a long shot. Not impossible, but jeez, I can’t imagine how fucked up that girl’s trust and social skills must have been when she was leaving the house. That’s the kind of parenting that leads kids to go absolutely off the wall and down a pretty dark path.
I was for about 15 years post high school, but her life was rough and I was always the one initiating contact, so we drifted apart. I hope she okay. Smart woman, gifted arist, terrible parents.
That was so nice of you to make an effort for 15 years.
This is the type of story you can’t make up because it’s not realistic enough.
This is one of the better stories I’ve seen on Lemmy. Have a pineapple emoji 🍍
Then her dad called the hotel where the event was being held, was told Julie had “run away” to this event, and that I was somehow responsible.
Why would the hotel tell her dad that Julie had run away?
I think he meant that the dad told the hotel.
English keeps confusing me (I’m a foreigner)
If it makes you feel better, I don’t think the misunderstanding was on your end. Although I agree probably the dad told the hotel that, it was actually phrased like the hotel told the dad that.
It does, thank you.
I remember this one. Someone else lost him, but he knew where he was and wanted to be there.
Yeah that’s the only way it makes sense.
I mean if you have a functioning phone and you felt you were in danger, would you sit around waiting for someone to call you?
Our guy was obviously having a merry old time out hiking, and ignoring unknown numbers. Then only found out later someone else was freaked out about him being lost.
But a story like that isn’t going to get shared as a facebook meme…
This is like when I was 11 and my family went hiking up a mountain in Yellowstone. My young cousin and I thought my brother was ahead of us on the trail so we hurried up trying to catch up to him. We were passing many hikers on a busy trail and being safe.
An hour later my brother comes running up behind us saying everyone is looking for us! Apparently the park rangers had been mobilized to search for us, the missing children, and when we got down the mountain an hour or more later our families were down there in tears fearing we had fallen off the mountain or something.
Point being, it’s totally possible for everyone to think you’re lost and in danger when you are fine and know exactly where you are.
That last part sounds like how Disney World deals with lost kids- You’re not lost, you’re right here. It’s your parents that are lost.
Yes it was annoying how our families kept bringing up how we “got lost on the mountain” during the trip and we kept having to remind them that we weren’t lost, just hiking!
Did you read the other guy’s story in this thread, pretty funny
We really need to go ahead and rip the band-aid off with the telephone network. “Even the small amount of meaning these digits used to have has been lost to time with cell phones and VoIP technology so any user can contact any other user appearing to be any rando with no authentication making the system rife for scams and fuckery and we have no plan to fix it. Participation is as mandatory as we can get without a constitutional amendment.”
Fucking spam has ruined another communications medium.
“Help! I’m trapped in the mountains! I’m freezing and starving to death.”
“I understand, sir. But for a small fee of just $30 a month, your computer can be protected from viruses.”
Honestly if a telemarketer called while someone was actually an emergency and they explained that the telemarketer would probably hang up if that’s their usual response to anything that deviates script lmao
Look, I never answer my phone either, but if I’m trapped in the wilderness, I’ll gladly sign up for whatever woo bullshit they’re selling in case that subscription ends in them rescuing me.
‘Yes, I’ll pay $6000/month for your penis pills, I’m a woman lost in the mountains. Sign me up and send help.’
The Adventures of Hyena Girl
Sounds like the average lemming! One of us!
Have to be careful these day, wouldn’t want bigfoot scam me into signing my car extended warranty.
Someone find him an instance! Is there a hiking one? What place is he from?
I get the logic. If it’s some random ass number and you’re stranded with no charger, why waste time on what might be a spam call? That and I don’t want one of the last things I hear to be someone talking about car insurance
The second time the same number calls back, it becomes a different story.
You haven’t met scammers/spam callers local to me. Assholes are persistent.
Weird. Yeah since like 2009 I have almost never seen a spam call come from the same number twice. I’m in the US.
Meanwhile my phone…Not pictured the 4 other calls at the same exact time.
The same number always calls you? It’s typically a new number every time for my spam calls.
Same.
Weird. The numbers look american. Is that true?
Probably also didn’t listen to any voice messages, ever. Then complains that he was never contacted.
Whoa there, buddy. I’d have to first ever set up my voice mail service.
I set up my voice mail more then a decade ago, I was told I needed to in order to get a job
I have regretted this decision ever since. I haven’t checked my voice mail since high school, when it was explained to me. I get voice mails from my parents and from unknown numbers on a weekly basis. I don’t know why my parents leave voice mails - I’ve not once, ever, listened to their voice mails. I’ve informed them that I don’t even know how to access my voicemails at this point
If I don’t pick up, text me or wait for me to call back. Why would I prefer to hear you ramble off the top of your head when you’re put on the spot? Just send over a post-it worth of text about why you’re calling, and I’ll get back to you faster
I used to hope for the day my voicemail filled up, I’m now certain it never will. Maybe one day I’ll work up the motivation to change the message to “don’t leave a message, text me if I know you and email me if I don’t”
Mostly because it’s for business. There are a mix of customers, some want it one way some want it another. We don’t normally use text. So if your equipment is done and you don’t listen to your voice mail. Please don’t complain you weren’t contacted. Hypothetically. Not saying it’s you. But I do get these complaints.
