I'm not sure if it means anything, but an interesting thing happened this evening.

I came out of the grocery store and found a couple sitting in an SUV next to my car?watching me. Thinking little of it I got in my car and went home. Well, the weather report is for up to an inch of ice over night and into tomorrow, so I went around my place looking for something to put in the door of my car. Having found a rather large piece of sheet plastic, I went back outside to cover my driver door with the plastic?inside and out. I'm not worried about the car. It's 16 years old, so who's going to want it? But guess who I found outside my place, sitting in the SUV watching me. Yep, that same couple. When I looked at them, they pulled out and drove away. Over the past few months I've been getting repeated telephone calls?leaving no message at any time?from 703-247-2666. That phone number is in Arlington, VA. Guess who shows an address in Arlington, VA. That's right, our friend BBRV.

Now, like I said at the start, I don't know that there's anything to this at all, but, given past experience, I thought I'd report my little house of cards publicly anyway, just in case.

_________________
Life without the LORD is like a soap bubble without the soap. Without Him, you are nothing.

@

@Billsey

Quote:

Billsey wrote: I'm not sure if it means anything, but an interesting thing happened this evening. I came out of the grocery store and found a couple sitting in an SUV next to my car?watching me. Thinking little of it I got in my car and went home. Well, the weather report is for up to an inch of ice over night and into tomorrow, so I went around my place looking for something to put in the door of my car. Having found a rather large piece of sheet plastic, I went back outside to cover my driver door with the plastic?inside and out. I'm not worried about the car. It's 16 years old, so who's going to want it? But guess who I found outside my place, sitting in the SUV watching me. Yep, that same couple. When I looked at them, they pulled out and drove away. Over the past few months I've been getting repeated telephone calls?leaving no message at any time?from 703-247-2666. That phone number is in Arlington, VA. Guess who shows an address in Arlington, VA. That's right, our friend BBRV. Now, like I said at the start, I don't know that there's anything to this at all, but, given past experience, I thought I'd report my little house of cards publicly anyway, just in case.

Did you happen to call the police? At any time did you answer the phone when they called, or did you just let the machine get it each time where they didn't leave a message? Maybe you could call them back and find out what they wanted. I probably wouldn't mention the fact you just published their home phone on the internet and even associating it with a bitter flamewar exposing it to prank calls from troublemakers in the community, I'd keep that bit a secret, as they'd probably be a bit upset.

As for the SUV... I can see how someone might find out where you live, and follow you somewhere from home, but how would anyone know when and where you were shopping? I had a similar experience once, and it turned out the people found a bit of paint on their car, and seeing as at that time I drove a junker, they suspected I did it and followed me home to look at my door to see if it was me who doordinged them... that's probably a more likely explanation seeing as they were parked next to you and were eyeballing you as you left the parking spot.

But in any case, Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean the world isn't out to get you j/k

ps: hmmm... 703 shows Washington DC here...

@Billsey

Following up on my brilliant detectivework (I called the number ) it appears SBC are trying to get ahold of you for some reason probably relating to the fact they are a telemarketing firm.

Mystery solved. Hope that helps.

@MycoMedical

Quote:

703 shows Washington DC here...

That's not right. 703 is one of the area codes in Northern Virginia. I have lived there, and I have two friends in the area whom I call (Manassas and Woodbridge), so I should know something about it! Washington DC is area code 212.

_________________
I've decided to follow an awful lot of people I respect and leave AmigaWorld. If for some reason you want to talk to me, it shouldn't take much effort to find me.

@simplex

Must be a satelite office then, but the office registered to that number is definately SBC, and their directory listing is listed as DC. in any case, the number is unquestionably verified as SBC telemarketing, not BBRV.

Billsey needs to sign up for the federal do not call list.

(edit) 703 VA Arlington, suburbs of Washington D.C.; (703/571 overlay)
from http://www.lincmad.com/locator.html#7

@MycoMedical
I appreciate your detective work. Like I said in my original post?a house of cards. I'm glad it collapsed. But I don't think the "do not call list" is long for this world, at least in the US.

As to door dinging, when I park in a parking lot, I back in to my space. Most other people in the area just whip in forward. These folks were next to the passenger side of my car, and I was alone. When I saw them outside my home, they were several spaces away from my car, watching me from within their SUV, and when I looked at them?just looked at them?they got out of there like nobody's business. That is strange behavior if you're trying to catch a door ding.

_________________
Life without the LORD is like a soap bubble without the soap. Without Him, you are nothing.

By the way, I have to say that I really like the "@" feature.

_________________
Life without the LORD is like a soap bubble without the soap. Without Him, you are nothing.

@MycoMedical
I just thought of something else:

In my experience, when SBC wants to sell me something they call from a number that shows the number, and "SBC" under it, so you know who's calling. This one comes up with the phone number from above and "unavailable" under it. I'm not behind in my payments, so they can't be trying to call for that reason.

It makes me wonder why someone in VA (suburb of DC, by the way) is so intent to talk to someone halfway across the country, who never picks up the phone when they call, but who does have an answering machine. You see, they always listen to at least half of the greeting, but they never leave a message, beyond the click of hanging up the phone. Surely they can't be that enthralled by my greeting. The thing that is still so strange here is that I've never gotten a call from SBC, before this stretch, that didn't properly ID the caller on my CallerID device. So, I have to wonder what it is that's so all-fired important that they have to keep on calling, but so trivial that they cannot ever leave a message on the answering machine that they know I have. If they really wanted to talk to me, all they need to do is leave a message, right? If they don't want to talk to me, why do they keep calling?

This whole thing is rather weird, if you ask me.

_________________
Life without the LORD is like a soap bubble without the soap. Without Him, you are nothing.

@Billsey

Quote:

Billsey wrote: @MycoMedical I appreciate your detective work. Like I said in my original post?a house of cards. I'm glad it collapsed. But I don't think the "do not call list" is long for this world, at least in the US.

lol, the number was unlisted, but maybe it being on the internet will somehow cause it to be the target of other telemarketers, who knows? Oh sweet irony

I don't know about the do not call list thing, I think it's good political fluff. It's not exactly big business with high margin, it's mostly fly-by-night bottomfeeders who employ minimum wage temps, so it's not like huge lobby groups will be set up on their behalf, yet it makes good vote-for-me fodder to those looking to be elected. I think it's here to stay.

Quote:

As to door dinging, when I park in a parking lot, I back in to my space. Most other people in the area just whip in forward. These folks were next to the passenger side of my car, and I was alone. When I saw them outside my home, they were several spaces away from my car, watching me from within their SUV, and when I looked at them?just looked at them?they got out of there like nobody's business. That is strange behavior if you're trying to catch a door ding.

Actually that sounds just like what I'd do if I followed someone with slight suspicion to check it out. I'd have the cahoona's enough to investigate, but not being sure, I'd probably succomb to embarassment and uncertainty when the guy looks my way.

If I was following someone with sinister undercover purposes, the last thing I'd do when looked at, is give away my cover by fleeing. They were parked right next to your car at the supermarket, so at that time they obviously wern't undercover, or trying to hide from you, or why would they park right next to you and even maintain eye contact with you while you got in your car?

Their behavior sounds different in both situations, at the supermarket, they were parked right next to you, at home, they were covert, and fleed from what sounds like in embarassment.

The difference in psychology and behavior of one person alone in a car as compared to a couple is kind of interesting, an individual is less likely to investigate a situation like this unless he is also willing to confront the situation and follow through, while a couple will usually act different in the same situation, and the peer pressure will usually lead to a more agressive investigation as the driver tries to appear proactive to the passenger, but it stops there, the added iniative from the presence of the passenger in the situation will not increase the chance the driver will follow through with confrontation. Wierd.

I guess I've noticed this myself, as I will complain to a passenger (usually my wife) about driving situations I wouldn't think twice about if I were alone and might even honk if my wife is present, but when my wife gives the finger on MY behalf increasing the chance of a confrontation I go nuts and snap at her "What are you trying to do get me in a fight?" (I really hate when she does that!)

My guess is something like that went on, husband/driver was a little more proactive from presence of passenger, decided to show off and investigate, and was embarassed away from the confrontation when you saw him. If only one were a fly in that SUV to hear what went on "aren't you going to say something?" "Just wait, maybe he'll come over here and tell us it happened" "Harold, he's LEAVING! What are you going to do?" "Well, I'll follow him and see if we can straighten this out" "Harold! you better go talk to him, he's going inside!" "Maurice, I'm not really sure it wasn't even there before, maybe I just never noticed it?" "Harold, he's looking at us! What are you going to do?" "Oh forget it, let's just get out of here!"


(Anyway, wouldn't BBRV be in one of those LeCars I always hated those things!)

@Billsey

Quote:

Billsey wrote: @MycoMedical I just thought of something else: In my experience, when SBC wants to sell me something they call from a number that shows the number, and "SBC" under it, so you know who's calling. This one comes up with the phone number from above and "unavailable" under it. I'm not behind in my payments, so they can't be trying to call for that reason. It makes me wonder why someone in VA (suburb of DC, by the way) is so intent to talk to someone halfway across the country, who never picks up the phone when they call, but who does have an answering machine. You see, they always listen to at least half of the greeting, but they never leave a message, beyond the click of hanging up the phone. Surely they can't be that enthralled by my greeting. The thing that is still so strange here is that I've never gotten a call from SBC, before this stretch, that didn't properly ID the caller on my CallerID device. So, I have to wonder what it is that's so all-fired important that they have to keep on calling, but so trivial that they cannot ever leave a message on the answering machine that they know I have. If they really wanted to talk to me, all they need to do is leave a message, right? If they don't want to talk to me, why do they keep calling? This whole thing is rather weird, if you ask me.

Who knows? The call won't ID (other than originating number) because it's unlisted, which isn't uncommon for the lines they usually use for outgoing calls, but when you call their number, which isn't set up for incoming, it rerouts to their customer respose machine. I left my number, and they even called me back wanting to know "what SBC could do for me today?" and even verified I wasn't a customer, the number is definately SBC, no doubt about that... the fact it was an outgoing-only line they tried to contact you with suggests that it wasn't a collection attempt, usually outgoing-only lines are reserved for the salespeople... they were probably trying to sell you something (and the salespeople just ignore machines out of habit, who'd call a telemarketing salesperson back?)

@MycoMedical

Right: suburbs of Washington, DC; in particular, northern Virginia. When I was a child, Virginia had two area codes: 703 (north) and 804 (south). Now it's all gone to pot.

Is it possible that the phone number is a cell phone?

_________________
I've decided to follow an awful lot of people I respect and leave AmigaWorld. If for some reason you want to talk to me, it shouldn't take much effort to find me.

@simplex

Quote:

simplex wrote: @MycoMedical Right: suburbs of Washington, DC; in particular, northern Virginia. When I was a child, Virginia had two area codes: 703 (north) and 804 (south). Now it's all gone to pot. Is it possible that the phone number is a cell phone?

Didn't we settle this already? It's SBC. Really, no foolin. I doubt they'd connect their main costomer service dispact to a cellphone. (The return call was from main) This is getting silly.

What is it with people and the behavior they exhibit in their vehicles anyway? The whole world's going nuts.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&q=road+rage

@Billsey

If you want to find out a little more about who is calling you, then change your answerphone message. Make sure you only get "Hello ?" and then a bleep. Catches all those who would rather not leave a message quite nicely, and you can let friends and family know easily enough.

Usually you'll get the opening line or a few hellos back.

_________________
"Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard, be evil."

You know, at one point I considered picking up the phone and just breathing heavy.

Seriously, though, I have a policy whereby if I can't ID who it is that's calling me, I don't pick up. In this day and age with the technology we have, if they can't be courteous enough to let me know who they are, they don't need to talk to me that bad.

_________________
Life without the LORD is like a soap bubble without the soap. Without Him, you are nothing.

@Billsey

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they really aren't out to get you...


The other day, upon a stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh how I wish, I wish he'd go away.

@BrianK

Quote:

BrianK wrote: @Billsey Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they really aren't out to get you... The other day, upon a stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh how I wish, I wish he'd go away.

I just watched "Identity" this weekend... pretty good movie. But if you blink, you'll be lost. Of course, I'm sure this little poem has been around longer than that movie... just made me think of it.