Having your phone number confused for someone else's sounds like it maybe should be funny, or at least mildly entertaining. It's not. At least, not for me. Before my family moved (and got a new telephone number in the bargain), our phone number was occasionally confused for that of a corporate fax machine somewhere.

* Fax machines are relentless.

* They phone back every ten minutes.

* For weeks on end.

* They are painful to listen to.

* You don't even get the satisfaction of telling somebody that they've got the wrong number.

* You can unplug your telephones, but when you plug them back in (even days later) the fax machine will be waiting to phone you back.

* Eventually, you can track down whoever is faxing you and get them to stop, but they'll forget the next time they want to send a fax.

* Every so often, you'd get an important, legitimate call, reminding you that you can't completely ignore the phone.

* They always try to fax something when you're EXPECTING an important call.

Thankfully, this was back in the earlier days of fax machines, so it didn't happen more than about once every three or four months. Believe me, that was enough.

[Space "If only I had had the internet back then, the fax machines would never have gotten through!" Bar]