Sugishima’s Revenge
You may recall a while back I explained that the phone number I have had for about four years now was previously held by some pinhead named Sugishima. This self-promoting wonder apparently gave his name and number (now my number) to about a gazillion people, and then when he moved, he didn’t tell a single one of them about it. So when I got this number, I got endless calls for this guy, as many as a dozen per week at its worst. I figured it would taper off, but for six months or so, it just went on and on. I guess it never quite reached the threshold where I felt like going through the hassle of changing my phone number and telling everyone of the change. It eventually dropped off to one call a month, close enough to background noise, but still it rankled me every time it happened. Over the past year, the calls for Sugishima got even more rare.
Now, I am about to move, and leave this damned number behind me. But it is almost as if the Curse of Sugishima knows this: in the past week, I have gotten four calls for him, the latest one waking me up early this morning.
I have the sneaking suspicion that on the very last day before they disconnect this phone line, I will get a call. The person on the line will say: “Hi, this is Sugishima. Were there any calls for me?”
You don’t have number portability there?
“I have the sneaking suspicion that on the very last day before they disconnect this phone line, I will get a call. The person on the line will say: “Hi, this is Sugishima. Were there any calls for me?””
BWAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
Paul: That’s not the way phone numbers work here. A strange system… but the phone numbers vary in length. All area codes start with “0” (which is excluded when calling from abroad). A few cities, big cities, have a single-number area code–so Tokyo, for example, is “03.” However, smaller towns have the zero plus two numbers, like my town, which is “042.” Some towns have a zero plus three, like “0425.” What follows is the remainder of numbers to total ten, including the initial “0.” So central Tokyo numbers have the area code “03” and then eight numbers; my area has “042” plus seven numbers; other areas with a code like “0425” have six more numbers; and I think it may even go one further, with a 5-number prefix and a five-digit phone number.
So, because the individual numbers vary in length, you can’t have portability here.
Of course, you are jesting when you suggest I carry the number over, in any case, I presume. Like I want the curse of Sugishima to follow me….
Sean: I was wondering if anyone would catch that old knock-knock joke prank phone gag…