A little after I was married, sometimes the phone would ring looking for “Carlos Eduardo”, from different girls, all implying I’ve given the number on a previous moment (parties etc). Well, I was recently married and not fooling around so I was concerned and told my wife what was happening.

But that kept happening and I would warn I was the wrong “Carlos Eduardo”.

Few months later, my wife answered the phone and the most unsual exchange followed:

Wife: “Hello”

Girl: “I want to talk to Carlos” (I was out)

W: “He’s not in. Who is this?” (Thank God she’s not jealous)

G: “How about Paulo?”

I have a good friend named Paulo, my wife thought somebody was looking for him, maybe from work and called my house to try and find him. Cell phones were not all that common yet.

W: “He´s not here also”

G: “AND WHO ARE YOU TO BE AT CARLOS’ HOUSE WHEN THEY’RE NOT THERE??”

W: “I think you must have the wrong number…”

G: “AND YOU MEAN THERE’S ANOTHER CARLOS EDUARDO xxxxx?” (can’t remember the surname now)

W: “No, but there’s a Carlos Eduardo Strauch, my husband, who’s not home right now…” (cool as a cucumber, don’t know how…)

The girl profusely apologized for the mistake, but now I had the - unusual - surname for the guy giving MY phone number to girls in parties…
Went to the phonebook and found a number listed for a woman with that surname with a single digit different. Wrote it down.

Next call…

Me: “Hello!”

Girl: “Is that Carlos?” (didn’t recognize the voice)

Me: “Carlos Eduardo xxx? I guess not. He must have given you the wrong number. The right one is XXX-XXXX.”

Girl: “ Oh, thanks a lot!” *Hangs up*

NEVER another call looking for him… :-)