In His Shoes

This past Saturday evening, we had planned a family game night. My brother and I had planned on going over to our cousin Jimmy's house and play the games there. But I had been sick all week and just wanted to stay home. So we decided against going over to Jimmy's. In the end, my dad, my brother and I played a game of Monopoly at home. It was a great evening. The game went on for hours and my dad, who had dominated the entire game, won. It was past midnight by the time I went downstairs to my room.

As I got into my room I heard the familiar buzzing of my mobile phone telling me I had a message. I picked up my phone and noticed I had eight missed calls. Now I don't know about any of you out there, but eight missed calls is a heck of a lot for me. The first thing that came to my head was 'there's been an emergency', but immediately after that I knew that if there had been an emergency, then I would've probably also received a phone call at home.

I check the list of numbers in my missed calls. I notice all but one of them are from a phone number I don't recognize. I check my voicemail and there's four messages. The first one is from a friend of mine asking me to give her a call back. The next two are hang ups and the fourth is a full message. Here's how it went (I only changed the names):

"Hi Lillian, this is Garth. Garth Smith. I'm looking for my step-daughter Jill. She told me she was going to go see a game with you. It's 12am and I'm just wondering when she'll be home. If you get a chance, will you please call me? Thanks."

After listening to that message, my chest felt heavy. Clearly this is a wrong number. I have no idea who Lillian, Garth or Jill are. Putting myself in Garth's shoes, I would want to know that a phone number that I believe is going to get to my step-daughter is the wrong number. He called my phone seven times with the last one being at midnight, so he's obviously worried about her. I toy with the idea of whether or not I should call him back to let him know it's the wrong number. I look at the clock, it says 12.30am. Should I call him? Is it too late? Should I just forget about it? Am I being an idiot?

Of course I'm not being an idiot. If I was this parent, I would really appreciate a phone call back. If I knew the phone number was incorrect, it might make me decide to start calling other numbers I know to find her. On the flip side, if I didn't know the number was incorrect then I probably won't make those other phone calls. The decision was made. I called him. A lady answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi. May I talk to Garth, please?"

"Yes. Hold on."

I hear her telling Garth that the phone call is for him. He comes on the line.

"Hello?"

"Hi Garth. My name is Loveleen. You left a message on my voicemail looking for a Gillian. I just want you to know that you've dialled the wrong number."

"I'm looking for my step-daughter."

"I know and I hope everything is ok. I just called to let you know that you've got the wrong number. I have no idea who Gillian is."

"Gillian Hill?"

"No idea."

"Oh. Well, I'm really sorry."

"No no. Don't be. I just felt you needed to know this was the wrong phone number."

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

"Take care."

I hung up my phone and felt much lighter. Hopefully in the future, if I ever find myself in that situation, someone will do the same thing for me.