Wrong numbers!!!

[Miss Mary]

Yup! Shawn's right. I went to Catholic schools, all the way thru grade school, high school and even a few years of college!

I was either going to be Mary Anne or Melody. My dad enjoyed playing guitar and harmonica. Hence, the Melody name. But my mom being the devout, near daily-mass, sit in the front pew facing the Mother Mary statue type Catholic, Mary Anne won out. I am glad I got the name I got, I just don't feel like a Melody! My dad would just sigh when I'd say that.

By age 10, I dropped that Anne part. About broke my mother's heart but she got over it. There's only one person who can call me Mary Anne still and get away with it -that's my wild and wacky brother, Gerry. All he has to do is say that full name and I know it's him. Even in a dead sleep.

Yep, there was no shortage of Mary something's at my all-girl Catholic HS!

Mary

[Pburgh]

Mary-Ann, I'm really crazy bout you, deed i am
i just can't live without you, Mary-Ann Mary-Ann
Mary-Ann
My life was built around you.
Stars and sand, Your eyes were pools of laughter,
Mary-Ann, I thought you were my man.


Miss Mary, Gerry made me post this!!!!!!!!!
Gotta love Alice Cooper

[Miss Mary]

Karan - LOL!!!

Wouldn't take much for my brother to sing this. But he never has!!! He does have this annoying way of saying my name....

Siblings...aren't they great? They know the exact buttons to push don't they?

Mary

[MSRobi911]

Love Alice Cooper and saw him in concert when I was youngster...man I am talking like I am old and decrepped....oh well


but Miss Mary, I was Mary Lynne till I went to school and the Lynne got dropped and it was just plain Mary after that.....my family and cousins still call me Mary Lynne and my husband on occasion.

Mary

[Miss Mary]

See we Mary's were often Mary something! I think I wanted to assert my independence from my Mother's over protective ways. She's a little too hands on, even today. I'm almost 50! Once a mother, always a mother? LOL

At the time my full name sounded babyish I told everyone (age 10). And actually many I know just call me Mar. I like that too!

At my old job, my nic there was just plain Mur. Originally Murray. We got goofy one day and tweaked everyone's names a bit. Someone said you're a better Mur than Murray. I resigned from that job in 1985 but all I have to do is get a phone call from someone saying - hey Mur, and I know it a good friend from years ago. Another lifetime!

Another nic I've had is Marsky.

Mary

[streetsoldier]

I always refer to my siblings by their first, middle and confirmation names, or by my nicks for 'em..."Clifford Charles Patrick" or "Chromedome", "Jan Karel Mary" or "Ears", "Anne Marie Antoinette" or "Banana", and "James Kevin Glennon", or (expletive unwritten).

They call me "Sir".

[Miss Mary]

Update....it's now a new school year and I'm still receiving phone calls for a Mary McLaughlin from her child's school, Wildwood Elementary. I googled the school name, there is one located in Middletown, Ohio. The closest to Cincinnati - small town north of Cincinnati. Not exactly a place I can easily drop into today. But I'm about ready to....read on.

I've had calls for this child from:

2004/05 school year

1. The school nurse. Her child was sick and needed to be picked up. Not once, but several times.

2. The school principal. Latch Key caregivers had gone home and her child was not picked up yet.

3. A case worker. This was when the red flags were going up in my head. I told her to hang up the phone and drive to this child's home, now. Forget phone contact, a real visit to the home was necessary at this point.

Fall 2005 - new school year starting

4. The child's classroom teacher called this morning. I informed her of the many phone calls I've received for this child. That this child's mother keeps giving out my phone number, not her own. There is a reason for that. The teacher seemed very alarmed - FINALLY, someone with sense. She thanked me and said she was going to get right on it.

Please pray for this McLaughlin child. I already started - BIG TIME!

Thanks.....

Mary

[alicia-w]

Our phone number is one off of the clubhouse for the golf course. People call at all hours wanting tee times. SO the last five calls, I've given them one.

[azskyman]

One thing I've noticed about cell phones. My son lives in San Diego. When he moved from Phoenix, he kept the same number as the service has an office there in San Diego. So he has a prefix of 480 on his San Diego phone. It cost him no more, and it allowed his old friends in Phoenix to keep better track of him.

However, now when I am in San Diego and try to call his number, of course I have to put 1 in front of it. If I don't, I get this other person somewhere in California who has come to know me as an annoyance.

Perhaps your situation is created by something like that.

I know a Mary McLaughlin back in Illinois. She was head of the CASA group for a while...Court Appointed Special Advocate, I think, for child welfare.

If nothing else, I should at least put you in touch so she can intervene with the other Mary McLaughlin.

[GalvestonDuck]

I hope someone's able to get to the bottom of it, for the sake of the child.

[Miss Mary]

Steve and Shawn - what I keep forgetting to ask is where is this Wildwood Elementary located. You'd think if they had to use an area code for my number they would have said so. So I do think it's somewhat local, that they don't need the 513 area code I have.

Steve - the Mary you know doesn't sound like this parent. But it wouldn't hurt to ask if she's ever been confused with another Mary McLaughlin.

The next time this school calls, I'm going to speak to the Principal. Go straight to the top.

Mary

[GalvestonDuck]

Looks like it's north of Cincy and has a 512 area code.

http://maps.yahoo.com/maps.py?&addr=330 ... dletown,OH

[Miss Mary]

Thanks Shawn....road trip time.....seriously, if this school was closeby I think I would make a visit there.

Mary

[O Town]

I was digging through some old threads, because not much else is going on here right now, LOL.

So I have to ask Mary, have you recieved anymore calls this school year about this McLaughlin kid? You said you got the one from the new teacher from this year and she sounded like she had some sense, that she was going to work on the situation. Just wondering if she resolved it and if you ever found out anything else about the mother or the child? It was like reading a story with no ending. I sure hope the situation is reasolved in the right way. I have a feeling she just may of looked up another Mary and started giving out her # instead of yours. I sure hope not. How horrible for the child to know when he or she gets sick or had any problem that he probably knew his mommy wouldnt be there for them. That is just sad. Just wondering if you had an update. Thanks.

[TexasStooge]

Had those for numerous times.

[streetsoldier]

I haven't had much problem...an occasional one-digit-off call is about it.

I DO have problems with people who can't pronouce my surname as spelled; only Norwegians and Danes get it right the first time.

[Miss Mary]

O Town - I haven't received anymore calls since the last one. Which was the first one from this current school year and from the child's personal teacher. Prior to this I had received calls from 1. the school nurse 2. the principal and 3. a county case worker. The case worker one really alarmed me. That was the last I heard from this school, 2004-05 school year until his teacher called early on 2005-06 school year.

I am hoping and praying this child's teacher took a personal interest into why the mother has consistently given our my phone number for 2 years in a row.

I will take a more proactive approach if I recieve anymore calls. I'm half tempted to say I am Mary McLaughlin to determine why they keep calling in the first place. But of course I won't do this. This is real life, not a TV show. LOL

The principal told me he was calling because after school latch key had closed, all latch key personnel had gone home for the night and it was just him and this child. Waiting for someone to come get the child. Which broke my heart.

But again, no more calls. And each time I say I am not the mother, that this is a wrong phone number, the info stops. But I did manage to keep the case worker on the phone, long enough for me to tell her she wasn't my first call about this child (now see here again, this mother gave out my phone number, to a case worker!).

Gotta shove this red flags down again. I haven't thought about this child for weeks now. I do hope his home life has become much better. Have to admit now I'm worried again. Shawn/Duckie found the school, it's located outside of Cincinnati, in Middletown, Ohio. Which is an hour from here. If I were a school district, a bogus # far from that community would be a major tip too.

But thanks for asking. I was surprised when I saw this topic pulled up.

Mary

[O Town]

Glad to hear you havent no more call from the school or social services. Hopefully you are right in the teacher took a intrest in the child, as she should and should all teachers. Well keep us up to date if you receive any more calls, I just am curious in that whole mix up. Very strange. I just hope the child is better off, or was okay to begin with and maybe an honest mistake.

And by the way is that what ya'll call after school care, after school latch key? I have heard my mom refer to that name saying they used to use that name for kids who had parents that worked, and let themselves into the house after school by themselves. And I just learned this a month or so ago. Latch key kids. Here we call it extended day. Just wondering.

And thanks for replying on the inquiry about the child.

[Miss Mary]

Yup, in our district it's called Latch Key but you're right, that makes more sense for kids who come home to an empty house. I'm pretty sure the principal called it LK too. It's probably not offically referred to as LK but it is run by the local YMCA. These same caregivers offer care on holiday breaks and snowdays, but at the actual Y.

Mary

[cajungal]

We get wrong numbers all the time. Our home phone number is one digit off from a doctors office. So we get phone calls at least a few times a week from someone asking for Doctor Coopers Office. Sometimes the same person will keep calling over and over for doctor cooper. We tell them they have the wrong number and yet 5 minutes later, they are calling again. After the second time, we look at the caller ID, and just don't answer.

I was getting very strange calls on my cell phone. The only people that have my cell number is just my family and my closest friends. I don't just freely give it out. Well, I kept getting calls over and over with numbers I did not recognize. All my friends and family numbers are programmed into my phone and they show up when they call. Well, it was all these weird numbers with different area codes than mine. I ended up answering it anyway just to see. It turned out to all be guys and saying that they talked to me the night before in a chat room. I never go into chat rooms at all except for sometimes in Storm2k. And even there only a few people know my real name and I never given out my number to a single person in there. But, the guys that were calling even knew my real name! To this day, I still don't know who played this immature joke of giving strange guys my number out and acting like they were me, so they could chat. I was very upset about it. It went on for about a month before it stopped. Occasionaly, I will still see missed calls with a different area code than mine. I tried changing my number, but cingular told me it would be a $25 fee. So, I didn't change it yet. But, if it ever starts up again, I will.