• Punkie@lemmy.world
    1731·
    10 months ago

    When I was 19, I had friends from high school who were still younger, and one of them was my friend Julie who had helicopter parents (she would have been 17-18). I was doing security at an event where the radio headsets we had were super-shitty, and the guy running security was a dumpster fire on his own. Julie’s parents forbid her from going to the event, and grounded her to her room. Then her dad called the hotel where the event was being held, was told Julie had “run away” to this event, and that I was somehow responsible. Given she was a minor, the event runners were understandably concerned, although they were frustrated that Julie’s dad was unable to describe her in a way that was useful: “Asian, wearing black, or a tee-shirt, or something. Ask Punkie where she is.” So they contacted the head of security to find me on my rounds to see if I knew what this crazy man was talking about. The head of security said “okay” and did nothing.

    At some point, the head of security was fired for a variety of reasons, and this increased the level of miscommunication. Meanwhile, Julie’s dad was calling every few hours, demanding to know where his daughter was. And soon there was a concerted effort to find me, which was complicated because of the communication issues. By the time someone found me and the connection was made, my response of, “I have no idea, Julie said her dad forbid her coming here,” was not what they wanted to hear, and met with skepticism “You’re not hiding her, are you? Like she ran away with you in some tryst? She’s 17 and you’re 19, that could have legal ramifications!” No. We’re platonic friends, I don’t know where she is. if I tried to bonk the poor woman, she’d clobber me.

    Meanwhile, Julie’s dad finds Julie in her bedroom, right where he left her. Julie later told me that she was ignoring her dad calling for her, and didn’t “come downstairs” like he demanded because she assumed it was a trap to get her punished for leaving her bedroom while she was grounded. So naturally, her dad assumed she wasn’t in the house. Because he called for her and she didn’t answer.

    Poor Julie. Her parents were crazy-nuts.

    • cheesymoonshadow@lemmings.world
      46·
      10 months ago

      Are you still in touch with Julie? I hope she moved out and went on to become a well-rounded, functioning adult with a good job and healthy social life.

      • TheFriar@lemm.ee
        18·
        10 months ago

        When that’s the type of parents you grow up with, having a well-rounded and functioning adult life with a healthy social aspect becomes a bit of a long shot. Not impossible, but jeez, I can’t imagine how fucked up that girl’s trust and social skills must have been when she was leaving the house. That’s the kind of parenting that leads kids to go absolutely off the wall and down a pretty dark path.

      • Punkie@lemmy.world
        16·
        10 months ago

        I was for about 15 years post high school, but her life was rough and I was always the one initiating contact, so we drifted apart. I hope she okay. Smart woman, gifted arist, terrible parents.

    • awwwyissss@lemm.ee
      23·
      10 months ago

      This is one of the better stories I’ve seen on Lemmy. Have a pineapple emoji 🍍

    • MidRomney@lemmy.world
      101·
      10 months ago

      Then her dad called the hotel where the event was being held, was told Julie had “run away” to this event, and that I was somehow responsible.

      Why would the hotel tell her dad that Julie had run away?

          • Octavio@lemmy.world
            11·
            10 months ago

            If it makes you feel better, I don’t think the misunderstanding was on your end. Although I agree probably the dad told the hotel that, it was actually phrased like the hotel told the dad that.

        • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
          33·
          10 months ago

          “Was told” clearly suggests the father was given this information, not vice versa.

          • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            41·
            10 months ago

            Occam’s razor. Which is more likely: Punkie made a mistake in wording when describing the situation, or the security team, who is very likely completely unaware of Punkie and Julie’s relationship plus as noted later has no idea who Julie is made up out of thin air that Punkie convinced a stranger on the phone that one of their junior staff convinced said strangers daughter to run away?

            • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
              22·
              10 months ago

              Of course it is more likely. That’s not in question though.

              Just that the wording suggests the opposite

  • MeepMorp@lemmy.world
    129·
    10 months ago

    I remember this one. Someone else lost him, but he knew where he was and wanted to be there.

    • SpaceCowboy
      94·
      10 months ago

      Yeah that’s the only way it makes sense.

      I mean if you have a functioning phone and you felt you were in danger, would you sit around waiting for someone to call you?

      Our guy was obviously having a merry old time out hiking, and ignoring unknown numbers. Then only found out later someone else was freaked out about him being lost.

      But a story like that isn’t going to get shared as a facebook meme…

    • player2@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      29·
      10 months ago

      This is like when I was 11 and my family went hiking up a mountain in Yellowstone. My young cousin and I thought my brother was ahead of us on the trail so we hurried up trying to catch up to him. We were passing many hikers on a busy trail and being safe.

      An hour later my brother comes running up behind us saying everyone is looking for us! Apparently the park rangers had been mobilized to search for us, the missing children, and when we got down the mountain an hour or more later our families were down there in tears fearing we had fallen off the mountain or something.

      Point being, it’s totally possible for everyone to think you’re lost and in danger when you are fine and know exactly where you are.

      • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        That last part sounds like how Disney World deals with lost kids- You’re not lost, you’re right here. It’s your parents that are lost.

        • player2@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1·
          10 months ago

          Yes it was annoying how our families kept bringing up how we “got lost on the mountain” during the trip and we kept having to remind them that we weren’t lost, just hiking!

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
    643·
    10 months ago

    We really need to go ahead and rip the band-aid off with the telephone network. “Even the small amount of meaning these digits used to have has been lost to time with cell phones and VoIP technology so any user can contact any other user appearing to be any rando with no authentication making the system rife for scams and fuckery and we have no plan to fix it. Participation is as mandatory as we can get without a constitutional amendment.”

    • PopMyCop@iusearchlinux.fyiEnglish
      4·
      10 months ago

      It’s not quite as mandatory as it can get. The FCC has made rumbles about actually kicking carriers off the networks if they don’t adhere to the shaken/stirred protocols, but never seems to get around to actually doing it.

      • Obi@sopuli.xyz
        3·
        10 months ago

        I think they mean that a phone number is required for many official things.

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          10 months ago

          Yeah I don’t think it’s actually illegal yet for a citizen to not have a phone number but try to get a job, go to school, pay your bills or be anything other than a wood chopping hermit without one. I’m a hermit but I heat my home with natural gas so I’m all but required to have a phone.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
    52·
    10 months ago

    “Help! I’m trapped in the mountains! I’m freezing and starving to death.”

    “I understand, sir. But for a small fee of just $30 a month, your computer can be protected from viruses.”

    • Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      19·
      10 months ago

      Honestly if a telemarketer called while someone was actually an emergency and they explained that the telemarketer would probably hang up if that’s their usual response to anything that deviates script lmao

    • LillyPip
      3·
      10 months ago

      Look, I never answer my phone either, but if I’m trapped in the wilderness, I’ll gladly sign up for whatever woo bullshit they’re selling in case that subscription ends in them rescuing me.

      ‘Yes, I’ll pay $6000/month for your penis pills, I’m a woman lost in the mountains. Sign me up and send help.’

  • Stamets@lemmy.world
    342·
    10 months ago

    I get the logic. If it’s some random ass number and you’re stranded with no charger, why waste time on what might be a spam call? That and I don’t want one of the last things I hear to be someone talking about car insurance

      • Stamets@lemmy.world
        281·
        10 months ago

        You haven’t met scammers/spam callers local to me. Assholes are persistent.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
          201·
          10 months ago

          Weird. Yeah since like 2009 I have almost never seen a spam call come from the same number twice. I’m in the US.

        • systemglitch@lemmy.world
          4·
          10 months ago

          I never get these calls. My secret? I never give my phone number out to anyone except hospitals and other health related professions.

          When I gave out my number I got them all the time.

    • Landless2029@lemmy.world
      6·
      10 months ago

      I would’ve put my phone on power saving mode if I was stranded. It’s good for 2 or 3 days. That’s without a battery bank or solar panel I would’ve had in my pack.

  • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
    251·
    10 months ago

    Sometimes places call me and it already has their info despite them not being a contact I have saved. Like they have a name not a number, and even a pfp that isn’t a colored circle with a number or letter in it. If I was lost and got a call from the fire department that said it was the fire department I think I might pick up.

    I don’t know how that system works tho. Do you have to register somewhere? Like the opposite of the old white pages where you had to opt out instead of in?

    • MashedTech@lemmy.world
      111·
      10 months ago

      I think it is Google using Google my business and other databases to build a central database of all phone numbers and businesses.

    • Mesophar@lemm.ee
      7·
      10 months ago

      Tbh if I was lost and I got a call come through, I’d answer regardless of what caller ID said. If they were wasting my time, I’d just hang up.

      Now, at home when I’m safe and everything is fine… I’m sure I’ve missed phone interviews at least once or twice letting voice-mail catch it…

      • dellish@lemmy.world
        11·
        10 months ago

        That’s not what they’re talking about. Some people/businesses have a “smart” caller ID so the business name shows up instead of their number, even if you’ve never heard of or been contacted by them before.

      • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.netEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        All I remember from caller ID even through the 90’s with landline phones was it would show you the number unless you had manually saved more info for said number or they paid the phone company to obfuscate it so it would not even show the number. I wasn’t one of those teens that was glued to the phone tho so maybe I just never saw it do more.🤷🏻‍♂️

  • badaboomxx@lemmy.world
    91·
    10 months ago

    “I may die but I have principles” -the hiker probably

    But seriously, there are people that are in an emergency that do not make rational decisions at the moment.

  • paddirn@lemmy.worldEnglish
    8·
    10 months ago

    I could see them doing that just because they were trying to conserve battery power, however, if they were still getting a signal, couldn’t they have still used their map, and thus, weren’t really lost? Or was this in the Dark Ages, before smartphones guided us to the light?