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Clinic Ignores Complaints About Wrong Number, Stranger Decides To Schedule Some ‘Appointments’

by Leona Pham
November 4, 2025
in Social Issues

Ever had your phone blow up with messages that weren’t meant for you? It’s funny at first until it’s not. One Redditor endured years of strangers texting them to book medical appointments because their number was almost identical to a local clinic’s.

Tired of being dismissed when they asked the clinic to fix it, they came up with a solution that nobody saw coming. Let’s just say it involved a few fake “appointments” and a well-deserved wake-up call for the clinic. The story that follows might make you rethink how you “deal with it” next time someone tells you to.

One Redditor shared how a minor annoyance escalated into legendary malicious compliance

Clinic Ignores Complaints About Wrong Number, Stranger Decides To Schedule Some ‘Appointments’
not the actual photo

'You want an appointment with me? Sure!?'

This happened a few months ago but the problem had been going on for years.

Every other month, I would get a text message from someone asking for a doctor or to make an appointment.

I started off immediately informing them they’ve got the wrong number. Hey, it happens.

When it started happening more frequently, I dealt with the minor annoyance by trying to have some fun.

‘Is Dr. Lee available?’ Me: ‘There’s no Dr. Lee here. Only Dr. Wong. Dr. Wong Num Ber.’

It was funny until the volume of messages started increasing and I got annoyed.

A quick Google search led me to the clinic’s page. Their number was indeed easily mistakable for mine.

Theirs ends with ‘-013’ and mine with ‘-073’. And the font used certainly made it worse.

I called the clinic to inform them of this problem and that they needed to do something about it.

Change the font, spell the numbers out, or even change their number. I just wanted the messages to stop.

The lady just brushed me off and said there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak to someone in charge but was denied.

She told me to change my number or just ‘deal with it’. So here comes the part where I dealt with it.

After an odd month of peace, I received several messages over a week asking to make an appointment.

‘Hi, I would like to make an appointment please.' Me: ‘Sure. The next available slot is next Friday at 10. Would that work for you?’

I made very sure never to claim that I represented the clinic.

If anyone asked for a specific doctor, I would say there is no such person here, and if they did ask for the clinic, I’d inform them they got the...

Basically, I had myself covered and I tried to have everyone’s appointment at the same time.

When Friday came around, I received several angry replies from those people and a call from the clinic. (messages went generally like this)

‘You’re a terrible person! Why would you do this to waste my time? Why did you pretend to be the clinic?’

Me: ‘I’m sorry ma’am but I run a PC repair service. (except I don’t take appoinments via sms nor is my personal number listed)

I was expecting you at 10 but you didn’t show. If you looked at your message you never asked if I was the clinic and I never claimed to be.’

(And the call went like this. CL: clinic lady). CL: Hi, who is this? Why did you pretend to be us and arranged for all these appointments?

Me: I called you months ago letting you know about this but you told me to deal with it.

So I set appointments up for them to see me. It’s not my fault they showed up at your door. Maybe you should change your phone number.

I hang up. Sure I felt a little bad I made those people travel to the clinic but I‘ve since stopped receiving messages from random people

and after checking on the clinic’s site, they now have an online appointment making system.

Edit: Thanks for popping my gold cherry!

It’s easy to laugh at this story’s mischievous twist, but underneath it sits a quiet truth about frustration and fairness. For years, the storyteller tried to be polite, patient, and even lighthearted, sending little jokes instead of anger.

But patience has limits. There’s something deeply human about reaching that breaking point where kindness feels like shouting into the wind. When someone in a position of responsibility dismisses your voice, it’s not just inconvenient; it’s invalidating.

What the storyteller did wasn’t purely spiteful; it was the action of someone who felt unheard. In a strange way, the prank became a mirror, showing the clinic exactly how it felt to be ignored. It’s funny how irritation, when left to simmer, can morph into creative rebellion. Many of us have reached that moment where humor and exhaustion collide.

This tale isn’t about revenge, really. It’s about boundaries and the longing to be respected. When polite communication fails, people often turn to louder gestures, hoping someone will finally listen. And maybe the real win here isn’t the prank itself, but the quiet justice that followed, a small problem finally fixed, because one ordinary person refused to keep absorbing the inconvenience alone.

Expert Insight

Psychologist Dr. Leon F. Seltzer once wrote in Psychology Today that “suppressed frustration often seeks expression, sometimes through passive or ironic forms when direct communication fails.”

That idea fits this story almost perfectly. The storyteller tried logic and civility, only to be dismissed, so the response became symbolic, a subtle, pointed act meant to restore a sense of control.

Behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, also explained in an interview with The Atlantic that people tend to rebel against rules or systems that feel unfair or unresponsive. What looks like defiance is often just the mind’s way of restoring balance.

When people feel powerless, humor can become their armor. And in this case, one small act of ironic protest led to genuine improvement. It’s a reminder that empathy, on both sides, usually prevents situations from ever needing a punchline.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

These Redditors shared hilarious wrong-number mix-ups and creative prank responses

TehKarmah − I once shared a landline phone number that was nearly identical to a nearby McDonald's.

The only difference was I had a 0 and they had an 8.

Occasionally, when the ink ran low on the register, it looked like my phone number and we'd get calls from people pissed about incorrect orders.

One guy called three times and wouldn't listen to my roommate when they tried to point out the wrong number (we all had it memorized).

The final time he called my roommate answered, "McDonald's, how can I help you? " and gave the *worst* customer service you can imagine.

The caller was livid, asking for a name and manager.

Roommate then berated him for calling the wrong number repeatedly. The rest of us were dying of laughter.

megabjarne − My father had the same thing happen to him, a lady called him wanting him to service her car,

he said he was not a mechanic and that she had the wrong number, she hung up.

A few minutes later she called again saying the same thing, he said she still had the wrong number,

but she insisted that he was wrong and that this was the number to the mechanic, he then hung up on her.

She ofcourse called again, angry this time, said basically the same thing, and he said "of course, does next thursday work for you?"

Never heard from her since

Boecklaren − A friend of mine from high school had his mobile phone connected to someones landline by mistake.

I took some of the calls (mostly telemarketing) and did a range of characters with different voices for the people who called. It ended when someone called during a lecture.

I had to whisper, so the guy on the other end (probably a friend of the phones owner) asked: Guy: "Are you ill?"

Me: "No, I think they're listening." Guy: "Who? " Me: "The government."

Guy:.. (hangs up) That's probably when someone figured out that a mistake had been made.

Boecklaren − A friend of mine from high school had his mobile phone connected to someones landline by mistake.

I took some of the calls (mostly telemarketing) and did a range of characters with different voices for the people who called. It ended when someone called during a lecture.

I had to whisper, so the guy on the other end (probably a friend of the phones owner) asked: Guy: "Are you ill?"

Me: "No, I think they're listening." Guy: "Who? " Me: "The government."

Guy:.. (hangs up) That's probably when someone figured out that a mistake had been made.

This group handled mistaken calls politely and helped fix the source of confusion

Sayaren − We got a new home phone number at one point that used to be the number for an appliance repairman.

The dude was nice enough to fix our dishwasher for free because we were politely telling people the number changed and gave them the correct number.

[Reddit User] − I had a similar thing happen to me. People kept calling me, asking about blood donations,

so after a while I just asked one of them who were they actually trying to reach, googled the clinic and called them.

The lady was actually pretty nice, I explained to her what was happening and she said she would look into it.

Then she called about half an hour later saying that one of the information boards around the facility had apparently had a typo on it,

she fixed it and that was that, never had anyone offer me their blood again.

Booyahho − I had my work phone number listed on a local t-shirt printing companies site.

The best phone calls were the people either confused why I wasn't a t-shirt printing company or the people who asked for the correct number like I'm the yellow pages.

(said printing company went out of business ages ago, had a placeholder website with my number and an address but nothing else) .

These users analyzed the story’s root problem and praised the OP for taking action

kwadd − Hahahahaha Feel bad for the people who got caught in the middle. The fault lies with the clinic though.

They could've fixed this with less hassle but nope. It's easy to ignore something like this because its impact isn't immediately apparent.

Only when OP brought it home to them did they actually bother to take action. Nicely done OP

complexsystemofbears − You could have claimed or said all kinds of terrible things when these people called you

and they would have thought it was the clinic. I don't know why the receptionist didn't foresee that blowing up in their face.

These commenters described long-term number confusion handled with humor or sarcasm

g2petter − This reminds me of a story from Norway from many years ago when landlines and phone books were still common:

A kindergarten changed their phone number and after a while their old number got taken over by some students.

The students got sick and tired of answering calls by parents looking for the kindergarten,

and in their infinite wisdom decided to leave the following message on their answering machine: The kindergarten has been hijacked. Call the police!

Raveynfyre − I have the *exact* same problem, and I've had my phone number for over a decade. I always get calls for "Dr. Green's office"

and the difference between our numbers is a 412 vs 419 prefix. Most of these patients sound like d__g-seekers as well, so they're... interesting.

I called and spoke to the office manager who was very understanding, but didn't know why people were having this kind of trouble with dialing their number.

My solution was to change my voicemail to something like "Hello, you have reached

Green in any way, shape, or form. Leaving messages for the doctor will NOT get to him.

If you called for me, please leave a voicemail and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

This also meant having to train myself to stop answering every friggin call.

My mother heard it once and found it so hilarious that she'd tell her friends and then ask me not to pick up my phone so she could play it...

I get about 1-2 calls a year now, but at first it was really bad.

One lazy receptionist, one phone number, and one man’s perfectly executed revenge, sometimes it really doesn’t take much to make karma kick in. His story reminds us that pettiness, when done right, can be both hilarious and effective.

So, would you have handled it the same way, or gone for an even more savage solution? Either way, the clinic learned a priceless lesson: never tell someone to “deal with it” unless you’re ready to find out how they will.

Leona Pham

Leona Pham

Hi, I'm Leona. I'm a writer for Daily Highlight and have had my work published in a variety of other media outlets. I'm also a New York-based author, and am always interested in new opportunities to share my work with the world. When I'm not writing, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Thanks for reading!

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