Of Course, I'm Confused

My phone came unhooked, mysteriously (not really so mysterious but it sounds good), and I never knew it rang. The caller was directed to voice mail and later after I realized the phone was unhooked, I plugged it back in and saw a message waiting for me. Now, since my number's unlisted and the only ones who call me are the ones I actually give it to, it should be from somebody I want to hear from, right?. . . WRONG. I routinely get calls from credit consolidation companies and mortgage companies, and often I get calls asking to speak to the home owner. I tell them good luck trying to find him since I rent. They hang up. I get calls for all kinds of shit and tell them take my number from their lists (I know they're using auto-dialers) and they hang up on me before I get it out. Once I asked the solicitor for their name and home phone so I could call them in the middle of the night, being as I was as third-shifter and they were calling me in the middle of MY sleep time. I got an apology for that one, miraculously. Now, every day some asswipe calls me and asks for either myself by name or my husband by name. Strange, considering I obviously don't give my name and number out to solicitors and scam artists and my husband is deaf and can't come to my phone and, therefore, would NOT hand out my number either. Fuckers. Today, though, I had a surprise message. In between the 8 hang-ups my dad left (he refuses to leave a message), there was a message with people talking in the background, television on full blast, and someone breathing into the receiver. After reading some stuff online about that number that occasionally pops up on my screen, I figured it was just that fuck face again. Then I hear "Hello? Patty?" and then. . . disconnect.

Who the fuck is Patty? I've had this number for years, but I get her calls all the time. I had another line into the house for years, and I used to get Anna and Robert's calls and messages every day - 5 years after surrendering their number back to the phone company, they were still giving it out to everyone, including their BANK and a local car dealer who notified me that they were approved for the loan on the vehicle they wanted to buy. I had conversations with Anna and Robert's family members, to whom they gave MY phone number. Maybe they just didn't want to talk to their relatives, but I sure don't want to talk to them either. I don't even know these people. That in itself is a chuckle, since our town is so small that our whole residential phone book comes to about 3-1/2 pages, but I don't have a clue who any of these people are and why they're giving out my number.