My Open Apology To The New Hampshire Couple Whose Table I Stole

Considering how, for many people, texting has overtaken calling as the most popular way to communicating using a phone, it doesn’t surprise me that we all get the occasional wrong number text message.

A few years ago, I had an entire “Merry Christmas” conversation with what I thought was a DJ friend from Connecticut.  It wasn’t until I asked him if he was going to be DJing on New Years’ Eve at the nightclub I used to frequent that the other person asked me who I was.  It turns out that it wasn’t my friend Gary.  Another time, someone texted me a series of pics of a rotting tree because they thought they were texting their arborist.

What happened over the weekend has got to be one of the strangest wrong number text messages I have ever gotten.  And, once I realized what was going on, I felt really bad about it, too.

Just before Noon on Sunday, I got a text message from a number I did not recognize.  The text explained that I had been added to the “27 North” waitlist.  A few minutes later, another message came in telling me I my table is ready.  I texted back that they had the wrong person, but got no response.

Unsure of what “27 North” was, but thinking that (based on the 603 area code in the message) it must be a business in New Hampshire, I did a quick Google search.  It turns out, it is a breakfast / lunch place on Seavey Street in North Conway, New Hampshire.

Even though I did nothing wrong, I feel really bad about what happened.  Because someone transposed some numbers, a couple missed out on getting their Sunday brunch.  Sure, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you’ve lived there or visited on a busy weekend.  It can be a real challenge getting a table on a busy weekend during tourist season.  I don’t know for sure how busy the place was, but the fact that the ski areas got natural snow on Saturday and people are still getting their pre-Christmas tax free shopping done, the town was probably nuts.

How did it happen?  How did a guy in Central Maine get his phone number entered at a restaurant in New Hampshire?  Well, I lived in the North Conway / Mount Washington Valley area for about a decade and, because I did not want to deal with the hassle of letting everyone know I had a new number, decided to keep my “603” phone number even after I left.  Clearly, someone with a number close to mine attempted to get a table at that establishment.  Somehow, whether they were trying to annunciate through a mask or they spoke too fast, the number got entered into their texting service incorrectly.

So, to the people whose table I “stole”, I apologize and I hope you were able to get lunch or brunch somewhere else.