Why Its Important to Update Your Contact Information

This paper is based on a very personal real life experience, that I hope will be encouraging to those who are too lazy to update your contact information. Last year around October, I changed my phone number. After changing it, I began to diligently update everyone I could think of from doctors to friends, businesses to family that needed to have my current phone number. Of course I'm human, so it's possible I didn't update everyone right away, but within a couple months I was sure I had updated at least 90% of the folks who needed updated. Yes, updating everyone I wanted to be in contact with so they would have my new number was most definitely a royal pain, but after the past several months I've concluded that I would much rather be inconvenienced by having to update folks then to have someone else possibly left to contend with my phone calls.

As I said, I changed my number around last October, but what I didn't know is that I had acquired the number that formerly belonged to someone else who happened to have the same first name as me. Now in my mind, the odds of getting a number that belonged to someone with the same first name as me is what I would term as being "slim to none". In other words it wasn't something that had remotely crossed my mind as being something that even might happen. The reality of the situation in my case is that it did happen, and for the past seven months, I have gotten on many days, more calls for the person who had my number before me and I happen to share first names with. I've never met her face to face, and in fact was never aware of her existence until I started getting calls for her.

I have learned from these calls that my "evil twin" is behind on most if not all of her bills, is behind on a car loan, and who her family doctor and OB/GYN are. I also know she has a daughter and what her daughter's first name is and who her pediatrician is. I've learned that she was tested for an STD and the test came back positive but that the test needed to be run again to be sure of its accuracy. I know the name or the guy who I can only assume is her husband/boyfriend/significant other.

So by now you're probably wondering why I know all of this if the only thing I have in common with my "evil twin" is that I happen to have her former phone number. Well, all I had to do to obtain this information is pick up my phone and say "Hello" I never once claimed to be her, but since many people calling such as businesses or doctor's offices start out with asking, "Can I speak to J...?" and since I have her first name, I never know for sure if they are looking for me or looking for her until I ask the question, "J... who?" I generally ask this if I don't recognize the voice and am trying to make sure it's something I need to know about or not. Generally this is enough of a line of questioning to figure out if the call is really for me or if it is intended for my "evil twin".

When I talk to businesses they generally are very apologetic once they realize I'm not the person they are calling and that I just happen to have her old phone number and share the same first name. Businesses will often also go in and remove my number from her records, which means one less phone call for me to sift through. My "evil twin's" friends and family on the other hand seem to be rather dense... they don't comprehend that I'm not their friend or family member and I've gotten responses ranging from, "You're kidding me" to out right irate because they think I'm impersonating my "evil twin". I generally point out that I asked them for more information and that I never once said yes I'm her. I often times end up hanging up on them because of how vulgar they have become and my conclusion that they aren't going to "get it" no matter how I explain the situation.

When I'm not home and my answering machine is left in charge of answering the phone, I will often return to it flashing indicating I allegedly have a new message to listen to. I say "allegedly" because they often times aren't for me. I've concluded that HIPPA doesn't apply if the medical provider calling hear's that the first name is the same as their patient they are calling about, despite the fact that the last name on the outgoing message is NOT the same as the last name of the patient they are calling about. I generally return calls to medical providers and ask them to have their patient update her information and remove my number from her records. This gets confusing sometimes because living in a small city, it turns out that my "evil twin" and I see doctors in the same medical group, and have had appointments elsewhere that were with other service providers. It's a mess to say the least and as soon as I can afford to financially I'll be changing my phone number in hopes I will get more calls for me and none for someone who I happen to share first names with but otherwise have no connection to.

By now you're asking why I'm bothering to write about this issue I'm having with my phone number? I guess the simplest way to respond to that is to say that for those who for whatever reason don't update the individuals, businesses, medical and other professionals they deal with in day to day life when they change their phone number. There is a very real possibility that information such as medical test results may not be as confidential as the person who didn't update their records might think. When you change phone numbers, you don't know who will have your number next or what they will do with the information they acquire because the person who had the number before didn't update it in their records.

I know details about a total stranger that really are personal and I have no business knowing but because my "evil twin" for whatever reason neglected to update her contact information, I a total stranger now know intimate details about her that if they were to fall into the wrong hands, could create major problems for my "evil twin" I don't want to cause problems, but rather by explaining the situation in generalized terms, I hope that it will be an eye opener to others who might have decided it was too much of a hassle to update their contact information after changing their phone number.