Les Bonnes Choses

I just fielded a call from a telemarketer - sort of. The phone number showed up as 555-444-3333, so clearly the caller was masking their phone number. So I picked up, expecting a sales pitch, and enthusiastically said, "Hello?" I usually feign enthusiasm when I answer telemarketer calls. I have no idea why. I think my mom does the same sort of thing, sounding almost offensively saccharine to overhear her end of the conversation. Instead of the sales pitch, the following conversation took place:

"Mr. Smith?"
"Sorry, you have the wrong number."
"I'm sorry. Thank you. "

As soon as the other end hung up, it occurred to me that this was far from the first time we have gotten phone calls for Mr. Smith, or similar John Doe names. Then I started wondering whether companies might deliberately make random calls to John Doe names, just to see if a number is dead or not. Or maybe to see whether someone is home? I don't know, it seems sorta fishy. Or phishy. Alternately, maybe it's just the result of people providing bogus information on signup forms. I find the most straightforward explanation, that our phone number used to belong to a Mr. Smith, to be just too boring.