Coup de telephone

I don't expect people to call me after 11 pm. So when my phone rang last night at 11:15, and I was already in bed, I got up and looked at the caller ID to see who it was. It said "outside zone." At first, I wasn't going to answer, but then I remembered that when people call from other countries, it says outside zone. So I started thinking that maybe something bad had happened to someone in France, and I better answer the phone. So I did. And no one said anything. I got back in bed, and it rang again 2 minutes later. I answered it, thinking maybe it had been a bad connection before. Still nothing. The next time, I let voicemail get it. The next time, I got up and yelled into the phone, "DO NOT CALL HERE!" and someone started speaking a language I don't speak. I said, "you have the wrong number." He said something else. I said, "don't call here again." He said something else. I hung up.

About 12:35, the phone rang again. By this time I was dead asleep, so I thought it was my alarm clock. (In general, I am not the person you want in charge of anything in the middle of the night -- I tend to sleep through phones and fire alarms, which is scary.) Anyway, I hit every button on the alarm, and it was still ringing. By the time I realized it was the phone, I think they were in my voicemail. The phone rang again 2 minutes later, and I answered it. A woman asked to speak to someone who was not me, sort of in English. I said, "wrong number." She said, "no?" I said, "no!" She said the name again. I said, "WRONG NUMBER. Don't call here again!" and hung up. The phone did not ring again until 6:30 am.

What is with these people? Do they not realize they obviously have the wrong number? If it happens again tonight, I'm calling the phone company to figure out how to block calls. Or taking the phone off the hook, maybe.