Whose Phone Number Is This?

I will never forget the time my wife found a slip of paper in the pocket of my suit coat and waved it under my nose demanding, “Whose phone number is this?”

We had been married only a year and while I was completely happy with my wife, I had been oblivious to the stress she had been going through the previous few months.  I had started a new job in a new city and we’d moved away from our family and friends.  While I was busy beyond belief, she was miserable and trying to hide that fact.  When she stumbled on the phone number, her mind went into panic mode.

We got through that incident when I was very easily able to prove to her that the number was that of an associate at work who suggested we get together for a game of golf but I know that this particular scenario continues to be played out in homes across the United States every day.

Maybe it’s a housewife who cares for her children and home all day, running errands, cleaning and preparing meals and one night as she goes through the bills she sees a pattern that causes her senses to be on high alert – the same sets of numbers showing up on her husband’s cell phone over and over on the monthly bill.

“Whose phone number is this?” she thinks to herself.

Or maybe it is a boyfriend who is innocently watching TV while his girlfriend ran an errand down the street.  He hears a cell phone go off and discovers that it’s his girlfriend’s cell phone she left on the counter.  Retrieving the cell phone he answers on her behalf, hears a comment of surprise on the other end and the caller hangs up.

“Whose phone number is this?” he thinks to himself.

We cannot help but ponder the possibilities of infidelity no matter how remote.  Our homes and finances may be at risk and still we sleep at night but our hearts?  That will shake you to your very core.

There are a number of ways to hunt down the person tied to a phone number.  Reverse directories take the phone number you have, run it through their database of phone records, address records, and background information and provide a report on the person who owns that phone number.  You might find it is the new cell phone of your significant other’s sister and completely harmless.  No harm, no foul, and you saved yourself from crying wolf.  Or, you might find the answer to the question, “Whose phone number is this?” is exactly what you suspected all along – that hot secretary at the office or the hunk of a personal trainer at the gym.