11:39am

So I'm minding my own business working away at my desk when I get a phone call.
"(Company name), this is Kelly." I answer as usual. What I get is a long dialogue from a very upset British teenager. She was freaking out about her boyfriend stuck over in Iran. After a good 40 seconds of her ranting I cut in "Just a second, hon, just who do you think you called?" "The agency who can help my boyfriend" she replied.

That helps a lot.

So I asked her what number she dialed. It was 0870 XXY ZZZZ, & they told her to call my number, which is close at 02XX YYY ZZZZ, so I can see the mistake. I advised her that she had the wrong number & she kept going on, so to calm her down I starting asking her about what she'd done so far. Had she called the British Embassy? In Britain, yes. What about in Iran, did she call that? Well no, the British Embassy in Britain told her to & she hadn't yet. Well maybe it would be better if you had your boyfriend call the Embassy in Iran. Does he have a British passport? Well no. But he has a Kurdish passport.

Great.

"See, the thing is, Britain isn't all that keen on allowing people in permanently that do not have British Passports. Take this from me as an American living in London". So she went absolutely berserk at this point, saying that I had to understand that she has to help him in any way she could. It is QUITE apparent at this point that she still hasn't gotten the fact that I was a wrong number. Then she asked if she went over to him, would they let him back with her.

"No way" I replied "Dont even think about it. He doesnt have a British Passport, you're going over there will accomplish nothing, I KNOW that for sure". So I jumped online & found her the telephone number for the Embassy in Tehran (its 98 21 6670 5018, by the way) AND I connected her to it. When I told her she was connected to the Embassy in Tehran she just said "OK".

You're welcome.