Another Mystery Solved

I like mysteries. Among my favorite books to read are mysteries. I think I like them because most mysteries can be solved by an application of logic. Of course, you need all the relevant information to be able to apply the logic.

Several weeks back, I posted about the mystery of missing birds. Then I saw the peregrine (which I have seen many times before zooming through, but never roosting, watching and waiting), and the mystery was solved.

Well, on a recent Saturday morning around 10 a.m. I was sitting at my computer, doing the usual check of emails, websites, blogs I like to read when the phone rang. As it happens, my husband was at a Saturday meeting, and I though it might be him, calling to see if I was awake (ahem, I do sometimes like to sleep in. . .but never until 10 a.m.). Anyway, the phone rang.

So, I answered with my usual “hello.” Nothing fancy, no “This is the ***** residence.” And no unusual pronunciation of Hello, either. I had an aunt from western Pennsylvania who always answered “Yellow” in a kind of up-tilt of voice. And my mother-in-law, who had worked as a telephone operator back in the days when they had such things, always answered as she had been trained—HUDDO.

Anyway, I answered plain Hello. The voice on the other end said, tentatively, “Is this M & * Bank?” No—I said. That number is the same as this one, except it has a different area code. Ahhhh—you might be wondering. Why would I be so forthcoming with such information instantaneously? Well, we’ve gotten such calls before. Many times.

Since I was so helpful, the voice on the other end said—well, the Internet lists it as this number and area code. AHA. Mystery finally solved! But, why would the M & * website give the wrong number for one of its branches? Oh no, said the voice—not the bank; it’s on the Yah** site that way.

AHA, AHA! Now we are getting somewhere. I had all along suspected (after all, it is a mystery) that it couldn’t be the bank that was giving out wrong information. And it didn’t make sense that the Internet sites that are telephone directories would have it wrong. Now, it was solved—a search engine somehow coded in the incorrect information.

So, off I went to the Yah** site, did a search, and BOOM back came our home address and phone number as a location for an M & * bank in our area. And Yah** even offered to “map it” and give directions. Thank goodness, we never had anyone show up at our house. Double thank-goodness since we have had a rash of petty bank robberies lately. I think if a bank robber did show up, I would say—excuse me, sir, we don’t serve any customers here who wear baseball hats, hoods, or stockings over their faces.

So, I wrote a review on the Yah** website at the so-called bank listing, and said—THIS INFORMATION IS INCORRECT. Then I gave the business a one-star rating.

Now the next objective will be to see how long it takes either Yah** or M & * to change their information. (As of when I posted this blog, Yah** still has our phone number and home address listed as the local M & *.)

As I said, mystery solved.
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Have you solved any mysteries recently?