The Wrong Number

Carmen had been in Cardiff for two weeks when she got her new phone number. On the first evening it rang at seven o'clock. "Hiya, could I order a large pepperoni and garlic bread, please?" said a man's voice. "I'm sorry," Carmen answered, "I think you've got the wrong number." The man apologized and hung up.

Ten minutes later it rang again. "Hello, is that Mario's? Would you mind delivering to Clifton Street?" Then again, and again. By ten o'clock she had received eleven calls, all for the same pizza shop. She looked it up online. Mario's Pizzeria had changed its number a month before, and its old number was now hers.

Carmen was tired, but she was also curious, and her English needed practice. So the next evening, when the phone rang, she didn't say "wrong number." She took a pen and a notebook and said, "Good evening. Could you tell me your name and address, please?" She wrote everything down carefully: a margherita for Mrs. Hughes, two vegetarian pizzas for a student flat, a family meal for someone called Gareth.

Then she walked to Mario's, which was only three streets away. The owner, a big man with flour on his arms, looked at her list in surprise. "Who are you?" he asked. She explained. He laughed so loudly that the customers turned around. "Do you mind if I call these people back?" he asked. "Of course not," Carmen said. "That's why I brought the list."

It became a routine. Every evening Carmen answered the calls politely, practiced her phone English and passed the orders on. She learned that people in Wales say "cheers" instead of "thank you" and "tidy" when something is good. She learned to say "Could you repeat that, please?" and "Would you spell that for me?" without feeling nervous. Some customers even started asking for her by name.

After a month, Mario invited her to the restaurant. "Carmen, I owe you a lot of pizzas," he said. "But I'd like to offer you something better. Would you like a job? Three evenings a week, on the phones. You're the best I've ever had, and you've been doing it for free."

She said yes. Now Mario's has a new number, and it's printed on every box, but Carmen still sometimes gets calls on her own phone. She never says "wrong number" anymore. She just smiles and says, "Good evening, Mario's Pizzeria. How can I help you?"