They *are* watching us...
On the road this morning I noticed a snarl of one inch wire rope with thimbles on the ends, maybe 25-30 feet long, lying in the left hand lane of the on ramp to the freeway. I was fortunate enough to drive by safely in the right hand lane without incident, but I could see others in my rear view mirror taking evasive action instead of looking down the road. Anyway.
I called 911, got connected to the state patrol and explained what I saw. As we were describing where the hazard was, I drove through a tunnel and lost the dispatcher. At the end of the tunnel, I called back and interestingly got the same dispatcher and we picked up our conversation right away. Once she got the location right, she asked me a weird question, "Matthew, what's your last name?"
My name isn't Matthew. I was calling from the phone my new employer issued to me, and the previous holder of the phone was named Matthew. I gave her my first and last name, and I confirmed her statement of the number I was calling from, and we ended the call.
Why the question? It seems she knew my "name", she definitely knew the phone number from which I was calling, why would she ask for my last name? It felt like a test, to confirm that my answer to the question would let her verify what was already on the screen, or contradict it and "tell" her something else. In any event, it was all rightquick, and the cross reference from the callerid data seemed surreal. I just did a test and this phone only transmits the area code and phone number, not the name. That data came from somewhere else. I do indeed feel watched. It is not an especially reasurring feeling.