In 2004, when mobile phones started becoming mainstream in his country, a young man received his first mobile phone as a gift from his parents. It was a second-hand Nokia—bulky and basic—but for him, it was the start of a new era. He promised himself that one day he would buy a phone with his own money, something sleek and modern.
He entered college soon after, with a 2-hour daily commute. Having excelled in high school and won several awards, he secured a special scholarship from a nationalized bank, which provided him with monetary prizes. One of those prizes finally allowed him to fulfill his dream of purchasing a new phone. He bought a Sony Ericsson K300i along with a premium SIM card, blissfully unaware that the number had been abandoned by its previous owner.
By the third day of owning the phone, calls started flooding in—calls for a guy named Bitsah from various financial institutions. It turned out that this number belonged to him for the last 20 years. Determined to hold on to his newly acquired premium number, the young man developed a routine of blocking wrong numbers. Back then, blocking was device-specific, so every time he got a new phone, he had to start from scratch, keeping a list of numbers to block.
Fast forward to 2009, and he landed his first job after graduating. By 2010, he was assigned to a project with a notorious reputation for burning out employees, managed by a project manager named Bits. At first, the young man had no idea that Bitsah, the name he’d been hearing for years, was actually the same person as his tyrannical boss.
Bits ruled the office with an iron fist. From day one, his team was bombarded with urgent emails and messages, each demanding immediate action. He thrived on creating chaos, changing deadlines at a whim, and requiring his team to work late nights and weekends. The young employee quickly learned that under Bits’ management, every project felt like a battle.
Bits’ management style was dictatorial. He insisted on micromanaging every detail while claiming credit for successes. However, whenever something went wrong, Bits would launch into tirades, publicly shaming team members and deflecting blame like a pro. The toxic environment fostered by Bits kept everyone on edge, terrified to make even the slightest mistake.
The young man dreaded meetings, which Bits scheduled during lunch breaks and after hours, ensuring no one could escape his grasp. It became evident that these meetings were just another tool for Bits to reinforce his dominance, destroying any chance of work-life balance within the team.
As time went by, morale plummeted, and burnout became rampant. Bits remained oblivious to the damage he was inflicting on his staff, satisfied only by the control he wielded over their lives. To top it off, the young man was dismayed to find out that Bits was from the same area as him and had attended the same school, albeit years before.
In 2012, their company underwent a merger, and while personnel changes were minimal, the introduction of MS Outlook allowed the young man to discover Bits’ full name for the first time: Bitsah. The name didn’t raise too many flags initially, as it was a common one in his area, but given the context, the young man felt an urge to dig deeper.
A conversation with an old mentor from his hometown confirmed his suspicions: Bitsah and Bits were indeed the same person. The revelation left the young man fuming. For almost a decade, he had felt the brunt of the previous owner of his number’s irresponsibility, and now he couldn’t believe that this same individual was ruining his professional life as well.
This realization led him to consider his next move. First, he unblocked all the previous numbers that had harassed him over the years. The daily calls spiked from an average of 5-6 to over 15-18. When answering, instead of simply saying, “Wrong number,” he began to explain politely that the owner had changed his number. To add a twist of irony, he also provided Bits’ current number, just in case they needed to follow up. He even offered up Bits’ manager’s number, just for good measure.
The fallout from this decision was monumental. Financial institutions had been trying to track Bitsah down for years, and it turned out he was buried under a mountain of debt, having taken loans under multiple names, from friends and family to escape scrutiny. With approximately $200k in unpaid debts and multiple lawsuits against him, Bits hadn’t expected to be found. It seemed like he had been walking on water for far too long.
Rumors swirled around the office when Bits’ manager started receiving calls about him. Within two months, Bits was let go, and the young man never heard from him again.
TLDR: The previous owner of my number had duped financial institutions for years. Turned out, he was my terrible boss. I informed the banks of his new number and his manager’s number, which ultimately led to his downfall.
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