The Ballards lost their checkbook.

I have had my current phone number since April 2001. The people who had the number before me (the Ballards) still have it on their checks. Last night I get a phone call from a local grocery store telling me they have my checkbook. After I check my purse and see that my checkbook is where it should be, I ask if the name is Ballard. It is.

I wanted to ask the person who called why they are even taking checks from the Ballards. This store has called me twice in the past when they have bounced a check there!!

I can almost understand having my number on their checks for so long. Maybe they don't write many and they bought a bunch of them 5 years ago. Who knows?! What I don't understand is why I get phone calls from their kid's school. Don't parents have to fill out information cards at the start of each year?

Here is what I know about this family off the top of my head based on the phone calls I get for them:

They have 3 children. The oldest is a daughter in college, she graduated from a private, all girls highschool. The middle son graduated from highschool in 2003 and showed some interest in joining the military. He also had a part time job doing telemarketing, but he was fired for failing to show up for 2 shifts in a row. The youngest boy is the most interesting of their children. He is in gradeschool, I think he must be in 3rd or 4th grade this year. He has ADD and takes Ritalin. The school nurse is given a one month supply and she sends a note home in his backpack when she is running low. This youngest was suspended for a couple weeks last year because he told his teacher to f*ck off. (She is a very nice lady, btw. Her and her husband are in their late 20's and had a baby a few months before I talked to her.)

Ok, on to Mom and Dad. Honestly, I don't have much info on Mom. Dad, however has a very active social life. He bowls in a league on Monday nights. He is on some church committee and whenever they have gatherings at church, everybody would love it if he would bring his chili.
Dad is also part of the "Church Taxi" service. If anybody doesn't have a ride to church, all they have to do is call a member of this service by 7am Sunday to arrange transportation (the Sunday morning phone calls from little old ladies was a little more than I could handle, so I did call their church secretary and she removed my number).

Grandma passed away a in 2002. I wonder if it was coincidence that she died shortly after the pharmacy refused to deliver any more of her medication until the 5 months of past due charges were paid in full.

The Ballards have some money problems. Occasionally they are unable to pay their mortgage payment and on more than one occasion they have used one of those "payday loan" check cashing places. The call from the check cashing place to tell them their check is 'due' usually comes a couple weeks after the phone call from the mortgage company.

Once, I was accused of hiding Mr. Ballard by a collection agency (Al, you may remember this). The collection agency called and left a message asking me to call back about an 'important matter'. I called and explained the phone number situation to the girl who answered the phone who said she would remove my number from their system. Later that day I get another phone call from somebody else telling me to "Stop lying, I know you know where Mr Ballard is, stop hiding him." I called back and asked to speak to a supervisor. They never called me again.

Last summer, their godchild was hurt at daycamp and the emergency room called to get permission for treatment. The Ballards were apparently listed as an emergency contact for this girl. She is fine, she just fell off some playground equipment and got a nasty bump on her head.

They bought a bedroom set from a private seller last year. They picked up the bed one afternoon but didn't come right back to get the dresser as the seller thought they were going to do.

I don't chat with everybody who calls, most of the time I just say "Sorry, you have the wrong number" and hang up. This information I have is mostly from messages left on voicemail. Back when I used to get daily phone calls for them I always said I was going to go buy some of those While you were out message pads and keep track of all the phone calls. I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing that now.