Stupid Question of the Week.......and it's only Monday!

So, young man comes into the station today. I would say he was probably one of our foreign students. Anyway, he comes up to the counter, and asks if I can help him.

'I'll try' responds I

'Someone called me, but I have lost their number, can you help me find out who it was?'

Now me, obviously being stupid, thinks he means that one of the police officers has called him, and he has lost their details - you would be surprised how many people come into the station and say I need to speak to the officer who called me and can only say that the officer is male (narrows it down to about 3,000 then!!).

'Ok' says I 'You're going to have to help me out here, do you remember the officers name?'

He looks a bit blank, so I ask

'Is the officer based at this station'

'They are here in Oxford' responds student

'Is this person a police officer?' is my next question, as it is starting to dawn on me that things might be a bit complicated here.

'No' is the response

Now I am sure that my face took on a look of complete amazement at this. I then had to point out that this was not something the police could help with. Student was not too happy with this response, stating that he had spoken to his mobile company, and that they were unable to provide him with the information, which he believed was their way of telling him they could not be bothered.

'Between you and your phone company' say I 'Only way we can get phone info is if there is a very good reason............like a murder or something. I take it there is not a murder involved?'

Student confirms that there is no murder involved but states that his mobile company should have this information.

'Well maybe they don't retain this information' I say. Student really not happy

'I am sure they are legally required to keep this info' he says getting a bit stroppy

'No idea, but it is not a police matter, it is between you and your mobile company and we are not here to find the numbers of people that you have lost'

I walked away at that point, before I gave into the urge to tell him how it really is for gods sake..........like we have enough resources to act as directory enquiries as well as everything else the police now have to do, as councils are slowly absolving their responsibilities due to funding cuts.............and that is before we even get onto our own responsibilities in the face of our own funding cuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!