There's a Verizon store somewhere in the area that must have a phone number that's off my office phone by 1 digit, because every once in a while I get a call from one of their customers. What's funny/interesting is that they almost never listen to what I say when I answer the phone. When I pick up the phone, I always give my company name, but the Verizon customers just start talking to me about their phone or their calling plan or whatever, and I have to interrupt them to tell them they've dialed the wrong number.
There's something in psychology, and I'm not sure what it's called, where people will miss something that's right in front of them because our 'field of awareness' actually begins several feet out. I've heard that retail stores will put big sales displays right in front of the entrance, knowing that a lot of people will walk right past it without even seeing it, because people's attention is already on the things that are 10 feet further away. I see it where I work: The door to the restrooms in my office building is literally 3 feet from the outer door of my office, but when I tell people they can find the restrooms by going through the red door, they walk right past it. I mean, this happens a lot. You'd think a red door would be pretty obvious, but it's practically invisible to anyone going out through that door. It's like people have take two strides before they start looking for the red door, and by then, they've passed it. It's like there's a cognitive gap there, some kind of 'blind spot' in the physical space just on the other side of the door.
So I wonder if people not hearing me say the name of the company when I answer the phone is a similar 'cognitive gap.' I wonder if I could say something totally ridiculous - "Evil Al's Torture Emporium, how can I hurt you?" - when I answer the phone and see if anybody notices.
