79 Year Old Louisiana Woman Keeps Getting Drunk Calls from Canada
If you call someone to pick you up when you've been drinking, that's admirable. Too many idiots get sauced up and try to drive home only to end up in jail if they're lucky - dead if they're not. If you are doing the right thing by keeping yourself off of the road, even if your reason is something stupid like "I don't want to spill my drink," - thank you very much. One thing before you tie one on and ring up a ride tonight though - do you have the right number?
The reason I ask is this: 79 year-old Sulphur, Louisiana resident Ruby Palermo has been receiving calls from hammered Canadians looking for a safe ride home for years - and she's not driving to Quebec to take anyone home! As it turns out, her phone number is very similar to the number used by Opération Nez Rouge (Operation Red Nose), a non-profit organization that provides safe rides for drunk in several Canadian cities in an effort to cut down on drunken driving incidents.
According to CBC.ca, Plamero has lost count of how many trashed Canucks have called over the year, but Opération Nez Rouge fields about 60,000 every year. Since her number is almost exactly the same, and callers use a drunk and broken french - Ruby had no idea at first if she was being hailed by drunk Cajuns or loopy Quebecians. She says over the years, she has developed the ability to tell the difference in the "French" being used.