Yes, before caller ID. US boys always sounded alike to other people (4 of us, with two sisters) and we always had people mistaking us. Never pursued that aspect, though.
Before caller ID? Oh yeah. My favorite one took place when you could call into pay phones. At the time, we lived next to a small grocery store with a payphone outside. I had already left home, but was back in town during a church festival down the street. As I didn't spend much time acquiring a social network when I lived there, I didn't really know many people, but Earl did. As we watch festival goers walk back and forth past our place, we got an idea. Earl already knew the number for the payphone, so we launched our plan. He'd identify our victim, and I made the call.
"Joe Blow" walks by. Just enough time to call. Phone rings, and somebody would invariably pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Yes. May I speak with Joe, please. Joe Blow."
"Uhhhhh, okay.... Joe, it's for you... How should I know?" Joe gets on the line.
"Who is this?"
"This is John. You're mom told me to give you a message. She wants you to pick up a loaf of bread."
"When did you talk to my mom?"
"Just little bit ago. She knew you'd be by a store, so asked me to call. Nothing special, just what she usually gets." We were in the Attic bedroom, so had a good birds eye view of the people. Everyone went on the store coming out with a loaf of bread. We did this for several hours.
Oh, Karma hit back. Next day, Mom sent me next door to get a loaf of bread. They were out. They were surprised at how much bread they sold the night before.
