When I moved about 6 years ago, I took over the apartment and phone number one (faster & cheaper that getting another number) of a guy who must have owed everyone in this part of the world. When I got calls for him I'd simply say that he had moved, leaving no forwarding address.

Meanwhile, when I changed the phone over to my account, I used the name Anony Mouse. When the phone company sales assistant told me that it wasn't a name, I assured her that Anony was a fine Greek name, and how long did they expect to keep their Greek customers if the continued discriminating against us this way. We do have a large Greek population locally. So now I had two tip-offs, if they called for Bill Deadbeat or Mr. or Mrs. Mouse, I'd simply hanng up.

Unfortunately when it came time to get a new telephone directory, smarter person from the directory service office called me in a really bad mood and told me that Anony Mouse was neither a name nor the least bit funny and if I wished to keep my phone service I had to give them a better name.

Oh well, it worked for a bit.

Dave