I'd also like to pass along that over the course of the day, I've spoken to each of the previous great loves of your life, both those you dated and those you didn't. Every one of them would like to call you to apologize profusely for all the pain they caused you. And it you have any doubt about their sincerity, check the calendar.This was primarily intended as a laugh line. The distress wasn't supposed to go any longer than half a minute. I figured that it wouldn't be taken seriously -- is it really reasonable to think I'd even be able to track all those ex-girlfriends down, much less get them all to agree to call my friend? And would I really give his number out without his permission, to those who didn't already have it? But even if that was believed, that's why I added in that last clause about checking the calendar.
The prank intended to last thirty seconds actually induced ninety minutes of turmoil. Not until my friend left work did he see the date and realize what was up. When he e-mailed me this morning to let me know that I'd "gotten" him, I had to apologize to him for putting through that. He said it was better than Google Nose and YouTube shutting down. Maybe so, but I'd still put it far below YouTube's mass Rickroll from five years ago.