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Disturbed Dad Sends Return Robo-Call To School District Officials

BALTIMORE (WJZ)--Call it robo-call revenge. A Maryland father is woken in the middle of the night by an automated phone call from his child's school telling him about a snow day.

Denise Koch explains that the message left him steamed, so he decided to get even.

The phone rang at 4:30 a.m. at the Titus home on Wednesday. Jennifer was already up, feeding their newborn, but her husband Aaron was startled out of sleep.

"My first thought was, 'Who's dead?'" said Aaron Titus.

He quickly realized it wasn't an emergency. It was a robo-call from Prince George's County schools, informing him schools were opening late because of the snow.

But Titus says he already knew that, and that got him thinking.

"I thought, 'You know what? Maybe they're just following the golden rule. Maybe they're treating me the way that they want me to treat them,'" said Aaron Titus. "I thought, 'If they can send out a robo-call, I bet I could do it, too.'" 

This is the robo thank you call he sent to the superintendent and nine school board members the next day, at 4:30 a.m.: "While I know the school district wanted to ensure I drop my child off two hours late on the snow day, I already knew that before I went to bed. I hope this call demonstrates why a 4:30 a.m. call does more to annoy than to inform."

His wife says what her husband did wasn't very nice, but it did accomplish more than if he had just written a letter or called to complain.

"They do a good job. It's not like we're out to get revenge. It's more like 'Hey guys, that was really dumb,'" said Jennifer Titus.

For now, Aaron Titus says he's planning to put his phone on "do not disturb" for the next few nights.

The Prince George's County Schools System says the call should not have been placed at 4:30 a.m. That was a mistake, and they say it will never happen again.

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