Textual Tension: Paddy Power and the Modern Love Story

| Aug 11, 2014

Many years from now, after the big-budget remake of this story starring Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, people will look back on Saturday, August 9th as the day that romance was given another chance. Sort of.

For those who may be unaware, the person behind Paddy Power's official Twitter page received a text from a chap called Steve on Saturday.

Now Steve, it seemed, had hooked up in Dicey's bar in Dublin with a young lady named Jess. From what we can tell, it would appear one of two things happened - either Jess intentionally gave him a wrong number or Steve took it down wrong.

Either way, the number that Steve texted thinking it was Jess belonged to Paddy Power's Twitter person.

What happened next can only be described as either an elaborate marketing hoax - let's face it, it IS Paddy Power - or one of the greatest love stories of our time. Every time poor old Steve sent a reply, Paddy Power's twitter-er asked social media for their help in replying. And so the conversation continued, with poor old Steve thinking that Jess was happily texting him back.

In the end, Paddy Power decided to test Steve with a quote from 'The Office' (I've no idea why this was the defining test, surely it should have been some kind of betting question) and if he recognised the quotation, they would tell him the truth. Poor aul Steve.

Behold, the Paddy Power texts saga.

Cue the music.

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(That's an Office reference, by the way)

(Oh God... here it comes.)

And there you have it - the Paddy Power texts Saga in full. To be honest, we feel horrible for Steve. The poor guy put his heart out there and Paddy Power just smushed it.

Still, the guy just needs to show that text message thread the next time he's out and he'll be sorted.

But assuming that it is true, surely this can't be the worst text mix up of all time? Have you ever texted the wrong person - you know, telling yer Ma that you aren't wearing any pants tonight or informing your boss that he is an awful eejit and that you're stealing all the stationery on Monday?