FIVE THINGS ABOUT ‘NICOLE’

1 WHAT’S UP WITH NICOLE?

On Friday morning, Carlos Zetina wrote an email to 246 women with the word ‘Nicole’ in their email names at the University of Calgary, to say that a woman with that name gave him the wrong phone number after he took her and her friend home on Thursday night.

2 WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

Zetina, a first-year student, said he sent the email because he didn’t want Nicole to think he was “a bad guy who didn’t text back.” “We met at the campus bar and we talked and had struck a pretty interesting conversation,” said Zetina. “She gave me her number, but I guess she accidentally gave me the wrong one.”

3 WHAT HE WROTE

“If you don’t fit this description then ignore and if you are the one and just don’t want to talk to me that’s ok as well,” Zetina wrote in the email.

4 HOW THE ‘NICOLES’ RESPONDED

“Who sends an email to that many people? If it was me, I’d be a little horrified about how this all played out,” said Nicole DuGraye, one of the 246 people copied on the message. “But I thought this was a great way to connect and meet new people and to try to find the real Nicole.” The thought prompted her to create a Facebook group called “Nicole From Last Night,” and they’ve now planned a get-together in a bid to make friends.

5 THE HAPPY ENDING

A post in the Facebook group from the email’s intended target says she didn’t receive the email, but learned about it because it started circulating on social media. In the post, she writes that she meant to give Carlos her number, but he might have gotten a digit wrong when he wrote it down. Zetina said later that day the Nicole he had been searching for texted him. “We’re planning to hang out maybe next week,” said Zetina. “I really didn’t expect this to become a big thing.”