I've seen it with someone with a certain amount of dementia trying to make a modem work. What he was trying to do was actually impossible and he responded to failure by trying variations on it.

Perhaps it needs the 1 for long distance? (No, it doesn't, the software knows better.) Perhaps it needs a 9 for an outside line? (No, the modem already has an outside line, it doesn't go through the phone system.)

I'm sure you can see what he did.