This is very sad 🙁 He probably is just very, very lonely. When I worked at the Talkline for a short and horrible time, we used to get old people calling all the time just to talk about nothing. They'd ask about us or even just literally sit on the phone in silence, enjoying the comfort of having someone on the other end. Sometimes it was the only interaction they'd get all day.
I agree this is not appropriate, but I have to feel for the guy 🙁