Some years ago the Mayor of Scottsdale Arizona (an upper-class community, or at least that's their self-image) used to call 911 to get driving directions, in her own town.
The clinic I used to work for had an alarm system that was occasionally accidentally set off by employees. After the third time the police came out in response to an alarm they started charging the company for wasting police time...
I am a 911 dispatcher. We get garbage calls like this all the time. "They put too much rice in my burrito." "Jack in the Box didn't put enough ice in my drink at the drive-thru." "I stubbed my toe and I need an amma-lance." "He won't give me my money back and he won't give me any fresh cigarettes." These are all actual calls that have come into my call center in the past 3 weeks, and they are only a sampling.
Sadly, these are the so-called normal citizens as opposed to the genuinely crazy ones, like the lady who wanted to report a kidnapping -- after calling out the appropriate agencies it became apparent that the baby squirrel she'd seen the past few weeks was now "missing" so clearly it'd been kidnapped.
When I saw the title of this, I assumed you were going to talk about the invasion of calls the Compton police office got recently when a rapper ( Sorry! I don't remember who, as my migraines don't let me get near music!) tweeted that if anyone wanted an internship, they should call a certain number. That number, of course, bring the Compton police station! It was chaos all day! They're calling it a phone flash mob. I think the rapper should face charges! What if there were a real emergency in Compton? (And being Compton, there probably was one!)
To be fair, missing this week's Entourage IS a crime.
ReplyDeleteThe woman sounds to me like the remote is more important than the woman herself. She is remote from the remote.
ReplyDeleteIt never occurred to her to just GET UP and turn on the tv?
ReplyDeleteYeesh.
Some years ago the Mayor of Scottsdale Arizona (an upper-class community, or at least that's their self-image) used to call 911 to get driving directions, in her own town.
ReplyDeleteThe clinic I used to work for had an alarm system that was occasionally accidentally set off by employees. After the third time the police came out in response to an alarm they started charging the company for wasting police time...
ReplyDeletemethinks she needs a referral to Dr. Grumpy for a dementia evaluation!
ReplyDeleteWe've had ads in the paper, showing the picture of a 911 dispatcher, and some superimposed text:
ReplyDelete'Yes, sir, your missing Golf clubs are important to me, but I'm handling an armed robbery right now'
Yes, sir, I'll get a unit out to you as soon as I figure out where 'the red house by the park' is'.
The point being: Use 911 properly.
I swear we have a key kidnapper and a sock shyster.
ReplyDeletehmm. I am missing a couple of socks. That gives me an idea....
ReplyDeleteWorse yet is that in an interview on a Colorado TV news broadcast, she said if her remote were missing again she'd call the police again.
ReplyDeleteI am a 911 dispatcher. We get garbage calls like this all the time. "They put too much rice in my burrito." "Jack in the Box didn't put enough ice in my drink at the drive-thru." "I stubbed my toe and I need an amma-lance." "He won't give me my money back and he won't give me any fresh cigarettes." These are all actual calls that have come into my call center in the past 3 weeks, and they are only a sampling.
ReplyDeleteSadly, these are the so-called normal citizens as opposed to the genuinely crazy ones, like the lady who wanted to report a kidnapping -- after calling out the appropriate agencies it became apparent that the baby squirrel she'd seen the past few weeks was now "missing" so clearly it'd been kidnapped.
When I saw the title of this, I assumed you were going to talk about the invasion of calls the Compton police office got recently when a rapper ( Sorry! I don't remember who, as my migraines don't let me get near music!) tweeted that if anyone wanted an internship, they should call a certain number. That number, of course, bring the Compton police station! It was chaos all day! They're calling it a phone flash mob. I think the rapper should face charges! What if there were a real emergency in Compton? (And being Compton, there probably was one!)
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me, though, is that the police actually came out and helped her look for it. Did they issue her a ticket for misuse of the 9-1-1 system?
ReplyDeleteAs a police dispatcher, I find her behavior and attitude to be extremely out of line.