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911 Operators Break Down The Strangest Calls They've Ever Received

911 Operators Break Down The Strangest Calls They've Ever Received
Image by F. Muhammad from Pixabay

Apparently, some people missed the lesson about how calling 911 should be reserved only for absolute emergencies.

There are apparently plenty of adults out here thinking the 911 line is a much more casual source for help. These people call for offhand questions, minor gripes with a neighbor, even just a touch personal decision.

Don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with reaching out for help. But maybe don't clog up the emergency line.

After all, what if a pressing issue cropped up at the exact same moment?

Redditor Atoms_Apple asked:

"What is the pettiest reason someone has called 911?"

Many people decide to call 911 when they're in a logistical jam. Quick PSA: the ambulance is not a free taxi.

The Jig's Up

"Not a dispatcher but when I was in EMS we were dispatched to a psych call. When we got there this lady was standing out side her house ready to go to the hospital."

"On the way to the hospital I was talking to her and trying to get her vitals when she told me there was nothing wrong with her that she heard a family member was in the hospital and needed a ride, so she called 911. Cops met us at the hospital for her."

-- Crimson_Leader

Direct Line

"I work for small police station but once had 911 put through a caller who then requested that I patch them through to a pizza place so they could order pizza from a 911 only cellphone..."

-- vtphoenix22

Here's Good

"I've been called to make a bed."

"Another one of my units was called to a drunk guy at a bar for 'trouble breathing' said he was looking for a ride into the city. Almost to the hospital he refused care and transport and got out and went where he wanted to go. It's endless"

-- Sad_Comfortable_0825

A Free Show

"I had a guy call 911 just because he wanted to see fire trucks and ambulances with lights and sirens. He miscalculated."

"There was a cop too...and he was not amused. Dude spent the night in jail."

-- the_Blind_Samurai

Priorities of That Age

"I tutored a 2nd grader many years ago for extra money. There was some assignment where the question was about when it is okay to call 911 and the kid (seriously) told me that it's you forgot to bring your homework to school."

-- BlueGrotta

Some people just ask for information. It's startling, especially given that the internet has way more information than the poor worker on the other end of the phone line.

An Eye for Design

"I received a call on the non emergency line from a 90-something year old lady asking me what lamp she should put in her bedroom. I told her I did not understand and that the sheriff's office was not the correct place to ask."

"Eventually she got upset and said 'Fine I'll call 911, they'll help me there!' I tried to tell her that 911 would just go back to me and it was a misuse of an emergency line, but it was too late."

"15 seconds later 911 rings, I answer and lo and behold it was the lady asking 'what lamp should I get for my bedroom?' "

-- WesphaliaReformer

Parents Explain Why They Regret The Name They Gave Their Child | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Seasonal Emergency

"Not me, but a close family friend worked taking 911 calls for years. She said the number of calls they get about how to cook turkeys at Thanksgiving time is just baffling."

-- JonnyBoomBots

Eyes in the Sky

"To complain we had the road closed. Then asked when it would open. Then asked if they could squeeze through. No, you can't."

-- leg00b

And some people call 911 when they can handle the rage they feel. Unfortunately, many adults can't seem to work out their differences, so they bring in the big guns.

Well, Not Always Adults

"A classmate of mine in 6th grade called 911 because he lost to his sister in Hungry Hungry Hippoes" -- Ok_Entrepreneur_6942

"I didn't see the 'to' before 'his sister' and I thought it was an extremely high stakes game of Hungry Hungry Hippos" -- Disastrous_Toe_Jam

A Cherished Phone

"8 or 9 years ago, my husband and I had a couple of acquaintances over for dinner one night. They were from our local poker group."

"The 4 of us were having a great time when one of the guys accidentally knocked over the other guy's phone and cracked its screen."

"The second guy went mental. He started yelling at the first guy and demanded that he pay to repair the screen. The second guy agreed to it but the first guy kept yelling and yelling. He called 911 and the cops came."

"He told the cops that the second guy broke his phone and he wanted to file a police report. He asked the cops to force the second guy to give him money to repair his phone. The cops were so confused and annoyed. We were mortified because it happened at our house and the cops knew our landlord."

"We never invited him to our house again."

-- lonedandelion

A Laundry List of Rage

"People who get cut off in traffic are probably the worst inane callers. Like, 'Oh so this happened three hours ago, you don't remember the road it happened on, you don't know the registration of the VOI, there was no traffic crash, and there is not even the insinuation that either party involved were under influence of substances?' "

"Noise complaints are similar."

"People calling the emergency line to complain about being arrested earlier (one once complaining about being charged for abusing the emergency line)."

"I've had a woman call emergency because their sister was refusing to share their food, at a cinema."

"But what is probably more insane is the serious incidents that are started by inane and petty things - once had a serious FDV between a mother and daughter - the mother stabbed the daughter after an argument over the colour of cupcake batter."

-- iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiUUUUUU

Some People Just Love Conflict

"I once had the cops called on me by my neighbor. There was a car parked on the street by his backyard. Not blocking his parking space in front of his house, not on his property, not inconveniencing him in any way. It was not my car or that of anybody I knew."

"Same neighbor called the cops on me for animal abuse. My dog was in my fenced in backyard with a bowl of food and a bucket of water in the shade. Told the cops I chained him up all day and night with no food. I showed the cops the pup and was just like why would I chain up a dog in a fenced in yard?"

"Same neighbor called the cops on me for 'verbal assault' when he knocked on my door and said it was against the law to leave my trash can by the road a day after pick up and I told him to f**k off and closed the door."

"The weird thing is I never did anything to the guy to get him to start this and from what I asked the other neighbors he didn't do that to them."

-- No-Umpire4788

Food-Themed Spats

"There's too many."

"I once got a call from a family of frequent flyers… a husband's wife ordered the wrong topping on a pizza, so they got in an argument and then she threw a ham sandwich at his head."

"Another time a call came from a woman who just got out of church and the drivethru to KFC was too long… and she wanted an officer to come out and help … 🤦🏻♀️"

"Fun times …"

-- karalynn1982

At Her Own Risk

"Not an operator, but a female customer once called the cops on my coworkers for scaring her too much."

"We work at a haunted house..."

-- Undecided_User_Name

Kept Trying

"When I was 5 I called 911 because my mom threw away some leftover McDonald's fries I had saved from the day before."

"When I was 4 I called 911 because my mom threw away some old toys of mine."

"Damn cops didn't arrest her either time 🤣"

-- Soonerpalmetto88

Thankfully, these are the worst of the worst. Here's hoping 911 operators are usually able to focus on what matters.

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People Divulge The Scariest Thing They Learned About Someone From Their Childhood

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Anita Jankovic on Unsplash

Life is all about learning new things, including learning new things about the people in your life. Sometimes, the things you learn are shocking, disgusting, or even scary.

I was the new kid in town when I was in fifth grade and my first friend was this quiet (and cute) boy in my class. He and I remained friends through middle school, and even though we drifted apart in high school, our interactions when we ran into each other in the halls or the cafeteria were really nice.

All throughout school and even beyond, he remained quiet, polite, and reserved. Just a few years ago, I read a news article written about him. He had apparently fatally wounded his father after an argument.

I had to reread the article several times to make sure it was really about my old friend. I think about it a lot, and still can't believe it!

I'm not the only one that has a shocking story like that. A lot of Redditors learned shocking or scary things about people from their childhood, and are ready to share.

It all started when Redditor ValuableHovercraft90 asked:

"What's the scariest thing you have found out about someone from your childhood (old friends, teachers, etc)?"

So Creepy

"That the boy who lived across the street and moved when I was 6 is still obsessed with me and my sister 30+ years later and posts ramblings on Facebook with our names and that he's going to be with us. Pretty terrifying honestly."

– mrscrawfish

The Worst List

"A neighbour died when he was 30. Police searched a trailer he owned and found weapons, bombs and a list of people he wanted to kill. My uncle was on that list."

– Flashy_Somewhere_648

"I'm glad this ended the way it did."

– CreepyCandidate4449

Terrifying

"One of my best friends (and locker partner) from high school was kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq. After a nightmare of 6+ months, all went silent. We buried an empty casket in his memory 10 years later."

– francois_du_nord

"This is horrifying. How incredibly sad for family to never get any closure. Very sad to read this. :("

– fizzycherryseltzer

"About 15 years ago my dad received a very good offer for work in Iraq, as a construction specialist. He was considering going, since at the same time the financial crisis started in Europe, but then one of his friends, a civil engineer, was kidnapped. Never returned back either."

– 19lgkrn70

"Same thing for my dad old coworker told him how great the money was. Dude got sniped working on a radio tower or something. My dad luckily was like, "I got a wife and family that would kill me for doing something so dangerous.""

– tristanjones

End Of The Friendship

"One of my dad's good friends, and my "uncle", just stopped coming around one day. I was told he was always busy with work, away, etc."

"Turns out, he killed 3 people in a drug deal gone bad and got life in prison."

"What's scary, is that we were over at his house for a weekend BBQ with a bunch of people earlier in the day of the night he did it, and it happened at his house."

– pnwking509

School Friends

"Don't know if it was scary, but I grew up with a kid whose birthday was the day before mine so we almost always shared birthdays in elementary school. We were friends, even spent the night at his house growing up. Later on in our teens, he started getting into some really dark stuff. I recognize that now as his being a sociopath, but like most everybody else at the time, figured it was just him going through some kind of emo phase. Over the years, we lost touch but I would occasionally run into him around town and our meetings were cordial, if not friendly."

"Last year, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for killing a man back in 1993, roughly 3 years after we got out of High School. Apparently he, his sister and another man lured this guy out to the boonies and killed him to steal money he had gotten in an insurance settlement."

"The only reason they were caught is the other guy got religion, felt remorse and went on the local TV station and aired a confession before turning himself in (He got 25 to life)."

– 530_Oldschoolgeek

"A girl I went to school with did the same thing. She was the nicest girl, got good grades & was kind of a dork. Mixed with the wrong people after graduation. She and two others lured an old man into an abandoned building, stabbed him and robbed him. He later died from his wounds."

– HereF0rTheSnacks

The Worst Afternoon

"I had a friend in grade school who was being raised by her single dad. She had a unique name and pretty face. She never talked about her mom, and she was super outgoing, so all us kids just made friends with her quickly. It was weird her dad never brought her to our birthday parties, even though she was always invited, but we didn’t think much of it. A couple times, she was allowed to ride the bus home with me after school, and we played and had fun until her dad came to pick her up. Later in the school year, she invited me to ride the bus to her house, and my mom agreed. I was 10. It was the scariest afternoon of my young life. I cannot articulate the extreme tension in her home. We weren’t allowed to make any noise, and we mostly stayed outside, me desperate for my mom to arrive."

"Her dad screamed at us for opening the door, and I was too nervous to go into the house to use the restroom. I knew she was embarrassed that there were no snacks or comforting interactions, like at my house. I didn’t really tell anyone how uncomfortable the experience was. After that day, I didn’t hang out with her a lot. We were in different classes, drifted apart, and decades later, when my own daughter asked to go to a friend’s house, I thought about that girl."

"As an adult, I figured out her dad probably worked a night shift and tried to sleep during the day…or he was an alcoholic who was really angry. Maybe both? I looked her up on social media, and thanks to her unique name and face, I recognized her immediately. She’s a perfectly well-adjusted woman with a beautiful family. She even had pictures of her kids with her dad and tributes to him as the greatest father and grandpa. Her whole page made me wonder what the hell I experienced that afternoon in the 4th grade?"

– OlderAndTired

School Is Supposed To Be Safe!

"In our school, we had something called "de halte." In English, it means "the halt" literally translated. Basically time out. BIf you had a meltdown in class or you were just a little sh*thead, you were sent there for 15 minutes or so to cool off.

The de hatle teacher got fired and jailed for breaking 4 different wrists of 4 different students by bending them the wrong way..."

– Ok_Win7358

*Skin Crawling*

​"There was this classmate a grade below me but all grades shared the same drama class. She was weird and kind of "off." I tried to befriend her at one point and was rebuffed. It later came out that she was actually an almost 30-year-old woman who would show up in a new area claiming to be a 15-year-old runaway. Kind of freaked me out."

– jackfaire

It turns out it was a good thing that the friendship didn't work out!

scary secrets