Calling 911...have you ever done it?

I've prank called it many times.

Then to a 4 year old playing on a old cell phone the parent gave them without taking the battery out so they call 911 over 45 times and you have to try to convince the child to take the phone to an adult and then explain to the parent that even disconnected cell phones still call 911.

Yes. I drive on a major freeway everyday and I see people texting while driving. If you are texting and driving I will call 911 to report your location and license plate number. I use my hands free device. It is selfish to text and drive. Do not kill me or a member of my family for your selfish need to be an ignorant jerk.

"9-1-1 is a joke"

Everyone whom works 911 will remember that when you are having a true emergency and need us. We will just forget you called, if we are a joke.

I've comforted a dying child in my arms. I've shaken the had of a cardiac arrest victim that survived because of us. I've delivered babies, I've hugged a perfect stranger who's husband had just passed.

*kitten* you, sir. *kitten*. You.

I'm curious though... to some of the people here who work, or have worked 911, what are some of the stupid calls you've gotten? That could probably be a whole new thread. lol

--About 3 months ago, I took a call from a woman who was very pissed off at her neighbors because they wouldn't control their mosquitos therefore the caller could not enjoy their backyard..... While I am taking this call, my co-worker is taking a call for an active domestic with weapons and injury.
--Then you have the people who call 911 because their 9 year old wont go to school.
--Then there are those who call 911 because there is a car on the side of the road with the hood up and someone standing beside the car and that looks "suspicious" to the caller...
--Then you have the calls where a man or woman just came home and has found their loved one dead on the floor.
--Or a parent driving down the road and has to pull over because their child is now having a seizure and they are freaking out.
--Or the patient who calls at 6pm on a Friday (after all doctors offices have closed) because of a tooth ache they have had for 4 days now and "can no longer stand the pain"
--Then there are the calls where the neighbors dog has attacked their child.
--The call of some partiers on a boat when 2 of them fall off the boat and are found about 12 hours later at the bottom of the lake.
--Or hearing a man get stabbed and listen to him struggle to breathe, then start gasping, you hear the sirens in the background, but its midnight so nobody can see the man laying in the field bleeding to death, then you hear him take his last breath, yet still hear the sirens/help so close yet they cant find him.
--Talking to your coworkers family member who just killed their spouse, then kills himself while on the phone with you.

All these calls are REAL. They have happened in MY dispatch center!

There are no routine calls, no "normal days at the office". We have to switch from comforting one caller who is starting at their dead loved one on the floor to having to talk the suicidal caller into putting the gun down. Then to a 4 year old playing on a old cell phone the parent gave them without taking the battery out so they call 911 over 45 times and you have to try to convince the child to take the phone to an adult and then explain to the parent that even disconnected cell phones still call 911.
It's not a joke. It's somebodies life, somebodies loved one. Some calls are total BS but some are life and death. We do a lot more than answer a phone line and tell the fire dept, police, and EMS where to go. What dispatchers do is VERY under appreciated and almost always overlooked. It's not a job you do to get attention, be named a hero, or be the shining star because there is very little recognition.
HUGE THANKS to all those who support what we do and appreciate the hardships we go through to assist in our fellow citizens safety.

I know there's a lot of scary emergencies, and I don't know how you guys stay so calm because I don't think I could.. and I know there's stupid stuff.. like people calling because they went through the drive through and got shorted a couple mcnuggets. I think I read about that one on a news site somewhere. I think I like hearing about the stupid stories even though those people are a blight on humanity in real life.
I guess marveling how people could be SO f#cking stupid as to call for some of the things they do, takes my mind off how horrible all the real calls no doubt are.

You're very right!! The one time we DO welcome the stupid calls is after taking a bad call. Anything to get the mind off the bad that we just listened to. That's when most of us don't mind them, lol.

Yes. I drive on a major freeway everyday and I see people texting while driving. If you are texting and driving I will call 911 to report your location and license plate number. I use my hands free device. It is selfish to text and drive. Do not kill me or a member of my family for your selfish need to be an ignorant jerk.