[el chupacabra]

In this news peice a woman calls 911 to find the number of some cop. Her argument is funny.
It reminds me of the fact that most americans really don't know any other way to reach the police other than 911. I wonder why this is, I thought it was always just common sense. I remember I got in a very minor parking lot car accident once and all these people showed up saying they would dial 911 for me. I said no no thats an emergency number... call the cops. They said "how do you do that?". People even call 911 now days for noise or a neighbor throwing pine cones over their fence. I recently read an article where a coffee shop called 911 because a guy had been stealing wireless internet from them in the parking lot.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060714/...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[Landos Mustache]

Ya I love it. The same cop came back to arrest her.

[Gossamer]

Americans are lazy. Dialing 911 from memory is a lot easier than finding a phone book and looking up the local non-emergency number.

[tooki]

Gossamer, knock it off. Other people may press your buttons, but you really DO bash America(ns) any time you get the chance. Stop it.

tooki

[Kerrigan]

Didn't someone call the police on Rob when they didn't like one of his posts?

[olePigeon]

When I lived in San Jose, they had the 311 number for non-emergency Police. Easy to remember. Anyone else have that?

[Gossamer]

That would be nice, we have a local 7 digit number. In my small hometown we had to call the next town over and they'd get to it if they cared.

[BRussell]

My favorite 911 call.

[davesimondotcom]

When my wife worked as a manager of Blockbuster, years and years ago, they used to get all kinds of stupid calls.

They worked on holidays, which many places didn't, so people would call them to get other store's numbers. As if Blockbuster should know the other video rental place's number.

[rickey939]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Didn't someone call the police on Rob when they didn't like one of his posts?

[iranfromthezoo]

yeah that was pretty stupid...working at a fire dept you get to know all these idiots who call 911 for stupid stuff...they need to have stiffer fines...I'm sick in tired of people calling 911 for us to come fill up their swimming pool....

end rant

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by tooki

Gossamer, knock it off. Other people may press your buttons, but you really DO bash America(ns) any time you get the chance. Stop it.

tooki

The funniest part he accused me of doing that yesterday

[Eriamjh]

I like that the cop she wanted to ask on a date actually came back and then arrested her!

[loki74]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

When I lived in San Jose, they had the 311 number for non-emergency Police. Easy to remember. Anyone else have that?

yep. It's even on all the black-and-whites out here. Big ol' 911 FOR EMERGENCIES and 311 NON EMERGENCY right under that. Or something along those lines.

I don't think it's a matter of laziness as simply a matter of not knowing better. In most people's minds, "calling the cops" is identical to "dialing 911." And I blame that in part with the fact that we (or at least myself and everyone else I know who's my age) had the 911 thing drilled into our heads from day one, and the very notion that the police could be contacted with a different number was something novel and not introduced until much, much later.

@ iranfromthezoo: fill up their freaking swimming pool?? okay, that goes well beyond "not knowing better" as I said--THAT is just sheer and utter stupidity. Either that or its a prank and its sheer and utter a**hole-ness. sheesh, you're right, they oughtta up the fines.

[mac128k-1984]

Originally Posted by BRussell

My favorite 911 call.

Wow that one was amazing, I have to hand it to the police operator, she held her cool and tried to convince the irrational lady to act like an adult.

[el chupacabra]

people don't really need to memorize any other number. All they need to do is remember how to call information and then your connected to everybody even the cops.

[Salty]

Hope he was really cute. That said, at 45 you should really be finding betters ways to get a date.

[SirCastor]

Aloha's my Home town.... sigh.

[vmarks]

There are some towns where 911 is simply the number for the police and other non-emergencies.

My brother lives in such a town. His water service broke and when he looked at the bill, the bill clearly said to report outages to 911. He did and explained it wasn't an emergency, and this was the correct, approved usage.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

The funniest part he accused me of doing that yesterday

Tooki probably just got us mixed up. *shudder*

[BRussell]

Originally Posted by vmarks

There are some towns where 911 is simply the number for the police and other non-emergencies.

My brother lives in such a town. His water service broke and when he looked at the bill, the bill clearly said to report outages to 911. He did and explained it wasn't an emergency, and this was the correct, approved usage.

Huh. I find that hard to believe - not that I disbelieve you, but such a big deal has been made of not using 911 unless it's an emergency.

Do the police not have a separate phone number?

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by BRussell

Huh. I find that hard to believe - not that I disbelieve you, but such a big deal has been made of not using 911 unless it's an emergency.

Do the police not have a separate phone number?

I suppose in small towns they might not. Like I mentioned earlier, in my small town the non-emergency number called the next town over and they generally didn't give a crap, so 911 was the only way to get something done.

[SirCastor]

Aloha's really not that small of a place. I'd guess around 40,000 residents at least. Additionally, we're (I don't live there anymore actually) surrounded by beaverton which is around 80,000, and Hillsboro which is more than 100,000...

[kick52]

there was some woman that called 911 over the quality of the taco she just bought.

[CMYKid]

the fire department used to come and fill neighbors pools pretty often when I was a kid....doubt they called 911 to request it tho.

anymore 911 use is so prevalent because of cell phones. I dont keep a list of ten citites 7-digit police numbers in my phone, i just call 911, which is routed to the highway patrol sinces its a mobile, and then ask for the dispatch of whichever town i happen to be in at the moment.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by BRussell

My favorite 911 call.

How does calling 911 even pop into someone's head when arguing with a BK employee over a cheeseburger?

[molala]

It's a very harsh punishment, I think. She did say was no emergency and not having gotten his name, she couldn't call the cops and say "whoever answered this call". But the 911 dispatcher should know who was dispatched.

If it weren't a 911 call, I would say she was being creative in getting someone to call her back. Though she should have asked for his name the first time she had the chance.

I think a fine would suffice but not "thousands of dollars".

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by molala

It's a very harsh punishment, I think. She did say was no emergency and not having gotten his name, she couldn't call the cops and say "whoever answered this call". But the 911 dispatcher should know who was dispatched.

If it weren't a 911 call, I would say she was being creative in getting someone to call her back. Though she should have asked for his name the first time she had the chance.

I think a fine would suffice but not "thousands of dollars".

The reason the punishment is so harsh is that the 911 call centers only have so many lines. On a busy night, all the lines could be taken up, and this woman could have been responsible for someone dying in their home because their husband/wife/roommate wasn't able to get through to 911 and call an ambulance.

[iranfromthezoo]

Yeah I have to agree..she mis used the 911 system...I am sorry but my county I work for much like other counties only have 8 dispatchers on duty...now you do the math, non emergency calls, taking 911 calls while doing PD and SO traffic runs, knowing where every unit is and then once a fire is on or a ems call is on you have to know which station is on so if their district gets a call you won't dispatch that fd out but the back while all the time recording information such as call time, dispatch time, arrival time etc...along with VITAL information relayed back by the units....so yeah I think if you mis use the 911 system not only should you get fined a bunch of money but also do some community service...I don't think many people have what it takes to be a dispatcher...you have to calm people down and everything else while maintaining the airwaves for 12 hours and not get paid squat....


not trying to sound condescending but think about this important job these people do...it's not like they just sit around playing solitaire until someone calls 911 or something...they are usually busy...esp if it's a heavy run day..

[tooki]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

When I lived in San Jose, they had the 311 number for non-emergency Police. Easy to remember. Anyone else have that?

Yep. Baltimore (where I am located) pioneered 311, as the first community to offer it. According to Wikipedia, L.A., Las Vegas, Chicago, San Jose and NYC, as well as some Canadian communities.

tooki

[krillbee]

up to a $6,000 fine and up to a year in jail for this, dang, thats a big punishment, lol.

so i wonder why they didnt just tell her to bug off and hang up? why did they have to arrest her?

[starman]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

Americans are lazy. Dialing 911 from memory is a lot easier than finding a phone book and looking up the local non-emergency number.

I find it ironic that you say "Americans are lazy", yet you're on a message board representing one of the hardest working companies on the planet.

Give me a break.

[iranfromthezoo]

Originally Posted by krillbee

up to a $6,000 fine and up to a year in jail for this, dang, thats a big punishment, lol.

so i wonder why they didnt just tell her to bug off and hang up? why did they have to arrest her?

Because if they hang up she could claim she had a real emergency (don't know how) and it is against the law to use the 911 system for unintended purposes and if they let her go and then someone else calls in for someting stupid as this and then they punish them they would look bad and not be fair...

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

The funniest part he accused me of doing that yesterday

Because we all know, you never bash America at every little chance you get.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Because we all know, you never bash America at every little chance you get.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by starman

I find it ironic that you say "Americans are lazy", yet you're on a message board representing one of the hardest working companies on the planet.

Give me a break.

I'm sorry, but I look at obesity rates, popularity of magic diet pills, get rich quick schemes, feelings of entitlement, inability to comprehend NOT driving everywhere...and I see where Americans are a bit behind the rest of the world. Like I said in my PM apologizing to Tooki...I live in this country, I love it, but I'm not going to pretend it's infallible. Perhaps my wording was a bit harsh, but frankly, it would be a lot of work for me to go dig up a phonebook somewhere or find a computer and search for it (BTW I just put the local non-emergency number in my cell phone). It would actually be a lot faster for me to just run there (I live half a block from the police station ).

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by BRussell

My favorite 911 call.

It should not be legal for this woman to have kids.

[Stratus Fear]

Strange. I understand that people don't know their local non-emergency numbers simply because the emergency services don't really do a good job of telling anyone (even the police cars around where I am have 911 on them in a nice big font, with the local number nowhere to be found). But I find it amazingly stupid that most people don't have the forethought or lack of laziness to even find out on their own what the local numbers are. I have both the local number for my home county police office and campus police at school on my cell phone. It's not hard to take two minutes to pick up the phone book and look. Just because it's not under your nose doesn't mean it's not worth looking for, right?

I'm sorry, but I look at obesity rates, popularity of magic diet pills, get rich quick schemes, feelings of entitlement, inability to comprehend NOT driving everywhere...

I won't defend Americans too much since I think most of them in this country are stupid, but the driving comment isn't well thought out. This country is too large to have any well built infrastructure for anything *but* automobiles, and that's just the way it is, and the way it will be for a while. Building a rail system like Europe's or Japan's in this country would just be too prohibitively expensive. That and other existing public transportation sucks ass, so why should I do anything but drive my car? Sure, if it's a short distance like a few city blocks or something, you should walk or bike, and most people I know do, but give me a break if it's more than that, sheesh.

[Monique]

sorry wrong place.

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Stratus Fear

Building a rail system like Europe's or Japan's in this country would just be too prohibitively expensive. That and other existing public transportation sucks ass, so why should I do anything but drive my car? Sure, if it's a short distance like a few city blocks or something, you should walk or bike, and most people I know do, but give me a break if it's more than that, sheesh.

You do have a good point. I was leaning more towards the inability to walk/bike. I'm in a ~50,000 people college town here so we have a good bus system, and pretty much everything is within a reasonable biking distance. A year round bus pass free for students, and a year round pass is no more than $80 for anyone else, but everyone still tends to drive. Is this due to our independence? I don't know. But I agree, most of the US just doesn't have the infrastructure.

[Monique]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

Americans are lazy. Dialing 911 from memory is a lot easier than finding a phone book and looking up the local non-emergency number.

It is not just the Americans that might be lazy. But, the number of stupid Canadians that would call 411 for idiotics things is incredible. I got calls because they were too stupid to bring an address with them, calling for directions, calling when they would not have the proper spelling of a name expecting the operator to know how to spell the name of their mother, father, sister, brother, best friend they have not seen in years, restaurants, pharmacies in their neighbourhoods, etc.

[Kerrigan]

Even Americans are anti-American these days.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Monique

It is not just the Americans that might be lazy. But, the number of stupid Canadians that would call 411 for idiotics things is incredible. I got calls because they were too stupid to bring an address with them, calling for directions, calling when they would not have the proper spelling of a name expecting the operator to know how to spell the name of their mother, father, sister, brother, best friend they have not seen in years, restaurants, pharmacies in their neighbourhoods, etc.

Really? Abusing a 411 line, that is just horrible.

Do yo have any examples?

[Monique]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

Really? Abusing a 411 line, that is just horrible.

Do yo have any examples?

You want more examples:

Off hand let's see:

Regional code for Europe

Country code for Canada

I want the phone number of a company in the U.S. but I do not know where it is.

I want the phone numbers of the men that serve with my father in the army but I do not have their last names.

I want to know the distance between such and such place.

Do you know what that company manufactures?

Can you name me all the taxi companies?

Can you name me all the florists in my neighbourhood?

Can you find me the phone number of an exhibitors?

I would like the phone number of my downstairs neighbour is name is Joe, do you have his last name please no, find me and you will find him.

My students are at a roller rink but I do not know which one, can you find the phone number?

I do not want a phone number, I just want to chat.

Do you know how to put on pantyhose?

Pregnant woman calls, I just lost my water what should I do?

I would like to speak to Dr. Smith at such and such hospital, can you find me his number.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Monique

You want more examples:

Off hand let's see:

Did you used to work for 411?

You think any phone line doesn't get stupid questions? You consider 411 on the same level as 911 just cuz it shares 2 of 3 numbers? You think Canadians are the only ones to call 411 with stupid questions?

[Gossamer]

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

Even Americans are anti-American these days.

I'm not anti-American, I'm just realistic. We're not invincible or perfect, but I think we're pretty good.

[Stratus Fear]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

You do have a good point. I was leaning more towards the inability to walk/bike. I'm in a ~50,000 people college town here so we have a good bus system, and pretty much everything is within a reasonable biking distance. A year round bus pass free for students, and a year round pass is no more than $80 for anyone else, but everyone still tends to drive. Is this due to our independence? I don't know. But I agree, most of the US just doesn't have the infrastructure.

Hmm, that sucks. Seems like more people should use the bus system. Atlanta's public trans. sucks pretty bad, but the public trans. on campus at Georgia Tech isn't so bad, and I usually use that or walk unless I'm in a time crunch, in which case I'll just go ahead and use my car. Most students seem to use it, although students are just like that, so...

Edit: The nicest part about Tech's bus system is it's free to anyone -- not just students. It even goes off campus into Midtown at the subway station and stuff, and there's a grocery store shuttle as well. I don't understand why more people wouldn't use something convenient like that, but people don't seem to care...

[Stratus Fear]

Originally Posted by Gossamer

I'm not anti-American, I'm just realistic. We're not invincible or perfect, but I think we're pretty good.

I agree with this sentiment. Some people would also call me anti-American sometimes, but I'm really just anti-ignornant and anti-stupid. It's a little different, I think.

[Monique]

Originally Posted by Landos Mustache

Did you used to work for 411?

You think any phone line doesn't get stupid questions? You consider 411 on the same level as 911 just cuz it shares 2 of 3 numbers? You think Canadians are the only ones to call 411 with stupid questions?

Yes I did and it is to show that Canadians are not perfect and they are also lazy and brainless.

[Landos Mustache]

Originally Posted by Monique

Yes I did and it is to show that Canadians are not perfect and they are also lazy and brainless.

Actually I'd say you are better proof of that.

[besson3c]

I always call 411 about my pantyhose.