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.

A classmate of mine in 6th grade called 911 because he lost to his sister in Hungry Hungry Hippos

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.

My coworker answered a call asking how badly the bridge was backed up as they had diarrhea.

“911, what is your emergency?” “Uh yeah, this bitch is gonna call and say I hit her, but she’s lyin’, I didn’t do nothing.” “……Okay sir, can I have your name and location so we know who she’s lying about when she calls?” “Uh…..” *click*

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.

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…

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?”

Yeah I’m in England. We had a call (I worked for the ambulance service) asking where the best place to get a bacon Sandwich was at 4 in the morning

Woman called because her pregnant 14 or 15 year old granddaughter who lived with her and whose bed was the couch, wouldn’t get off the couch so she could use it to watch tv. The woman felt very indignant when I asked “What exactly do you want the police to do?” Officer cleared the call with “She’s got nowhere else to go, grandma said it’s okay for her to stay.” Also, lots of ambulance calls for “I have a stomach ache” which was code for “I need a free pregnancy test.”

Not on operator but once someone called cops on me for ‘leaving an unattended bag’ in the park by our house. Thing was, it was in a town of less than 1000 people. Tiny park. I was there the whole time, I set it on the table while I played with my young kids. The entire park is visible from any direction. I was never more than 100 ft from my sons diaper bag and the cops came and seemed really confused when they saw me and asked if it was my bag. I was, like, yeah? Then they told me why they came and I was floored. They were annoyed with whoever called and left without further questioning

I have been a 911 dispatcher for 6 years. The ones that irritate me the most are from people who call 911 because they were given incorrect change from a business or vending machine.

Fireman here, last week I listened to a dispatcher send ems and police to a house because the man couldn’t get a hold of his doctor by phone. At 9pm. On a Sunday. The first officer on scene cleared the call in seconds, said he left a message on the Dr’s phone and the guy was happy again.

‘Can you come wake my 14 year old son up and make him go to school?’ ‘No. That’s not a police issue, that’s a parenting issue’

In the city where I live.. if there’s an Amber Alert beeping on your phone at 3am.. people will call 911 to bitch about it to the operators saying that it woke them up.

As a paramedic I have responded to the same guys house twice to find his phone charger.

a male called since their mother grounded him from his ps4 but he covered it up and said “my mother is trying to hurt me mentally and physically” but when we arrived we found the truth (its funny to think the kid thought we would do something about it)

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.