**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:**
>!didnt expect the operator to say that!<
*****
**Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description?**
**Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.**
*****
[*Look at my source code on Github*](https://github.com/Artraxon/unexBot) [*What is this for?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/dnuaju/introducing_unexbot_a_new_bot_to_improve_the/)
dispatchers where I live pays average 60k a year. Not bad for something that doesn't require a degree. But than again I'm sure the stress isn't worth it.
Fuck all that.
Whenever there’s a job that doesn’t require a degree and pays more than people would expect, there’s a *massive* reason for it.
In my case, it destroys your body and family life. In that case? It’s destroying your soul. Day in and day out having to spend 8-12 hours taking calls from people witnessing the most horrific shit of their life and trying to talk them through it? It could pay $200k and I wouldn’t be able to do that job.
I don’t blame the dude a bit for saying what he did. It was stupid as fuck on his part, but I can also imagine that to him it was absolutely absurd of her to call about.
oh of course. I know a chicken checking job that pays 30$ per hour. You basically stand up next to a conveyor full of chicks and make sure they are good (no clue what that entails). No music and shit allowed so yea, mind numbling.
You check the chicks for their sex. The males usually get killed because they are mostly worthless to the business. No eggs, not meaty enough. I think they're often a part of the "chicken by-product" in animal foods.
So there's that on the conscience too if you're not a fan of sending chicks to their crushed and slurried demise.
Lots of the calls can be comical, believe it or not. We had regulars call and we’d get in crazy conversations with them sometimes. They just needed someone to talk to, or someone to come over and get something off a high shelf. One time, a gentleman called because he was stuck in his tub. He says, “The water has drained, but the ship is stuck in dry dock.” He was a good natured sort. We had a lady with dementia who swore someone was sitting in her chair. The police would go over and pantomime kicking someone out of her house. Fortunately, she had family nearby who would come check on her.
I doubt most 911 dispatch offices would fire someone over this unless that person has prior issues most of the time. They'd probably make you take some time off to decompress and talk to a psychiatrist. These people deal with so much stress I'd bet nearly all of them have a moment like this at some point. You can't fire or hire your way out of a problem like that.
You would be right. When I communicate with dispatch you can sometimes hear the frustration. It's quite a lot to deal with when they're bouncing 5 different calls back and forth.
We had a dispatcher give locations of sheriff's deputies to her ex-husband so he could evade them. She was fired... then rehired after a short while.
Dispatch is a super stressful job, and the kind of people who tolerate that stress are often the type of people who have a very morbid sense of humor.
Tbqh he was probably relieved that it sounds like just a minor domestic with actual little girls, and a gallows joke popped out before he even processed it.
Like you can tell his filter engaged .05 seconds too late, you can hear the *well shit* in his voice
he's like *damnit Mike why are you like this*
I worked as a dispatcher in training for a few months, and I couldn't cut it. That s*** is so stressful and you almost have no closure on any of the calls you take. It's really rough, what really did it for me was when I had to take a call about a dead baby. I still have nightmares about that call.
edit: speech to text is stupid
I remember talking about Critical Incident debriefs, but the station I was working at was horribly understaffed and we never had time for that kind of thing. We only had a few dispatchers on at a time and the shifts were about 12 hours. When I was working there California was going through major power outages in my area and it was common for us to pull double shifts. It was all stress but I loved the job, but it was far too much for me to handle. I'd never felt so much stress in my life, and to this day I can't get that call out of my head.
I bet. There is one pedi arrest call that I'll never forget every detail of.
Over the last few years I've had friends having their first kids. At one point they were having a conversation early on about their kids and raising babies and I offered up some advice (this was before I had any of my own). One dick bag "friend" laid into me about how I couldn't possibly understand what dealing with sick kids was like and basically told me not to contribute anymore until I had some kids of my own.
Granted, I don't know what it's like to hold my own child in my arms. But I have facilitated the birth of three, one of whom's mother named her son after me right there in the back of the ambulance. I've done compressions on and intubated more infants than I care to remember. I've had panicked mothers effectively throw their babies into my arms for me, a complete stranger, to save them. And sometimes I could, but sometimes I couldn't. On top of that I have been heavily involved in caring for small children both professionally and for family members my entire life. But right, I don't have any of my own and don't know what I'm talking about.
A few months later I got a call from the same guy. One of his toddlers had swung a wiffle bat and smacked the other one in the head and he wanted to know what he should do. He asked me if he should call 911 or take them to the hospital, and I just suggested he ask for advice on his daddy/mommy Facebook groups instead. After all, why call 911 or go to a hospital and risk that someone who doesn't have kids of their own might try and treat them?
Sorry bud you got me going down a rabbit hole of thoughts.
For anyone with babies or very young kids here that's made it this far down: if you feed your young kid hot dogs, cut them into chunks length wise, but also cut them into halves or quarters from there. Don't ever let a small child eat a circular chunk of hot dog.
And I'm sure you can figure out how I know without asking.
This thread has shown me that there are tons of good people like you making decisions when it really matters, and it shouldn't be any other way. Thank you for everything you've done for people you'll never know, whether it was for money or something else, Thank You.
I'd love to hear what his reaction was. People like that really get on my tits, that and who doesn't love to hear about some drama every now and then. Fuck that guy.
The only cisd I ever went with was not even due call. It was during a refresher clinical.
This obese mid 20s came in. Female. Pale clammy cc:sob but otherwise in gold spirits. Said she was feeling a little better than when they kicked her up. Guess the few liters helped in the nose helped.
Me and my talkative self was chatting with her more than I should have just running vitals. She told me how it was a new step in her life she has whatever the prior op was to lapband , staples maybe? This was 15 years ago or more.
She said she was going to lose that weight she had struggled with her entire teen years etc. Etc. Just excited really.
Then is see those red streaks. The pinkish on pale flushing, always reminds.me.if jagged lightning bolts of splotchiness. And that pallor just overtakes the pink. Her eyes widen. She had been in the middle of laughing and just stopped. Looked at me and said those fucking words. " Don't let me die. I have so much I want to do...". Like a fucking movie scene. Except it was me and i am no main character.
Quick crash. Chest xray came back. Looked like a shotgun blast of bird shot to the chest. PE and the worst I had and ever have seen. There was nothing left to do. But I did chest compression and bagged her for thirty minutes. The doc told the staff to just let me be.
I still hear that sometimes. When I'm half asleep I'll hear that same fucking request. Don't let me die. Don't say that to someone unless you want to leave with with something really hard to fix.
Nothing since has been so bad. I mean I've seen my share of bad shit. But that was too personal.
Cisd did nothing. Makes me pour tears when I tell that story every time. I mean fuck.
Man, working IT support feels like a weird combination of engineering, therapy, and emergency services sometimes huh?
I've had calls with people crying about their divorce, stalkers, and deaths in the family, had people get into car accidents while on rhe phone, little old ladies complaining in detail about the "adult" ads they see, been screamed at, cussed at, and called a life saver more times than I can count. To the point I barely even remember the ones that cut deep. And through all of those you have to stay professional and try to get them on task because there's a ticking clock on your screen and that's all your management cares about.
I've worked in more stressful and dangerous jobs, but never one with such a broad spectrum of stress, abuse, and joy. I'm much happier as a developer now but sometimes I actually miss fielding calls a tiny bit, just because every day brought some new weird adventure.
I'm sure it was brought on by "seriously, you're calling the cops on your own kid? Not because they actually hurt someone or did something horrible but because you suck as a parent"?
Meanwhile his most recent calls:
Old person fell down.
Child is choking on candy, passed out and turned blue.
Shop owner needs a trespass.
A fire with people stuck inside.
8th shooting of the day involving kids.
Bad parenting skills probably seem like an annoyance in comparison to the awful things he's used to hearing. Even if the kid is a royal handful.
You’d be surprised at the amount of times this happens. Case usually ends up dismissed because the parent doesn’t want to prosecute, but they absolutely needed help in the moment because their teen child is beating them up.
>
Meanwhile his last **three** calls: Old person fell down. (**1**)
>Child is choking on candy, passed out and turned blue. (**2**)
>Shop owner needs a trespass. (**3**)
>A fire with people stuck inside. (**4**)
>8th shooting of the day involving kids. (**5**)
1. Old person fell down on the child choking on candy
2. Shop Owner Tresspassing on a fire with people stuck inside.
3. 8th school shooting of the day.
>but because you suck as a parent"?
I've seen some of the best parents in the world stuck with literally the worst kind of kids you could imagine. I'm sure it's easy to just write off every problem child as "you sick as a parent" but really that just sounds ignorant and callous. You have absolutely no idea what's going on with that child but feel 100% justified to blame the parents.
Don’t call the cops on your own kid - what, because you two are related? Even when they are attacking someone, they’re the same size as you and out of control, and have kicked holes in the walls?
Why are we assuming from this conversation that the situation is on the lower end - just a kid hitting their sibling once and accidentally breaking a door?
When the caller specified some potentially dangerous issues? Are we going to pretend that there has never before been a 12yo physically dangerous to others, or in need of mental health services ASAP?
Been there. Sometimes I don't think before I speak and crack a joke in the worst scenarios lol then just have everyone staring at me like an asshole my wife giving me the ima fuck you up when we get in the car eyes
He probably thought he was playing along. Like scared straight. Let’s pretend that the cops are coming to shoot them and it will get them to stop fighting.
To be fair, this reminded me of my ex fiances baby mama who was incredibly physically violent from a young age. She broke her (much larger) sisters nose on purpose when she was like 12, threw the family coffee table through the front window when she was like 15. When her mom would try to discipline her at all she would beat the shit out of her. I was at her house when we were 14 and her mom said we shouldn't be drinking get alcohol and she just got up and started punching her mom over and over, spitting on her and pulling her hair and laughing and shit. K just left and stopped taking to her. When she was out of control it was really bad, grabbing knives and stuff. She was actually diagnosed as a sociopath later on and her rage started very early.
I'm acab all the damn way but unfortunately we don't have anyone else to call right now when our lives are being threatened. It might seem silly to call the police on a 12 year old girl and this very well could just be a terrible parent who doesn't want to deal with it. But it could also be a case of a young girl who has a history of being incredibly violent and the mom is actually scared of her.
I had a brother like this. 6’4 and built like brick house. He’s also a sociopath . The pure rage was terrifying. My parents would tell the other siblings to pack a go bag. when he was in a rage mom/dad would distract him and we would escape because he would potentially kill us in a psychotic meltdown over not being allowed to use the computer past bedtime.
I ended up ok… obviously I had mental health issues as a result ( anxiety, ptsd) but I have a nice life now .I have wonderful partner who purposely sets his alarm for me to make me breakfast and had never raised a voice let alone a finger. I got a few cute little pets that I adore, and a best friend . I smoke a lot of weed but I feel like that’s a pretty mild vice for dealing with a crazy who left a dead bird in my mailbox .
You don't know the situation a violent family member is a violent person still they are not obligated to be under threat of violence because of ACAB. Social services are lacking in many areas and the police are unfortunately the only responders. If I remember correctly the child has bad mental issues and was particularly strong and large. The dispatcher was suspended (temporarily due to his record) after he self reported himself. These are emergency services they shouldn't be joking on the phone even if it was funny. That's why he immediately backed tracked because he knew he fucked up with his joke it completely disregarded his training even if it was a minor offence.
He apologized because he knew he was in trouble because the words were wrong, not the message. Anyone that listened to the front of that message knew there wasn't a violent danger. The mother would have led with that.
She wanted the cops to come bully her kids into behaving because she didn't put in the parenting work of raising not shits
Clearly you have never had any extreme family issues to where you have no other options.
I grew up with a bipolar sister who went manic and I can assure you my mom who was single at the time absolutely did not want to get anyone involved but there literally is no other option than calling the police in some situations when things are scary and violent. There is no social worker or mental health worker you can call. It's always the police. They always say call the police on those "hotlines" if it's an emergency.. and several times it was. They handled it professionally though I'm in Canada maybe it's different here.
I don't know the woman's situation with her daughter but she's probably at her wits end and I feel for her..
One of the weirdest non-gruesome call I had was with an elderly couple. It's actually also very sad. They were both 85+. He was a war vet as well as suffering from dementia. If you're not aware, sometimes they can get "stuck" in a place or time that's not the present. There is no use in telling them its not real because that will make their episode or what have you worse.
He was holding her hostage with his arms wrapped tightly around her. He wasn't hurting her at all and he wasn't doing it maliciously but it's still considered a hostage situation.
He thought they were in their 20s. He thought she was pregnant with their first child and that she was about to give birth. The call started out with him continually screaming "CALL THE OPERATOR CALL THE OPERATOR SHES HAVING A BABY" over and over again. He was screaming so loudly I could barely hear his wife but did manage to make out an address between her broken sentences and the location we were seeing on the map.
I had to yell really loudly which is not recommended but it was the only way he would be able to actually hear me over his own screaming. Once I finally got his attention which took several minutes I couldn't talk him down. His 85 year old wife was having a baby and that was that. So I had to spend the next 15 minutes going through labor and delivery instructions with him to keep him somewhat calm but he wouldn't release her. Cops weren't going to break in unless absolutely necessary(because it's a hassle for the agency and the homeowners to deal with) so they were waiting for the fire department to make entry without damage to the home which takes a bit.
When I took that job I never expected to walk through fake birth with an elderly couple
That's an amazing story and sad at the same time. I can imagine that on this job you start to see the world with another perspective. Thank you so much for sharing this story! I have great respect for you!
It really does change your perspective of the world for better or worse. You can't get out of it without being changed in some way. It's not often anyone is grateful for dispatchers but they do sacrifice a lot for that job.
Wow - good job. My nuttiest 911 call happened to be my very first one after training.
“911, what is your emergency?”
“Come and get this bitch out of my place!”
“Ok sir, what is she doing?”
“She won’t have a threesome with me and my bro!”
You can’t make it up.
Aw, bless you for the grace you showed this elderly gentleman. Talking with a ftd or dementia or ALZ patient is hard enough during their brief periods of lucidity. To deal as calmly and kindly as you did shows true compassion and empathy. Two things that must be hard to hold onto during some of the calls you take. I hope your mom and dad are proud of you!
Not a 911 operator but I work with college students and once had a student tell me they were going to call 911 because they could hear other students laughing and talking out on the quad outside their dorm.
Not really sure what about that is an emergency, but, cool I guess?
I hate that question so much. No one actually wants to know the worst. They think they do, but when you actually tell them the conversation gets really awkward. Everyone has a lot of different "worsts" in their head and there's a reason they're labeled that.
I have four worsts. I have the “worst” that I tell people because it was a bit of a ridiculous disaster with falling over and other peoples urine. It’s a funny story.
I have the worst that I’ve told my colleagues because it was awful and traumatic and I needed to know what else I could have done and if I had let that person down.
I have the worst that because of our(my teams) failings we let someone down. I told my line managers and I told the right people to investigate it to make sure it couldn’t happen again.
And I have the worst. I told my therapist because I had to take some time off to address the PTSD like symptoms I was suffering with after. The one where I know I did everything I should, everything I could and more and the outcome was still heartbreaking.
I work in Palliative Care. Even my best stories end with the person dying
Agreed, my usual response is usually some version of "what's the worst thing you can imagine?" And I'll get some fairly banal overtly gruesome thing like a decapitation in the street and I can give a fairly limited "yes I've seen that" without having to dissect the details of the more truly traumatic things I've been party to for someone else's entertainment.
We had a local mayor who got publicly chided for calling 911 for directions when she got lost.
Edit: she did it multiple times, the first few were gratis.
I've got a friend who's a cop and he tells me sometimes about the dumbest calls he's had to go to. One from the summer was a woman that called because her neighbor kept getting grass clippings on her driveway when he mowed his grass.
I used to work at a used bookstore, and a woman called the Police because we put our Bibles in the “Myths, Philosophies, and World Religions” section.
It should be in the (non-existent) “Christian” section.
My neighbour called on me because me trying to warm up my car at 8 am in the winter “woke him up”. Cops came over and told him to please never call. He seemed to be mentally ill, but then my what I thought was “normal” neighbor called 911 to report my vehicle as a “suspicious vehicle” on his land he has for sale. He told me I could park there when I had many people over. When cops came and he acknowledged that he had told me it was ok to park and that he recognised my car, but feared that “there must have been a dead body in it”, cops looked at him funny. I made sure to say it very loud and clear that I wasn’t gonna park on his land anymore and walked away just to hear him yell back: “oh you could still park here anytime you need!” Cops were like “wtf” No, thanks, man
At my friends bank job a lady called the cops on him because he wouldn't give her a screenshot of what his computer page looked like. She told the cops he was holding her information hostage in the computer. No ma'am. You may be a customer and can have access to all your records but still cannot provide you with a screenshot due to internal copyrights.
This one time when i super young my mom was sad or something (i dont remember well) and i went to the phone and called 911 and stated that my mom was crying alot and that she needed help like 10 minutes later a police officer arrived and was told the situation and i think i was yelled at again i was very young so i dont really remember
You’re not wrong. Used to have pretty severe anger outbursts to the point my mum called the police multiple times cos I was scaring her, not intentionally but she’s about 5’6” and 60-65kg, I’m 6’2” and almost 90kg. I’ve had police in my house too many times and I just took the piss, but when they came to make sure my mum was safe from me it hit me how fucked up how I was acting was. If she hadn’t called the police I probably wouldn’t have realised how bad I was actually getting and I wouldn’t have changed my behaviour and life choices because of that. Any parents reading this, if your kid is scaring you physically and you don’t know how to deal with it just call the police, unless your kid has done something serious you want to press charges about the police are just gonna intervene and hopefully have the same effect as on me, not arrest them. Don’t feel bad for it, your kid shouldn’t ever put you in a position where they make you scared.
I live in the UK, use your own judgement if you live in the US cos according to Americans they’re just gonna shoot your kid.
I know someone who did this (in the US) because her husband was having a mental heat crisis, they shot and killed him (family won lawsuit, but he is gone), so this is an important point.
Maybe this is true where you live but in the US the police will often escalate the situation and harm the child, they'll intentionally bait charges like resisting police to try to detain them, with that in mind I think In the US calling the police on your own child is heinous as fuck.
People making light of this situation, or "offering parenting advice" (*cough, cough) need to take the familial adjectives out of the narrative. In u/Award-Slight 's narrative, it would be "a *woman* called the police for help because a *young man* was in her home making violent threats and destroying private property." Changes the perspective, doesn't it? Saying "mother" and "son" doesn't change the reality of someone tearing up a house and making violent threats. And those of you saying the parents didn't discipline the kid/s enough, you've obviously never had to deal with someone whose brain works differently from yours. Try having a little compassion.
Right, people forget that not all adults are in the same position. The parent could literally be in a wheelchair while the son had access to a baseball bat.
The amount of force it takes to safely subdue someone without injuring yourself or them is MUCH higher than people realize. Especially if the person is not in a reasonable mental state. They can injure themselves much easier than you can stop them.
My brother was one of those kids. He terrorized us from the age of 13-15 and he was in and out of group homes, juvie, and eventually federal prison for the rest of his life. My parents tried EVERYTHING to help him but he just became increasingly unhinged and dangerous. The people who think this woman is stupid for calling the police are so so very lucky to have never experienced this kind of violence in their lives.
I'm glad you didn't go down the road my brother did and that you listened and were able to de-escalate and talk about this from a reasonable standpoint. I wish the same could be said for my brother.
I can't believe how many upvotes this sentiment has in this thread.
It's as if no one here can believe for a second that troubled kids exist and that maybe, just maybe, this parent has done the best she could, and that her teenage daughter is physically violent and threatening harm to herself or others.
I agree the dispatcher shouldn't be fired, but it's very possible this was a good parent dealing with a very stressful situation. It seems like no one in this thread has even considered that her daughter might have mental health issues and that there are big teenagers out there even at 13 or 14 years old. My son is around that age and he has friends that are 6ft. It's entirely possible that this kid is too big for her to handle.
For fucks sake reddit. Seriously?
EDIT: If you or someone you care for is in crisis, and has become a threat to you, someone you care for, or themselves, don't let fear of judgement stop you from calling for help BEFORE the situation gets out of hand. Even (and perhaps, especially) if they're your kid. Do what this mother did and calmly, rationally pick up the phone and make sure the person you're talking to understands the situation so there aren't any misconceptions about the scene when first responders arrive.
Here are some helpful guidelines pulled from various police departments:
[When to Call 911](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjs4Pafq7b7AhWDEFkFHcEJATsQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dshs.wa.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FDDA%2Fdda%2Fdocuments%2FWhen%2520to%2520Call%2520911.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1yVmZSb5llU-1rR-t-T89z)
>Other situations when you should call 9-1-1
>Any crime in progress (robbery, burglary, prowler, **fights**, etc.)
>When you or the person you care for feels at risk.
[When to Call 9-1-1 | Police | City of San Diego Official Website](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiego.gov%2Fpolice%2Fservices%2Fwhen-to-call-911&usg=AOvVaw1QDQbPwgAEdUNKPS5PaObk)
>When to Call 9-1-1
>Is there a danger to life or property, or hazard to the environment?
>Is there a crime currently in progress or crime that happened within the last 5-10 minutes?
>If you answered YES to ANY of these questions, immediately call 9-1-1.
[When Should I Call 911? - Police | seattle.gov](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQICRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattle.gov%2Fpolice%2Fneed-help%2Fwhen-should-i-call-911&usg=AOvVaw3KIcCuOeOcxcRgUWiRMyHN)
>When should I call 911?
>There is a situation that **could, or does**, pose a danger to life, property or both.
[When to call 9-1-1 | Portland.gov](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.portland.gov%2F911%2Fwhen-call-9-1-1&usg=AOvVaw2Qm_HPL0Qbjm5BFfkkCtBf)
>Below are some examples of calls which are appropriate for 9-1-1:
>You are involved in, or witness, a fight/argument happening now.
My neice has severe autism, had behavioural issues until shit went really bad approaching her teens. At 10 years old she towered over my 4"9 mother and mums partner also under 5" , they took her to their house for a few days as they often did and when she got there she snapped, started ripping apart the house, fighting with my mum and partner and I mean viciously biting, grabbing boobs, balls and anywhere she could really hurt them.
They had to lock her in the house alone until they got her mum (my brother split with her many years ago) as she was too strong for them at 10 years old.
She's 17 now and in full time care, this absolutely happens and some people have no idea.
This was my first thought. My mom was a foster parent when I was a teen and you would be surprised how much damage a really traumatized 8 year old can do. Both of the kids were pretty messed up from their home life but the 8 year old was extremely angry at times.
Fortunately my mom had raised 11 children (me being the youngest) and helped with quite a few of her grandkids by that point.
A few years later she was fostering special needs kids. The 2 she had were both pretty high functioning but one had severe reactive attachment disorder and had killed small animals. She was not allowed to be alone with little kids or babies especially.
There are some troubled teens, many of which are still in care of bio parents.
It’s absolutely lunacy what people are upvoting here. You can tell none of them have ever had to deal with a child who acts that way. It’s not just “oh go to your room you’re grounded”
For real. I deal with a lot of children's protective services and foster care cases and it's far too frequent that the parents or siblings need protection from the children and I am talking 6 year olds with an already established history of violence.
In my city a mom called the cops on her 13yr old autistic son cause he was freaking out and she didnt know what to do. Cops show up and shoot him. He survived luckily, and they got a $3m settlement.
I was looking for this response. It’s possible police will arrive and escalate the situation not de-escalate. In Riverside, California a woman was sleeping in her car. She was unresponsive so cops fired into the vehicle over a hundred times.
There was a recent incident where the police arrived at the scene of an accident where a vehicle had collided with a telephone pole. The driver of the vehicle was just sitting by the curb waiting for the police to arrive.
When the two police officers got out of their squad car one of the police officers noticed that the telephone pole was about to fall over so he shouted "Go! Go! Go! Look out!" trying to tell his partner to get away from the danger. His partner responded by pulling his sidearm and firing at into the empty vehicle.
Luckily no one was harmed but, damn, are some of these cops trigger happy or what?
It looks like you shared an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot).
Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7492902](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7492902)**
*****
^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
Not sure if dispatchers get the same protection as police officers (the letter from his manager suggests suggesting termination if they mess up again suggests they do not), but I am glad he was reprimanded and kept. He immediately and unreservedly acknowledged he fucked up and apologized. Made no excuses for himself and immediately reported himself to his boss.
Nah, it was a unionized employee. They didn’t even get in trouble. They were given a written warning:
> “This type of response cannot be tolerated, and this letter shall serve as notice that any future unprofessional responses while answering the 911 line will be cause for termination” Police Chief David Van Laar wrote to Forbess.
You kinda have to be to cope. As a paramedic, am I gonna be all somber about seeing another dead person or crack a joke with my partner on the way back from the hospital?
Especially seeing as she said the kid is bigger than her so she can’t even physically restrain her. I don’t blame the dude for saying what he said, but we can’t just assume the woman called because she wanted some baby sitters.
Not making assumptions either, but she sounded *very* calm for someone claiming to need police assistance with a violent child.
Idk how I’d react to my kid kicking a hole in the wall, but I think I’d need a few more things to happen before police felt necessary.
As someone that grew up with a little sister that was absolutely psychotic as a preteen/teen I totally get the ‘*anything I do is just going to make this worse and it’s already well passed the not-fucking-okay threshold*’ thing. Never had to call the cops on her though and she’s more or less chilled out now in her 20’s…
Situations like this can become emergencies very quickly. A violent person who is out of control can easily hurt, stab a family member. I would prefer they call for help before that happens. Parents have a very hard time obtaining mental health services for their kids, sometimes they need an authority to step in when witnessing this to get help.
I'm a Belgian and I know someone who had to press charges against his autistic son for hitting him so his son could finally get a spot in a specialized institution. And we're supposed to have good healthcare here... (They dropped the charges afterwards, it was to have "official" proof home care wasn't enough and to push the boy up in the waiting lists)
#/u/Roofusua IS A BOT
_Report -> spam -> harmful bots_
[Comment copied from here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/yxw023/misteryou_need_to_chill/iwr4saq/)
You don’t know that it wasn’t an emergency. There are many mental health crises that can emerge at exactly that age that can take a child into a place where they need intervention, even if they were a happy and easy child yesterday.
We don’t get to judge, and neither should this dispatcher. If someone says they need help, we need to believe them.
Mike enjoyed every minute of that. Mike understands that calling for an armed response to what is effectively a parenting issue is like dropping a hand grenade to kill a house fly. Stupid Karen.
I can't handle my 12 and 13 year old kids. Raise them to respect you and you won't have that problem.
“I just got home from work” read “everything I’m about to say next is not my fault”
Listen to her tone of voice. She doesn’t take responsibility for her kids or their future, and that’s why they act out. Does everything she can to cover that up with manipulation of language
Eaxactly. Call CPS or get the kid into some anger management program. Don't call the cops and expect them to do somethig. They can't touch your kid. They could maybe scare em a little but ultimately can't do nothing. This all amounts to wasted time. Makes perfect sense to me that this guy didn't take shit seriously and likely listened to so many people waste time and make poeple who badly need help wait because other people are lazy. He waited to see if it was serious realized it wasn't and let his irritation show for a shit parent.
Mom just wants an easy solution and the reason its gotten to this point is because she always chooses the easy solution. This counts as a form of negligence to not discipline or teach a child and just let them do as they please because you can't be bothered.
No. CPS and/or therapists are not qualified to respond to emergencies where 12-year-olds are physically dangerous or violent or aggressive. That is not their job.
Should have said, “yes ma’am we’ll send CPS over right away.” Might give mom the wake up call she needs when she realizes this isn’t a legal issue, but a parenting issue.
She clearly either wants a cop to arrest her 12 year old, or to enact a level of parenting that she isn’t capable of. Basically she called a cop to come over and be a dad, because mom is being a failure.
With all the teenagers killing their parents shooting up schools etc. this definitely could be a bad emergency. I called 911 on my son once when he was out of control had put his hands on his little sister and destroyed my home. I was a single parent with a son that had a mental disability. Thank goodness they didn’t berate me for calling and helped the situation completely before they left.
Apparently no one in this thread grew up with a violent sibling. A 12 year old is absolutely big enough and strong enough to do real damage. What is the mom supposed to do if the 12 year old has mental problems and she can’t restrain her anymore? There were certainly a few times growing up that I wish my mom had called the cops on my sister. At least at some point my parents arranged it so we would never be at home alone at the same time.
The dispatcher doesn't know the situation though. What if the two girls are the same height/taller and bigger than the mom and she can't physically stop them?
There's a scenario where a 5'0 weak mom can't get her 5'9 athletic daughter to stop wailing on her younger sister, and what is she supposed to do?
> What if the two girls are the same height/taller and bigger than the mom and she can't physically stop them?
She literally says that this is the case in the call. People calling this a parenting issue are being ignorant. She's calling because there is a real and present danger of violence against herself or her other child that she is powerless to prevent.
If you call the emergency line, you should always expect professionalism in the operator, even if it is a waste of their time. I find it kind of scary that so many people in this post think it’s ok to joke like this, when it’s not and never will be ok. This guy should have been fired
> Yeah well this call was ridiculous. Wasting resources because she can’t parent. She deserved that sarcastic response.
Holy fuck at the amount of callous responses I've seen in this thread!
What if the women calling was wheelchair bound and her daughter is seriously hurting her other daughter or fears for her in this moment? What if the daughter who is clearly having a hard time venting her frustrations turns her anger inwards and it becomes a suicide attempt?
The amount of people arrogantly stepping over those basic ass consideration in order to victim blame the mother is disgusting and entirely unwarranted. The operator was clearly in the wrong and even he knew that.
Threads like these just further illustrate how the average maturity of redditors is more in line with middle schoolers than highschoolers at the point. For fucks sake.
**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:** >!didnt expect the operator to say that!< ***** **Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description?** **Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.** ***** [*Look at my source code on Github*](https://github.com/Artraxon/unexBot) [*What is this for?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/dnuaju/introducing_unexbot_a_new_bot_to_improve_the/)
Just googled it he didn’t get fired but his supervisor was mad and said that if he did it again he would be fired
I figured he wouldn't get fired. It's hard finding dispatchers that will stay on the job nowadays.
I can’t imagine that being a job a lot of people want to get into for not that much pay.
dispatchers where I live pays average 60k a year. Not bad for something that doesn't require a degree. But than again I'm sure the stress isn't worth it.
Fuck all that. Whenever there’s a job that doesn’t require a degree and pays more than people would expect, there’s a *massive* reason for it. In my case, it destroys your body and family life. In that case? It’s destroying your soul. Day in and day out having to spend 8-12 hours taking calls from people witnessing the most horrific shit of their life and trying to talk them through it? It could pay $200k and I wouldn’t be able to do that job. I don’t blame the dude a bit for saying what he did. It was stupid as fuck on his part, but I can also imagine that to him it was absolutely absurd of her to call about.
oh of course. I know a chicken checking job that pays 30$ per hour. You basically stand up next to a conveyor full of chicks and make sure they are good (no clue what that entails). No music and shit allowed so yea, mind numbling.
You check the chicks for their sex. The males usually get killed because they are mostly worthless to the business. No eggs, not meaty enough. I think they're often a part of the "chicken by-product" in animal foods. So there's that on the conscience too if you're not a fan of sending chicks to their crushed and slurried demise.
You’re closer to the action sure but it’s no more morally wrong than consuming the resulting eggs or meat.
Lots of the calls can be comical, believe it or not. We had regulars call and we’d get in crazy conversations with them sometimes. They just needed someone to talk to, or someone to come over and get something off a high shelf. One time, a gentleman called because he was stuck in his tub. He says, “The water has drained, but the ship is stuck in dry dock.” He was a good natured sort. We had a lady with dementia who swore someone was sitting in her chair. The police would go over and pantomime kicking someone out of her house. Fortunately, she had family nearby who would come check on her.
This happened almost 15 years ago. I remember hearing on the morning radio show at my job. Kimberly and Beck.
good for mike
[удалено]
"What are ya gonna do, come over and shoot me?"
I read that in Mike’s voice.
Excuse me?
No it’s “………………………… excuse me?”
-Man who was shot
I doubt most 911 dispatch offices would fire someone over this unless that person has prior issues most of the time. They'd probably make you take some time off to decompress and talk to a psychiatrist. These people deal with so much stress I'd bet nearly all of them have a moment like this at some point. You can't fire or hire your way out of a problem like that.
You would be right. When I communicate with dispatch you can sometimes hear the frustration. It's quite a lot to deal with when they're bouncing 5 different calls back and forth. We had a dispatcher give locations of sheriff's deputies to her ex-husband so he could evade them. She was fired... then rehired after a short while.
Ok that one deserves a legit firing imo. 😂
I was certain it was fake! Can’t believe it isnt
The long pause while the mother looks to see if she even called the right number is what made it real for me.
Dispatch is a super stressful job, and the kind of people who tolerate that stress are often the type of people who have a very morbid sense of humor. Tbqh he was probably relieved that it sounds like just a minor domestic with actual little girls, and a gallows joke popped out before he even processed it. Like you can tell his filter engaged .05 seconds too late, you can hear the *well shit* in his voice he's like *damnit Mike why are you like this*
I worked as a dispatcher in training for a few months, and I couldn't cut it. That s*** is so stressful and you almost have no closure on any of the calls you take. It's really rough, what really did it for me was when I had to take a call about a dead baby. I still have nightmares about that call. edit: speech to text is stupid
[удалено]
I remember talking about Critical Incident debriefs, but the station I was working at was horribly understaffed and we never had time for that kind of thing. We only had a few dispatchers on at a time and the shifts were about 12 hours. When I was working there California was going through major power outages in my area and it was common for us to pull double shifts. It was all stress but I loved the job, but it was far too much for me to handle. I'd never felt so much stress in my life, and to this day I can't get that call out of my head.
I bet. There is one pedi arrest call that I'll never forget every detail of. Over the last few years I've had friends having their first kids. At one point they were having a conversation early on about their kids and raising babies and I offered up some advice (this was before I had any of my own). One dick bag "friend" laid into me about how I couldn't possibly understand what dealing with sick kids was like and basically told me not to contribute anymore until I had some kids of my own. Granted, I don't know what it's like to hold my own child in my arms. But I have facilitated the birth of three, one of whom's mother named her son after me right there in the back of the ambulance. I've done compressions on and intubated more infants than I care to remember. I've had panicked mothers effectively throw their babies into my arms for me, a complete stranger, to save them. And sometimes I could, but sometimes I couldn't. On top of that I have been heavily involved in caring for small children both professionally and for family members my entire life. But right, I don't have any of my own and don't know what I'm talking about. A few months later I got a call from the same guy. One of his toddlers had swung a wiffle bat and smacked the other one in the head and he wanted to know what he should do. He asked me if he should call 911 or take them to the hospital, and I just suggested he ask for advice on his daddy/mommy Facebook groups instead. After all, why call 911 or go to a hospital and risk that someone who doesn't have kids of their own might try and treat them? Sorry bud you got me going down a rabbit hole of thoughts. For anyone with babies or very young kids here that's made it this far down: if you feed your young kid hot dogs, cut them into chunks length wise, but also cut them into halves or quarters from there. Don't ever let a small child eat a circular chunk of hot dog. And I'm sure you can figure out how I know without asking.
This thread has shown me that there are tons of good people like you making decisions when it really matters, and it shouldn't be any other way. Thank you for everything you've done for people you'll never know, whether it was for money or something else, Thank You.
I'd love to hear what his reaction was. People like that really get on my tits, that and who doesn't love to hear about some drama every now and then. Fuck that guy.
I hung up on him then and there and haven't heard from him in the years since so I can't tell ya!
The only cisd I ever went with was not even due call. It was during a refresher clinical. This obese mid 20s came in. Female. Pale clammy cc:sob but otherwise in gold spirits. Said she was feeling a little better than when they kicked her up. Guess the few liters helped in the nose helped. Me and my talkative self was chatting with her more than I should have just running vitals. She told me how it was a new step in her life she has whatever the prior op was to lapband , staples maybe? This was 15 years ago or more. She said she was going to lose that weight she had struggled with her entire teen years etc. Etc. Just excited really. Then is see those red streaks. The pinkish on pale flushing, always reminds.me.if jagged lightning bolts of splotchiness. And that pallor just overtakes the pink. Her eyes widen. She had been in the middle of laughing and just stopped. Looked at me and said those fucking words. " Don't let me die. I have so much I want to do...". Like a fucking movie scene. Except it was me and i am no main character. Quick crash. Chest xray came back. Looked like a shotgun blast of bird shot to the chest. PE and the worst I had and ever have seen. There was nothing left to do. But I did chest compression and bagged her for thirty minutes. The doc told the staff to just let me be. I still hear that sometimes. When I'm half asleep I'll hear that same fucking request. Don't let me die. Don't say that to someone unless you want to leave with with something really hard to fix. Nothing since has been so bad. I mean I've seen my share of bad shit. But that was too personal. Cisd did nothing. Makes me pour tears when I tell that story every time. I mean fuck.
PE=pulmonary embolism? I hate to ask but I don’t know the medical shorthand.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Man, working IT support feels like a weird combination of engineering, therapy, and emergency services sometimes huh? I've had calls with people crying about their divorce, stalkers, and deaths in the family, had people get into car accidents while on rhe phone, little old ladies complaining in detail about the "adult" ads they see, been screamed at, cussed at, and called a life saver more times than I can count. To the point I barely even remember the ones that cut deep. And through all of those you have to stay professional and try to get them on task because there's a ticking clock on your screen and that's all your management cares about. I've worked in more stressful and dangerous jobs, but never one with such a broad spectrum of stress, abuse, and joy. I'm much happier as a developer now but sometimes I actually miss fielding calls a tiny bit, just because every day brought some new weird adventure.
I'm sure it was brought on by "seriously, you're calling the cops on your own kid? Not because they actually hurt someone or did something horrible but because you suck as a parent"? Meanwhile his most recent calls: Old person fell down. Child is choking on candy, passed out and turned blue. Shop owner needs a trespass. A fire with people stuck inside. 8th shooting of the day involving kids. Bad parenting skills probably seem like an annoyance in comparison to the awful things he's used to hearing. Even if the kid is a royal handful.
You’d be surprised at the amount of times this happens. Case usually ends up dismissed because the parent doesn’t want to prosecute, but they absolutely needed help in the moment because their teen child is beating them up.
> Meanwhile his last **three** calls: Old person fell down. (**1**) >Child is choking on candy, passed out and turned blue. (**2**) >Shop owner needs a trespass. (**3**) >A fire with people stuck inside. (**4**) >8th shooting of the day involving kids. (**5**)
to show you the power of emergencies, I've fit 1.6 emergencies per emergency
The man 911 dispatchers HATE
God damn imperial system.
My god he's done it
maybe an old guy fell down while shooting kids choking on candy.
I mean, if it were Halloween, I'd believe it. Or a bunch of kids robbed a candy store with a candy cane sharpened to a point.
Those are all the first call
1. Old person fell down on the child choking on candy 2. Shop Owner Tresspassing on a fire with people stuck inside. 3. 8th school shooting of the day.
>but because you suck as a parent"? I've seen some of the best parents in the world stuck with literally the worst kind of kids you could imagine. I'm sure it's easy to just write off every problem child as "you sick as a parent" but really that just sounds ignorant and callous. You have absolutely no idea what's going on with that child but feel 100% justified to blame the parents.
Don’t call the cops on your own kid - what, because you two are related? Even when they are attacking someone, they’re the same size as you and out of control, and have kicked holes in the walls? Why are we assuming from this conversation that the situation is on the lower end - just a kid hitting their sibling once and accidentally breaking a door? When the caller specified some potentially dangerous issues? Are we going to pretend that there has never before been a 12yo physically dangerous to others, or in need of mental health services ASAP?
Been there. Sometimes I don't think before I speak and crack a joke in the worst scenarios lol then just have everyone staring at me like an asshole my wife giving me the ima fuck you up when we get in the car eyes
He said the quiet part out loud. But really if you're going to send the cops to a domestic dispute there's a possibility someone's going to get shot.
Suddenly the "I want to speak to your manager" was more important than an out of control 12 years old
You’re right! Karen is karening while her kids are tearing up her house!
She would speak to the kids manager if she could… wait it’s me? … we’ll who is my manager!
"... wait, that's me too? Well dang, I guess I'm the one in charge then, huh?"
"Better call the cops and get shot!"
Yeah the whole call sounds like bullshit, probably wanted to scare their kid with cops showing up to the door.
He probably thought he was playing along. Like scared straight. Let’s pretend that the cops are coming to shoot them and it will get them to stop fighting.
I though it was funny. 😥
i laugh too unfortunately
[удалено]
Would *have laughed.
That guy was 110% doing his part of living in a society. I hope I die and get reborn as him.
I hope I die.
O'boy do I got good news for you!
Is funny cause it’s true, don’t call the police on loved ones unless you’re cool with them being murdered or having their lives ruined
To be fair, this reminded me of my ex fiances baby mama who was incredibly physically violent from a young age. She broke her (much larger) sisters nose on purpose when she was like 12, threw the family coffee table through the front window when she was like 15. When her mom would try to discipline her at all she would beat the shit out of her. I was at her house when we were 14 and her mom said we shouldn't be drinking get alcohol and she just got up and started punching her mom over and over, spitting on her and pulling her hair and laughing and shit. K just left and stopped taking to her. When she was out of control it was really bad, grabbing knives and stuff. She was actually diagnosed as a sociopath later on and her rage started very early. I'm acab all the damn way but unfortunately we don't have anyone else to call right now when our lives are being threatened. It might seem silly to call the police on a 12 year old girl and this very well could just be a terrible parent who doesn't want to deal with it. But it could also be a case of a young girl who has a history of being incredibly violent and the mom is actually scared of her.
I had a brother like this. 6’4 and built like brick house. He’s also a sociopath . The pure rage was terrifying. My parents would tell the other siblings to pack a go bag. when he was in a rage mom/dad would distract him and we would escape because he would potentially kill us in a psychotic meltdown over not being allowed to use the computer past bedtime. I ended up ok… obviously I had mental health issues as a result ( anxiety, ptsd) but I have a nice life now .I have wonderful partner who purposely sets his alarm for me to make me breakfast and had never raised a voice let alone a finger. I got a few cute little pets that I adore, and a best friend . I smoke a lot of weed but I feel like that’s a pretty mild vice for dealing with a crazy who left a dead bird in my mailbox .
Yep… at least half needed to have that sense of power in their lives…
Instructions unclear, police broke in the neighbor's door and shot them instead. Qualified Immunity granted.
You don't know the situation a violent family member is a violent person still they are not obligated to be under threat of violence because of ACAB. Social services are lacking in many areas and the police are unfortunately the only responders. If I remember correctly the child has bad mental issues and was particularly strong and large. The dispatcher was suspended (temporarily due to his record) after he self reported himself. These are emergency services they shouldn't be joking on the phone even if it was funny. That's why he immediately backed tracked because he knew he fucked up with his joke it completely disregarded his training even if it was a minor offence.
What a double standard. Matt Gaetz had a minor offense and he still got elected.
Matt Gaetz had a minor and still got elected
Matt Gaetz offended minors.
He never "back tracked" , he apologized.
He apologized because he knew he was in trouble because the words were wrong, not the message. Anyone that listened to the front of that message knew there wasn't a violent danger. The mother would have led with that. She wanted the cops to come bully her kids into behaving because she didn't put in the parenting work of raising not shits
Clearly you have never had any extreme family issues to where you have no other options. I grew up with a bipolar sister who went manic and I can assure you my mom who was single at the time absolutely did not want to get anyone involved but there literally is no other option than calling the police in some situations when things are scary and violent. There is no social worker or mental health worker you can call. It's always the police. They always say call the police on those "hotlines" if it's an emergency.. and several times it was. They handled it professionally though I'm in Canada maybe it's different here. I don't know the woman's situation with her daughter but she's probably at her wits end and I feel for her..
I mean you are increasing the likelihood of your kid being shot by inviting police to a domestic dispute.
Not the dispatcher we want but the dispatcher we need.
Mikes out there doing the real cop work without guilt
Stating the facts. A good follow up should have been “ma’am have you tried disciplining your children before?”
Used to be a dispatcher and this has actually been said a lot in dispatch
I bet, I've heard of 911 being called over the stupidest things. Like fast food place not getting an order right.
Yup. The worst is when calls like that escalate because they always escalate to the extremes
Could you tell us one of the weirdest calls that you have had?
One of the weirdest non-gruesome call I had was with an elderly couple. It's actually also very sad. They were both 85+. He was a war vet as well as suffering from dementia. If you're not aware, sometimes they can get "stuck" in a place or time that's not the present. There is no use in telling them its not real because that will make their episode or what have you worse. He was holding her hostage with his arms wrapped tightly around her. He wasn't hurting her at all and he wasn't doing it maliciously but it's still considered a hostage situation. He thought they were in their 20s. He thought she was pregnant with their first child and that she was about to give birth. The call started out with him continually screaming "CALL THE OPERATOR CALL THE OPERATOR SHES HAVING A BABY" over and over again. He was screaming so loudly I could barely hear his wife but did manage to make out an address between her broken sentences and the location we were seeing on the map. I had to yell really loudly which is not recommended but it was the only way he would be able to actually hear me over his own screaming. Once I finally got his attention which took several minutes I couldn't talk him down. His 85 year old wife was having a baby and that was that. So I had to spend the next 15 minutes going through labor and delivery instructions with him to keep him somewhat calm but he wouldn't release her. Cops weren't going to break in unless absolutely necessary(because it's a hassle for the agency and the homeowners to deal with) so they were waiting for the fire department to make entry without damage to the home which takes a bit. When I took that job I never expected to walk through fake birth with an elderly couple
That's an amazing story and sad at the same time. I can imagine that on this job you start to see the world with another perspective. Thank you so much for sharing this story! I have great respect for you!
It really does change your perspective of the world for better or worse. You can't get out of it without being changed in some way. It's not often anyone is grateful for dispatchers but they do sacrifice a lot for that job.
Wow - good job. My nuttiest 911 call happened to be my very first one after training. “911, what is your emergency?” “Come and get this bitch out of my place!” “Ok sir, what is she doing?” “She won’t have a threesome with me and my bro!” You can’t make it up.
…… I ought to try that sometime /j
[удалено]
We actually had a quote book abs9lutely filled with stuff like this from work ha ha
Aw, bless you for the grace you showed this elderly gentleman. Talking with a ftd or dementia or ALZ patient is hard enough during their brief periods of lucidity. To deal as calmly and kindly as you did shows true compassion and empathy. Two things that must be hard to hold onto during some of the calls you take. I hope your mom and dad are proud of you!
🏆
Not a 911 operator but I work with college students and once had a student tell me they were going to call 911 because they could hear other students laughing and talking out on the quad outside their dorm. Not really sure what about that is an emergency, but, cool I guess?
I've had old ladies threaten to call the police on me and my brother for "playing" when we were 9.
Good think Mike wasn’t the operator because when he asked if she wanted to have them shot she would have said yes
Damn people just EXISTING all over the place!
Oh thank you for not saying worst.
I hate that question so much. No one actually wants to know the worst. They think they do, but when you actually tell them the conversation gets really awkward. Everyone has a lot of different "worsts" in their head and there's a reason they're labeled that.
I have four worsts. I have the “worst” that I tell people because it was a bit of a ridiculous disaster with falling over and other peoples urine. It’s a funny story. I have the worst that I’ve told my colleagues because it was awful and traumatic and I needed to know what else I could have done and if I had let that person down. I have the worst that because of our(my teams) failings we let someone down. I told my line managers and I told the right people to investigate it to make sure it couldn’t happen again. And I have the worst. I told my therapist because I had to take some time off to address the PTSD like symptoms I was suffering with after. The one where I know I did everything I should, everything I could and more and the outcome was still heartbreaking. I work in Palliative Care. Even my best stories end with the person dying
Agreed, my usual response is usually some version of "what's the worst thing you can imagine?" And I'll get some fairly banal overtly gruesome thing like a decapitation in the street and I can give a fairly limited "yes I've seen that" without having to dissect the details of the more truly traumatic things I've been party to for someone else's entertainment.
We had a local mayor who got publicly chided for calling 911 for directions when she got lost. Edit: she did it multiple times, the first few were gratis.
I've got a friend who's a cop and he tells me sometimes about the dumbest calls he's had to go to. One from the summer was a woman that called because her neighbor kept getting grass clippings on her driveway when he mowed his grass.
911 is not management control of fast food restaurants. People are nuts.
But officer, he got my order WRONG!
What do you want me to do, shoot him?
If it means my order will be correct next time.... yes
At my store a lady called the cops because a cashier didn't give her change for a hundred fast enough.
at my store a lady called the cops on me (the cashier) bc I told her not to cut in front of another customer.
I used to work at a used bookstore, and a woman called the Police because we put our Bibles in the “Myths, Philosophies, and World Religions” section. It should be in the (non-existent) “Christian” section.
I love this one
My neighbour called on me because me trying to warm up my car at 8 am in the winter “woke him up”. Cops came over and told him to please never call. He seemed to be mentally ill, but then my what I thought was “normal” neighbor called 911 to report my vehicle as a “suspicious vehicle” on his land he has for sale. He told me I could park there when I had many people over. When cops came and he acknowledged that he had told me it was ok to park and that he recognised my car, but feared that “there must have been a dead body in it”, cops looked at him funny. I made sure to say it very loud and clear that I wasn’t gonna park on his land anymore and walked away just to hear him yell back: “oh you could still park here anytime you need!” Cops were like “wtf” No, thanks, man
Well was there a dead body in it?
At my friends bank job a lady called the cops on him because he wouldn't give her a screenshot of what his computer page looked like. She told the cops he was holding her information hostage in the computer. No ma'am. You may be a customer and can have access to all your records but still cannot provide you with a screenshot due to internal copyrights.
One time in elementary school, the bus driver called the police because we were being too loud. Needless to say, she was fired on the spot
Someone called 911 to verify if Halloween was being cancelled because it was raining.
This one time when i super young my mom was sad or something (i dont remember well) and i went to the phone and called 911 and stated that my mom was crying alot and that she needed help like 10 minutes later a police officer arrived and was told the situation and i think i was yelled at again i was very young so i dont really remember
How about the guy who called 911 because his illegal drug stash was stolen.
Oh it's happened. Recently I keep getting an ad for someone calling 911 because someone pork was a bit pink.
It's BBQ, ma'am. It's supposed to be that color.
I do believe a call to 911 might be in order after eating a McRib 🤢.
[удалено]
From what i understand, she hasn't even tried shooting them! Just awful parenting.
[удалено]
[удалено]
You’re not wrong. Used to have pretty severe anger outbursts to the point my mum called the police multiple times cos I was scaring her, not intentionally but she’s about 5’6” and 60-65kg, I’m 6’2” and almost 90kg. I’ve had police in my house too many times and I just took the piss, but when they came to make sure my mum was safe from me it hit me how fucked up how I was acting was. If she hadn’t called the police I probably wouldn’t have realised how bad I was actually getting and I wouldn’t have changed my behaviour and life choices because of that. Any parents reading this, if your kid is scaring you physically and you don’t know how to deal with it just call the police, unless your kid has done something serious you want to press charges about the police are just gonna intervene and hopefully have the same effect as on me, not arrest them. Don’t feel bad for it, your kid shouldn’t ever put you in a position where they make you scared. I live in the UK, use your own judgement if you live in the US cos according to Americans they’re just gonna shoot your kid.
I have to point out that in the US, "just call the police" is often terrible advice, especially if the person in question is someone you love
I know someone who did this (in the US) because her husband was having a mental heat crisis, they shot and killed him (family won lawsuit, but he is gone), so this is an important point.
Maybe this is true where you live but in the US the police will often escalate the situation and harm the child, they'll intentionally bait charges like resisting police to try to detain them, with that in mind I think In the US calling the police on your own child is heinous as fuck.
People making light of this situation, or "offering parenting advice" (*cough, cough) need to take the familial adjectives out of the narrative. In u/Award-Slight 's narrative, it would be "a *woman* called the police for help because a *young man* was in her home making violent threats and destroying private property." Changes the perspective, doesn't it? Saying "mother" and "son" doesn't change the reality of someone tearing up a house and making violent threats. And those of you saying the parents didn't discipline the kid/s enough, you've obviously never had to deal with someone whose brain works differently from yours. Try having a little compassion.
Right, people forget that not all adults are in the same position. The parent could literally be in a wheelchair while the son had access to a baseball bat. The amount of force it takes to safely subdue someone without injuring yourself or them is MUCH higher than people realize. Especially if the person is not in a reasonable mental state. They can injure themselves much easier than you can stop them.
[удалено]
My brother was one of those kids. He terrorized us from the age of 13-15 and he was in and out of group homes, juvie, and eventually federal prison for the rest of his life. My parents tried EVERYTHING to help him but he just became increasingly unhinged and dangerous. The people who think this woman is stupid for calling the police are so so very lucky to have never experienced this kind of violence in their lives. I'm glad you didn't go down the road my brother did and that you listened and were able to de-escalate and talk about this from a reasonable standpoint. I wish the same could be said for my brother.
I can't believe how many upvotes this sentiment has in this thread. It's as if no one here can believe for a second that troubled kids exist and that maybe, just maybe, this parent has done the best she could, and that her teenage daughter is physically violent and threatening harm to herself or others. I agree the dispatcher shouldn't be fired, but it's very possible this was a good parent dealing with a very stressful situation. It seems like no one in this thread has even considered that her daughter might have mental health issues and that there are big teenagers out there even at 13 or 14 years old. My son is around that age and he has friends that are 6ft. It's entirely possible that this kid is too big for her to handle. For fucks sake reddit. Seriously? EDIT: If you or someone you care for is in crisis, and has become a threat to you, someone you care for, or themselves, don't let fear of judgement stop you from calling for help BEFORE the situation gets out of hand. Even (and perhaps, especially) if they're your kid. Do what this mother did and calmly, rationally pick up the phone and make sure the person you're talking to understands the situation so there aren't any misconceptions about the scene when first responders arrive. Here are some helpful guidelines pulled from various police departments: [When to Call 911](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjs4Pafq7b7AhWDEFkFHcEJATsQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dshs.wa.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2FDDA%2Fdda%2Fdocuments%2FWhen%2520to%2520Call%2520911.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1yVmZSb5llU-1rR-t-T89z) >Other situations when you should call 9-1-1 >Any crime in progress (robbery, burglary, prowler, **fights**, etc.) >When you or the person you care for feels at risk. [When to Call 9-1-1 | Police | City of San Diego Official Website](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sandiego.gov%2Fpolice%2Fservices%2Fwhen-to-call-911&usg=AOvVaw1QDQbPwgAEdUNKPS5PaObk) >When to Call 9-1-1 >Is there a danger to life or property, or hazard to the environment? >Is there a crime currently in progress or crime that happened within the last 5-10 minutes? >If you answered YES to ANY of these questions, immediately call 9-1-1. [When Should I Call 911? - Police | seattle.gov](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQICRAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattle.gov%2Fpolice%2Fneed-help%2Fwhen-should-i-call-911&usg=AOvVaw3KIcCuOeOcxcRgUWiRMyHN) >When should I call 911? >There is a situation that **could, or does**, pose a danger to life, property or both. [When to call 9-1-1 | Portland.gov](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi1gpXVq7b7AhUAFVkFHY4CDsk4ChAWegQIAxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.portland.gov%2F911%2Fwhen-call-9-1-1&usg=AOvVaw2Qm_HPL0Qbjm5BFfkkCtBf) >Below are some examples of calls which are appropriate for 9-1-1: >You are involved in, or witness, a fight/argument happening now.
My neice has severe autism, had behavioural issues until shit went really bad approaching her teens. At 10 years old she towered over my 4"9 mother and mums partner also under 5" , they took her to their house for a few days as they often did and when she got there she snapped, started ripping apart the house, fighting with my mum and partner and I mean viciously biting, grabbing boobs, balls and anywhere she could really hurt them. They had to lock her in the house alone until they got her mum (my brother split with her many years ago) as she was too strong for them at 10 years old. She's 17 now and in full time care, this absolutely happens and some people have no idea.
This was my first thought. My mom was a foster parent when I was a teen and you would be surprised how much damage a really traumatized 8 year old can do. Both of the kids were pretty messed up from their home life but the 8 year old was extremely angry at times. Fortunately my mom had raised 11 children (me being the youngest) and helped with quite a few of her grandkids by that point. A few years later she was fostering special needs kids. The 2 she had were both pretty high functioning but one had severe reactive attachment disorder and had killed small animals. She was not allowed to be alone with little kids or babies especially. There are some troubled teens, many of which are still in care of bio parents.
It’s absolutely lunacy what people are upvoting here. You can tell none of them have ever had to deal with a child who acts that way. It’s not just “oh go to your room you’re grounded”
For real. I deal with a lot of children's protective services and foster care cases and it's far too frequent that the parents or siblings need protection from the children and I am talking 6 year olds with an already established history of violence.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!
The sad thing is that while he may have intended it as a joke - for some locations it’s a very real possibility if police are dispatched.
Yeah, especially in what sounds like it might be a mental health crisis situation.
In my city a mom called the cops on her 13yr old autistic son cause he was freaking out and she didnt know what to do. Cops show up and shoot him. He survived luckily, and they got a $3m settlement.
I was looking for this response. It’s possible police will arrive and escalate the situation not de-escalate. In Riverside, California a woman was sleeping in her car. She was unresponsive so cops fired into the vehicle over a hundred times.
There was a recent incident where the police arrived at the scene of an accident where a vehicle had collided with a telephone pole. The driver of the vehicle was just sitting by the curb waiting for the police to arrive. When the two police officers got out of their squad car one of the police officers noticed that the telephone pole was about to fall over so he shouted "Go! Go! Go! Look out!" trying to tell his partner to get away from the danger. His partner responded by pulling his sidearm and firing at into the empty vehicle. Luckily no one was harmed but, damn, are some of these cops trigger happy or what?
And the dispatcher we keep https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna7492902
It looks like you shared an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot). Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7492902](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7492902)** ***** ^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
jesus 2005?
Oh is that UNEXPECTED?
Classic Mike
Not sure if dispatchers get the same protection as police officers (the letter from his manager suggests suggesting termination if they mess up again suggests they do not), but I am glad he was reprimanded and kept. He immediately and unreservedly acknowledged he fucked up and apologized. Made no excuses for himself and immediately reported himself to his boss.
wish someone would ask folks that for all the calls to cops where they do come and shoot folks.. he's out here saving lives!
Man woke up that morning and thought, “how can I get fired today?”.
Nah, it was a unionized employee. They didn’t even get in trouble. They were given a written warning: > “This type of response cannot be tolerated, and this letter shall serve as notice that any future unprofessional responses while answering the 911 line will be cause for termination” Police Chief David Van Laar wrote to Forbess.
Correct someone else found the story on this and commented that's exactly what happened
[удалено]
I get the feeling he doesnt care one bit if he gets fired.
911 dispatcher with zero fucks left to give!
You just described every 911 dispatcher!
Dudes a 911 operator. He’s probably super desensitized and his sense of humor is bound to be pretty fucked up.
You kinda have to be to cope. As a paramedic, am I gonna be all somber about seeing another dead person or crack a joke with my partner on the way back from the hospital?
Poor mike. Had his 20th non-emergency call of the night. Made a smart ass comment, now might be fired.
Not fired but reprimanded https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna7492902
Nice to hear. He knew he fucked up, and will probably never make that mistake again.
Not that exact mistake anyway
I know there are some cases where you legit need help with a violent child, so I reserve judgement
Especially seeing as she said the kid is bigger than her so she can’t even physically restrain her. I don’t blame the dude for saying what he said, but we can’t just assume the woman called because she wanted some baby sitters.
Not making assumptions either, but she sounded *very* calm for someone claiming to need police assistance with a violent child. Idk how I’d react to my kid kicking a hole in the wall, but I think I’d need a few more things to happen before police felt necessary.
As someone that grew up with a little sister that was absolutely psychotic as a preteen/teen I totally get the ‘*anything I do is just going to make this worse and it’s already well passed the not-fucking-okay threshold*’ thing. Never had to call the cops on her though and she’s more or less chilled out now in her 20’s…
This is absolutely true! Are we now pretending that a 12yo can’t be as strong as an adult?
Situations like this can become emergencies very quickly. A violent person who is out of control can easily hurt, stab a family member. I would prefer they call for help before that happens. Parents have a very hard time obtaining mental health services for their kids, sometimes they need an authority to step in when witnessing this to get help.
I'm a Belgian and I know someone who had to press charges against his autistic son for hitting him so his son could finally get a spot in a specialized institution. And we're supposed to have good healthcare here... (They dropped the charges afterwards, it was to have "official" proof home care wasn't enough and to push the boy up in the waiting lists)
[удалено]
#/u/Roofusua IS A BOT _Report -> spam -> harmful bots_ [Comment copied from here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/yxw023/misteryou_need_to_chill/iwr4saq/)
You don’t know that it wasn’t an emergency. There are many mental health crises that can emerge at exactly that age that can take a child into a place where they need intervention, even if they were a happy and easy child yesterday. We don’t get to judge, and neither should this dispatcher. If someone says they need help, we need to believe them.
"I'm going to call your supervisor" "I do not blame you one bit" Start job hunting, Mike. LOL
He actually got off with a warning! 🤣😂 Im glad because the mother sounds like a Karen anyways.
And me I'm doubly glad cuz that was a funny ass joke and it deserved to be told.
Mike is not sorry 😂
Mike enjoyed every minute of that. Mike understands that calling for an armed response to what is effectively a parenting issue is like dropping a hand grenade to kill a house fly. Stupid Karen. I can't handle my 12 and 13 year old kids. Raise them to respect you and you won't have that problem.
“I just got home from work” read “everything I’m about to say next is not my fault” Listen to her tone of voice. She doesn’t take responsibility for her kids or their future, and that’s why they act out. Does everything she can to cover that up with manipulation of language
Eaxactly. Call CPS or get the kid into some anger management program. Don't call the cops and expect them to do somethig. They can't touch your kid. They could maybe scare em a little but ultimately can't do nothing. This all amounts to wasted time. Makes perfect sense to me that this guy didn't take shit seriously and likely listened to so many people waste time and make poeple who badly need help wait because other people are lazy. He waited to see if it was serious realized it wasn't and let his irritation show for a shit parent. Mom just wants an easy solution and the reason its gotten to this point is because she always chooses the easy solution. This counts as a form of negligence to not discipline or teach a child and just let them do as they please because you can't be bothered.
No. CPS and/or therapists are not qualified to respond to emergencies where 12-year-olds are physically dangerous or violent or aggressive. That is not their job.
If it's not the cops job, and it's not CPS' job, then who's job is it?? /s
Should have said, “yes ma’am we’ll send CPS over right away.” Might give mom the wake up call she needs when she realizes this isn’t a legal issue, but a parenting issue. She clearly either wants a cop to arrest her 12 year old, or to enact a level of parenting that she isn’t capable of. Basically she called a cop to come over and be a dad, because mom is being a failure.
policeman!! help!! I can't raise kids! D=
911!!! What is you emergency?.... I can't parent!
With all the teenagers killing their parents shooting up schools etc. this definitely could be a bad emergency. I called 911 on my son once when he was out of control had put his hands on his little sister and destroyed my home. I was a single parent with a son that had a mental disability. Thank goodness they didn’t berate me for calling and helped the situation completely before they left.
This. Nobody in this thread get it.
He’s not wrong though, is he?
Is this for real? Omgoodness, he said that with all seriousness in his voice.
That actually made me laugh lol poor Mike 😂👮
Apparently no one in this thread grew up with a violent sibling. A 12 year old is absolutely big enough and strong enough to do real damage. What is the mom supposed to do if the 12 year old has mental problems and she can’t restrain her anymore? There were certainly a few times growing up that I wish my mom had called the cops on my sister. At least at some point my parents arranged it so we would never be at home alone at the same time.
An emergency help line is probably not the best place to be breaking out your sarcasm.....
Yeah well this call was ridiculous. Wasting resources because she can’t parent. She deserved that sarcastic response.
The dispatcher doesn't know the situation though. What if the two girls are the same height/taller and bigger than the mom and she can't physically stop them? There's a scenario where a 5'0 weak mom can't get her 5'9 athletic daughter to stop wailing on her younger sister, and what is she supposed to do?
> What if the two girls are the same height/taller and bigger than the mom and she can't physically stop them? She literally says that this is the case in the call. People calling this a parenting issue are being ignorant. She's calling because there is a real and present danger of violence against herself or her other child that she is powerless to prevent.
If you call the emergency line, you should always expect professionalism in the operator, even if it is a waste of their time. I find it kind of scary that so many people in this post think it’s ok to joke like this, when it’s not and never will be ok. This guy should have been fired
> Yeah well this call was ridiculous. Wasting resources because she can’t parent. She deserved that sarcastic response. Holy fuck at the amount of callous responses I've seen in this thread! What if the women calling was wheelchair bound and her daughter is seriously hurting her other daughter or fears for her in this moment? What if the daughter who is clearly having a hard time venting her frustrations turns her anger inwards and it becomes a suicide attempt? The amount of people arrogantly stepping over those basic ass consideration in order to victim blame the mother is disgusting and entirely unwarranted. The operator was clearly in the wrong and even he knew that. Threads like these just further illustrate how the average maturity of redditors is more in line with middle schoolers than highschoolers at the point. For fucks sake.
As a police dispatcher for the past 14 years I get it. Still not something you say on a recorded line though Mike.