The lighter side of a 911 Operators day.

The lighter side of a 911 Operators day.

Life as a 911 operator or dispatcher can be incredibly stressful even at the best of times. The majority of people calling are in legitimately dangerous situations, usually the most dangerous situation they have ever been in until this point in their lives. 911 Operators have to remain calm, cool and collected through each and every phone call to keep everyone involved safe. While this can wear them down a study from Ontario, Canada recently released a list of the Top 10 Most Ridiculous 911 Calls. I’ve listed them below.

10. In the February and in the middle of a raging snow storm a woman called to file a complaint; citing that the “snow plows were making too much noise”

9. Entitled much? A 17 year old live at home teenager felt his mother not giving him money was worth a call to 911 enquiring if that sort of behavior allowed him to legally disown his own mother.

8. A homeowner called the police to report suspicious activity. A roll of carpet had been placed on his front lawn and he felt the police needed to investigate to get to the bottom of it. He cancelled the call when he realized his wife had been the culprit.

7. After being denied entrance to a club a woman called police. She had forgotten ID and felt it was within the police duties to travel to the club, run her name through the system and prove her age to the door man.

6. A man called 911 for his injured friend, as the dispatcher hung up the man was heard promising his friend it would be ok as he would “get rid of the dope”. The dispatcher made the decision to send police along with the ambulance.

5. A man called to report a “small lion” had just crossed the street in front of him, he also assured the 911 operator that he was not high, at that time.

4. A woman called 911 to request a police dispatch to remove her roommate from the premises. It seemed they’d been sharing a couch to sleep on and he refused to switch sides with her.

3. A man called 911 to report his car had been stolen. He gave the dispatcher an accurate description and the last known whereabouts of the vehicle. Police were dispatched but after a search went the man’s home to take down a full report. Imagine their surprise seeing the vehicle in the man’s driveway! It turned out he had seen a similar car travelling down the street and jumped to the conclusion it must be his and his must have been stolen.

2. Police were sent to a home for a domestic disturbance as screams and commotion were being heard from the residence. When they arrived it turned out the man and wife had been unable to agree on whether to play Wii or Xbox with the argument escalating and peaking when the man opened a new package of cigarettes while “gasp” there was already an existing open package.

1. A woman called 911 after arriving home with her delicious fast food hamburger, only to have her cats eat the burger before she got to it. She felt she was owed another hamburger but it wasn’t clear whether the cats owed her the hamburger, or the restaurant for making such a delicious burger a cat would eat it.