4 ms·

Admonishing someone for cursing in that situation is just nuts. I once called 911 for a traffic accident and I also got flustered when they kept asking for my

Admonishing someone for cursing in that situation is just nuts. I once called 911 for a traffic accident and I also got flustered when they kept asking for my address (I wasn’t involved) instead of telling me that someone is on the way. Ali l wanted to hear is “we have sent somebody”. Then it would have been much easier to answer other questions.

rwmj 7y ago
The one and only time I made an emergency call, I was right around the corner from my home but I couldn't describe where I was. I wasn't in any way injured (I was helping an old woman who had fallen and cracked her head on the pavement), but the call and situation completely flustered me. Quite eye-opening.
afarrell 7y ago
> I also got flustered when they kept asking for my address (I wasn’t involved) This is entirely reasonable. 1) Its a stressful situation 2) Your home address is irrelevant to the situation. But because they're asking, you assume they think its relevant[1]. So you're subconsciously worried that they are going to show up at your house because of the miscommunication. 3) You can't quite consciously put your finger on why you want them to stop thinking about your home address because its a stressful situation. [1] See Grice's 3rd maxim https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html
cs02rm0 7y ago
I've sort of had the opposite experience. I made a 999 (UK) call for a traffic accident - head on collision, one person dead at the scene, another died later, devastating scene on a winter's night with just what car lights were left, a horn stuck blaring and quite a bit of smoke in the air. I was at my home and heard it. Ran to a few hundred metres away and as I got there a nurse arrived too who by chance was driving that way. I made the call because I was pretty certain she'd handle the carnage better than I could. They answered and I explained there had been a head on car crash, the next question was Police, Fire or Ambulance? Which threw me a bit, I don't care who you send that can deal with this! I think I said Ambulance and then they sent all three anyway. They then asked what road I was on, it was a minor road and I couldn't remember the road name so I was trying to describe where it went from and to and how far along it was. The person answering the call seemed not to know the place names I was giving, my brain was working overtime trying to find references. It wasn't until the next day that I realised I should've just given my home address and they'd have found us easily.
- playworker 7y ago
  I had a similar experience when making a much less serious 999 call for a drunk dude we found passed out in the middle of a car park, it was only after I hung up that I noticed Google have some sort of feature which knew I was making a 999 call and was offering me information about my current location on screen - had no idea they did that though so didn't think to look at my phone screen...
  - feintruled 7y ago
    Wow, kudos to Google, a great feature! They really should publicise that more though, I would have had no idea either.
- rocqua 7y ago
  > the next question was Police, Fire or Ambulance? In the Netherlands I hade the same experience with my only call. I still get angry I had to make that decision. In fact I am pretty sure I got it wrong. In the end no one came and 4 hours later I got a call asking whether I still needed help. Thank god things had calmed down at that point, but that was pretty much luck. Had I made the right choice between police, ambulance or firefighters, a lot less luck would have been needed.
  - spookthesunset 7y ago
    In many cases when they’ve asked me that the next step was a quick transfer to the local police precinct dispatch or the local fire/medical dispatch. Dunnno what they do when they need to dispatch all of the above though...
    - rocqua 7y ago
      Indeeed. It seems that here, the emergency number is just for dispatch.
wutbrodo 7y ago
I made a 911 call once about someone yelling "GET AWAY FROM ME SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE" in an altercation across the street from my window. My address wasn't showing up properly in their database[1], so I started trying to say "they're homeless so the exact unit isn't necessary, let me give you cross streets" and she cut me off immediately with the most holier-than-thou delivery of "homeless people need help too". ....dude, _I_ called _you_. Obviously I'm on board with the idea that homeless people need help during emergencies just like anyone else. I get that dispatchers are people and people aren't perfect, and this lady's unprofessionalism didn't end up making much of a difference in this particular case, but I wonder how much gaps in training and competence bigger than these minor examples cost in terms of response time and lives. [1] Which is pretty concerning if I ever have an emergency...
andrewaylett 7y ago
The emergency services operators in the UK make it very clear -- should the situation warrant immediate attention -- that someone _is_ on the way before they go on to ask more questions or suggest action to take as appropriate. I'm quite glad to have only had to experience that once, even thinking about it has raised my heart rate. Non-emergency calls to the police will usually involve working out who you are at some point in the conversation; non-emergency calls to NHS24/NHS Direct will start off by taking contact details and triaging that you really are not an emergency case. If you drop off the line and they can't get back in touch with you, they've got enough information to make sure you're OK.

rwmj 7y ago

The one and only time I made an emergency call, I was right around the corner from my home but I couldn't describe where I was. I wasn't in any way injured (I was helping an old woman who had fallen and cracked her head on the pavement), but the call and situation completely flustered me. Quite eye-opening.

afarrell 7y ago

> I also got flustered when they kept asking for my address (I wasn’t involved) This is entirely reasonable. 1) Its a stressful situation 2) Your home address is irrelevant to the situation. But because they're asking, you assume they think its relevant[1]. So you're subconsciously worried that they are going to show up at your house because of the miscommunication. 3) You can't quite consciously put your finger on why you want them to stop thinking about your home address because its a stressful situation. [1] See Grice's 3rd maxim https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html

cs02rm0 7y ago

I've sort of had the opposite experience. I made a 999 (UK) call for a traffic accident - head on collision, one person dead at the scene, another died later, devastating scene on a winter's night with just what car lights were left, a horn stuck blaring and quite a bit of smoke in the air. I was at my home and heard it. Ran to a few hundred metres away and as I got there a nurse arrived too who by chance was driving that way. I made the call because I was pretty certain she'd handle the carnage better than I could. They answered and I explained there had been a head on car crash, the next question was Police, Fire or Ambulance? Which threw me a bit, I don't care who you send that can deal with this! I think I said Ambulance and then they sent all three anyway. They then asked what road I was on, it was a minor road and I couldn't remember the road name so I was trying to describe where it went from and to and how far along it was. The person answering the call seemed not to know the place names I was giving, my brain was working overtime trying to find references. It wasn't until the next day that I realised I should've just given my home address and they'd have found us easily.

playworker 7y ago
I had a similar experience when making a much less serious 999 call for a drunk dude we found passed out in the middle of a car park, it was only after I hung up that I noticed Google have some sort of feature which knew I was making a 999 call and was offering me information about my current location on screen - had no idea they did that though so didn't think to look at my phone screen...
- feintruled 7y ago
  Wow, kudos to Google, a great feature! They really should publicise that more though, I would have had no idea either.
rocqua 7y ago
> the next question was Police, Fire or Ambulance? In the Netherlands I hade the same experience with my only call. I still get angry I had to make that decision. In fact I am pretty sure I got it wrong. In the end no one came and 4 hours later I got a call asking whether I still needed help. Thank god things had calmed down at that point, but that was pretty much luck. Had I made the right choice between police, ambulance or firefighters, a lot less luck would have been needed.
- spookthesunset 7y ago
  In many cases when they’ve asked me that the next step was a quick transfer to the local police precinct dispatch or the local fire/medical dispatch. Dunnno what they do when they need to dispatch all of the above though...
  - rocqua 7y ago
    Indeeed. It seems that here, the emergency number is just for dispatch.

wutbrodo 7y ago

I made a 911 call once about someone yelling "GET AWAY FROM ME SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE" in an altercation across the street from my window. My address wasn't showing up properly in their database[1], so I started trying to say "they're homeless so the exact unit isn't necessary, let me give you cross streets" and she cut me off immediately with the most holier-than-thou delivery of "homeless people need help too". ....dude, _I_ called _you_. Obviously I'm on board with the idea that homeless people need help during emergencies just like anyone else. I get that dispatchers are people and people aren't perfect, and this lady's unprofessionalism didn't end up making much of a difference in this particular case, but I wonder how much gaps in training and competence bigger than these minor examples cost in terms of response time and lives. [1] Which is pretty concerning if I ever have an emergency...

andrewaylett 7y ago

The emergency services operators in the UK make it very clear -- should the situation warrant immediate attention -- that someone _is_ on the way before they go on to ask more questions or suggest action to take as appropriate. I'm quite glad to have only had to experience that once, even thinking about it has raised my heart rate. Non-emergency calls to the police will usually involve working out who you are at some point in the conversation; non-emergency calls to NHS24/NHS Direct will start off by taking contact details and triaging that you really are not an emergency case. If you drop off the line and they can't get back in touch with you, they've got enough information to make sure you're OK.