911

911 operators have stories of people who should not have called 911. I’m Amy E. Feldman.

A Reddit post asked 911 dispatchers to discuss a time they had to contain their laughter, and they had many stories, including a man who reported seeing a monster chicken ‘cause he’d apparently never seen a turkey, and a woman who called 911 to complain her husband kept leaving the toilet seat down. Which is weird since isn’t it usually that the toilet seat is up that’s complaint-worthy? Also, never 911-worthy. 

So, what is 911-worthy? Well, laws say you’re only to call 911 in an emergency, where the safety of people and property is at risk, like the case of a fire, a crime in action, or a medical crisis. It’s not an emergency if the situation isn’t dangerous and immediate action is not necessary. So you shouldn’t call 911 if there’s a car accident but no injuries, to follow up on an auto theft report, or where you can put the toilet seat up or down yourself.