People Explain The Dumbest Reasons They Had To Call 911

We've all made mistakes from time to time, and some of them have probably been pretty cringy and stupid.

But most of us can take comfort in the fact that we didn't do something so stupid that we had to call 9-1-1 to get us out of trouble.

Curiousity peaked, Redditor Comfortable_Drink217 asked:

"What's the dumbest reason people called 9-1-1?"

Trying To Make A Point

"I called 911 in the UK when drunk to make a point that it was the wrong number (ours is 999)."

"Anyway, turns out it redirects to 999."

- Decent-Cattle-332

"Them: 999, what's your emergency?"

"You: I called 911, you f*cking poser."

"(hangs up)"

- xanif

Just Checking In

"911 dispatcher here. The dumbest reason is to ask about the weather, ask about internet outages, etc."

"You would not believe the number of people who call 911 just to have a conversation and tell you about what's going on in their lives."

- Low-Landscape-4609

"I worked for the city in IT and worked many times at the 9-1-1 center. The amount of junk calls is too d**n high."

"Weather, lost and need directions, out of gas/car won't start, no one to talk to so called to yap (old folks I am told), tv/phone/internet/power outages, etc."

"I called 9-1-1 when I had a home invasion. I need police and medical help after being beaten up. I had to sit on hold for a short bit when every second counts. Maybe because of someone who could not get their car to start jammed up the lines."

- Dapper-Hamster69

Locked Inside, Allegedly

"I saw a video of a recorded call where a lady got in her car without her keys and locked the door. Not knowing how cars work or bothering to check first, she calls 9-1-1 and cries that she's locked herself INSIDE her car."

"To the operator's defense, they were very polite and patient, calmed the lady down, and after a few confused questions, asked her to try pulling on the handle. The sound of them dying a little on the inside was quickly drowned out by the embarrassment of the caller as the door opens, and you can hear in her voice how foolish she feels."

- XeroTerragoth

An Animal Advocate

"I once called the police because I saw someone beating their dog, shoving it into a trash can, then walking away like it was nothing. It was one of those novelty giant teddy bears, and they were trying to make it fit in the bin."

- Free_Divide195

"Recently had 'someone is wrapping a dead body in a blanket!' Turned out to be a giant plush animal that got old."

- arn2gm

Emergency Pizza

"I know a child who prank-called 9-1-1, like, five times to order a pizza. The police went to her house to talk to her parents."

- KingOfArms

"I guess they didn't bring pizza, then?"

- Traditional_Prize632

Chicken Nugget Fury

"Wasn't there a news story about a woman who called because a fast food place ran out of chicken nuggets?"

- Empty-Appointment168

"Seven years ago in the UK, yes. KFC ran out of chicken, and people were reporting it to the police."

- Decent-Cattle-332

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

"I was out with a trio of guys who were all snow shoveling different homes. Towards the end, we started taking turns on who would go out to shovel so the other two could warm up and eat/drink something."

"On one particular house, the only Black member of our trio goes out and does the shoveling. He gets done, starts on his way over, and cop cars show up as he reaches us in the truck."

"Turns out, the house we had to park in front of, the occupants had called that someone suspicious was in the neighborhood."

"We get out of our vehicle, explain things to the cops, they realize what's going on, and leave. With the job done, we left as well. It was ridiculous."

- Version_Red

"Is it legal to gather all the snow they shoveled and put it all in that one driveway? Hypothetically?"

- Oddish_IceCold

False Alarm

"My stepdad called 9-1-1 when a raccoon got into our house. They advised him to open a door and wait for it to leave."

- CupcakeVillage

"I called 9-1-1 when there were possums in our basement, but it was legitimately because they were so loud and clumsy that I thought someone had broken into the house."

"The cops came and charged downstairs, guns pulled, and found a mom and baby possums."

"Top-tier embarrassment, but it makes for a good story now."

- staffylove2422

"One night, I got higher than a giraffe's a** and forgot I threw a load of laundry in."

"We have a window in our laundry room, and it's a split-level house, so the laundry room window is level with the yard. It sounded like someone was trying to break the window to get in through the laundry room, and it was about 2:00 in the morning."

"I ended up calling 9-1-1, and as I was walking down the hallway, as they picked up, I noticed it was the washing machine that was unbalanced, just causing an insane ruckus. Explained the situation to them. We had a good laugh, and thankfully that was it."

- Oobutwo

Just Listening

"When I was 14, I worked at an old-fashioned soda fountain/sandwich shop/pharmacy. One day, a lady came in for a malt and an egg salad sandwich. She was a 9-1-1 dispatcher."

"She was telling me about a lady who called every single day to ask what day it was, what time it was, and what the weather was. I told her to give the lady our number."

"Mary 'Meme' called us every single day. Sometimes, a couple times a day. Asking those questions. The dispatcher asked that I call her if Meme ever skipped a day and we didn’t hear from her."

"One day, it hit me. I was 17. A whole shift without a call from Meme. I called the retired dispatcher. We all went to Meme's funeral."

"Her elderly sister showed me the note she had stuck to her wall by the phone: '[My name]. [Name] Drug Store. The store's number. Said to, 'Call every day, it’s okay.'"

"Man. I LOST MY S**T."

"Sorry. This question reminded me of that."

"I am 41 now. I still wonder about the regulars. Did she ever finish beauty school? Was that really Allan Jackson’s baby? Did he ever lose enough weight to buy a Harley? Was the blind guy really blind, or did he just like me reading his mail out loud?"

"Did the pharmacist John Jordan know how poor my family was, and that’s why he offered young me the job and had his wife buy me pants and shoes?"

"It’s weird what sticks in your mind and what doesn’t."

- last12letUDown

Squirrel Safety

"There was a squirrel in the road. Not dead. Just playing. A car didn't want to run it over and didn't get close enough for the squirrel to move. They called 9-1-1 so the cops could get the squirrel into a tree."

"I lived in a small town with a hilarious police blotter of all the dumbest 9-1-1 calls made by the fancy people of the town."

"Another one was someone saw a 'real witch' walking around. It was a girl dressed in black clothes and a cape. The caller was convinced this girl was a witch and coming to curse the town."

"There were so many other funny ones, but I forget now."

- Very_Smelly_Foot

Conspiring Houseplants

"I knew someone who called 911 because he thought his houseplants were conspiring to murder him."

- CynicalOptimistSF

"Okay, but that could be a legit call."

"Like, he might be having hallucinations from a drug interaction (potential emergency) or have something going on mentally that causes paranoia (not an emergency, but still may merit a hospital visit)."

"I might have called a friend first before 9-1-1, but if you legit think someone/something is coming to murder you, 9-1-1 is a safe bet to get help from."

- DiamondOracle194

An Elusive Package

"I called the non-emergency line because my Amazon package was thrown into someone’s gated property, and I had just moved to town and didn’t want a trespass charge for hopping over their gate."

"I couldn’t stop laughing while trying to explain to the dispatcher why I was calling because it was so dumb."

"I apologized profusely to the cop who showed up, and he was like, 'No yeah, it was probably a good idea,' and hopped their fence to give it to me. I felt so bad. Nice guy, though."

- SquishedStitch

Not Worth Waiting For

"My husband is an officer, and one of my favorites he told me about was a phone call from a perfectly able-bodied young adult who didn't want to wait for the city bus and was requesting a ride to her friend's house."

- Open_Constant3467

A Teachable Moment

"Not dumb, but more like cute. My sister (school therapist but also taught some classes) used to teach children how to dial 9-1-1, what to say, etc., and would explain to only call for emergencies."

"Well, the kids went home that night... and practiced (not a lot of them)."

"The next day, she had a visit from a (very nice) police officer at the school."

"She decided to let the local police and 9-1-1 call center know ahead of time when she was going to do that lesson next year. (She still did that lesson for many years, but always gave them a heads up; some of the dispatchers had a nice discussion with the kids)."

- draggar

A Child's Dream

"My brother called when he was five to say hello to the police officers. No one at home knew he did it, and he couldn't explain why he called, so they sent a unit over."

"He was over the moon, but my mom was livid."

- polkadotd

"My sister was babysitting with her friend, and the friend’s little sister wanted to play CPR and 'call' 9-1-1. So she called 9-1-1, didn’t hang up the receiver (this was the 90s), and the fire department heard them playing CPR, thought it was real, and sent a fire truck and ambulance."

- eboshi

From ridiculous to accidental to cringe-worthy, there's a range of reasons why someone might need to or might accidentally call 9-1-1. Fortunately for these individuals, no one was hurt because of a silly mistake, although their pride might have been slightly hurt.