Things you hate because they're pointless and stupid -.-

[Amra]

People who call 911 for a dumb reason.

FDNY Bombarded by Bizarre Calls During Blizzard
The New York Post

Posted: Wed, 01/12/2011 - 03:52pm
Updated: Wed, 01/12/2011 - 03:56pm

What is your emergency? My kid didn't do his homework!

Hundreds of crackpot callers tied up overworked EMS units and swamped the 911 system with frivolous calls during the Christmas-weekend blizzard and its snowy aftermath, worsening a deadly backlog of 1,300 jobs, medics told The Post.

A druggie from Brooklyn dialed the emergency operator Monday at 8 a.m., the height of post-storm chaos, to report difficulty breathing - prompting dispatchers to code it as a critical call.

What he really wanted was for paramedics to transport him down impassable streets to his preferred Flatbush methadone clinic.

Another EMS unit got called to a family home in Brooklyn for a sick kid - but it turned out the parents' primary complaint was that their son wouldn't do his homework. They hoped the EMTs could force him to finish it.

Other crazy calls included one from a Bronx man with stomach pains who eventually admitted to medics that "he'd eaten a pizza with everything on it about 20 minutes ago," said one EMT. The patient needed antacids.

One Brooklyn EMS crew got bogged down by a mom who dialed 911 at about 10 p.m. Sunday to report that her 2-year-old daughter was bleeding from the mouth.

Paramedics raced to the scene to discover the tiny tot had taken a minor tumble and suffered a cut lip.

A Staten Island resident waiting two hours for a bus called 911 because "he was freezing," an EMS worker said.

Crews showed up to the stop on Bradley Avenue, and the man wanted to sit in the ambulance and warm up, the worker said. Crews said they could only take him to a hospital, but he refused.

Another caller stubbed his toe and told EMTs "it's been hurting for over an hour."

There was even a call for difficulty breathing that turned out to be a young Brooklynite who had a stuffy nose.

"He kept complaining to us that he could only breathe out of one nostril," said an EMT, who estimated about 25 percent of the 911 calls he handled over the three days of the storm were "for absolute b.s."

Frank Dwyer, a spokesman for the FDNY, which runs the EMS system, says it's hard for dispatchers to assess a person's true medical condition over the phone.

"When you have that many calls, not every one is going to be cardiac arrest," he acknowledged. "But it's tough for us to say beforehand that that person should stay home."

A backlog of emergency calls built up overnight on Sunday, Dec. 26, as nearly two feet of snow got dumped on the city, and by the following morning city officials were begging residents to reserve 911 for life-threatening situations.

Oddest one I've personally heard was for a person who had a "possible sprained pinky".

[Shaigon]

The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me.

While we're on the medical topic....people who go to the ER with minor injuries or illness symptoms and complain about the waiting time. Yeah, your sprained ankle isn't exactly as important as the guy who just got stabbed 5 times in the chest.

[stillman]

The stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me.

[Ash Housewares]

that was amusing, I think being that dumb is funny, plus the only reason to watch millionaire was to hope somebody would be that dumb. I only get pissed off when Ken Jennings misses when WWII started, HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW? YOU'RE KEN JENNINGS!

[jmervyn]

Clearly she's charging kids for making the "duckface".

Good way to earn a little extra cash on the side nah mean?

I suppose so. I'd be a bit more hospitable about it; Uni kids don't always have a ton of cash. I'd offer to slap them with a 2' by 4' if they didn't want to pay up.

And on-thread, people who are so scared of snow or ice that they go 15-20 Mph below speed on straight roads. They're almost more dangerous than the stupids, because they cause the traffic "caterpillar" effect.

[Shaigon]

Mmm, indeed..I witnessed that last night on my the way home from work. Started snowing at around 1pm, so by the time 5pm rolled around there was enough snow down to make the drive home "interesting". (Translation: I'm going to spend the next two hours in traffic with a bunch of idiots)

So there's this 2km or so stretch of (straight) road, with a good sized hill near the end. About half way down this stretch I approach a long lineup of cars with that one guy/gal at the front of the line doing 20 in a 50 zone (km, we're in Canada eh). Ok...no biggie...some people like to be more careful than others, no problem. So the hill comes in to view and we're still doing 20..fantastic. Generally when it's snowing and you approach a hill you want to get a good run-on so you can actually make it up the hill.

So the start of the line starts crawling up this hill, and sure enough genius at the front doesn't have enough momentum to get him up this hill. I don't think he took his foot off the gas the entire time, because he started drifting into the oncoming traffic lane and over the curb into a parking lot on the other side of the street. So eventually the few cars that were behind him got enough traction to make it up the hill, and the rest of us followed...and we lived happily ever after.

Fin.

[TurbulentTurtle]

I was walking home one day, police cruiser couldn't make it up the hill so it kept sliding back down and whatever. Finally it turned around and I assumed it was going to take another road up. Few seconds later, gangsta gunned it through the old folks home (I live right next to one, and I often cut through their garden to get to campus. Grandpa yells at me, but what's he gonna do, I can outrun him), and GT5's his way to the top.

[Technomancer]

To add to the "snow + people = fail" line, what the hell is up with everyone stocking up like it's armageddon before every snow?!! You go into Wal-Mart the day before we're suppose to get like 2-3" and it's PACKED!! Everyone is cleaning out the shelves, have cart-loads (plural) of stuff, and generally behave as if they aren't gonna be able to get out of their driveways for the next 3 weeks!! Then the next day, by noon, the roads are totally clear.

Really? You're that scared of NOTHING??!!! What a bunch of wusses!! Grow some spine!! Even if there was a lot of snow and the roads are pretty bad, waah. Cry me a river. Grow some balls, get in your car (or troop transport), and get on with your life.

[TurbulentTurtle]

To add to the "snow + people = fail" line, what the hell is up with everyone stocking up like it's armageddon before every snow?!! You go into Wal-Mart the day before we're suppose to get like 2-3" and it's PACKED!! Everyone is cleaning out the shelves, have cart-loads (plural) of stuff, and generally behave as if they aren't gonna be able to get out of their driveways for the next 3 weeks!! Then the next day, by noon, the roads are totally clear.

Really? You're that scared of NOTHING??!!! What a bunch of wusses!! Grow some spine!! Even if there was a lot of snow and the roads are pretty bad, waah. Cry me a river. Grow some balls, get in your car (or troop transport), and get on with your life.

While we're on the subject.
(Warning, some strong language)

[jmervyn]

While we're on the subject.
(Warning, some strong language)

Strong enough to be filtered, apparently.

I was listening to a morning show on the drive in mocking some gargantuan white woman blubbering about needing FEMA to deal with the snow. But what's pitiful is just how unprepared and unthinking all these people are. Even though I don't consider myself nearly as prepped as I ought to be (having just finished a move), I <still> have food to last the four of us at least two weeks.

Toilet paper would be the real issue...