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What was it like the first time you had to call 911? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Dalacos@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40442020

911 is the emergency number here in Canada if you're unfamiliar. 112, 999, etc if you're elsewhere IIRC.

Do you remember the first time you had to use it?

What were you thinking, feeling?

First time I had to use it in earnest I was working front end at a post office and there was a random guy doing maintenance behind me in the back area of the office. Barely said a word to him, he barely said a word to me. I was fairly busy and he seemed kinda gruff.

Bit later all of a sudden he taps me on the shoulder pretty aggressively, I turned and was getting ready to give him some not-polite words about touching me like that and how he better not damn well do that again but I stopped when I saw the look on his face.

He just says, "call 911."

I look blankly at him, getting some mental whiplash, and just dumbly go, "what?"

Him, "I'm having a fucking heart-attack, CALL 911!"

That got through so I called them, gave them the info. He went back into the office and laid down.

I was a bit in shock myself and just looked at the customers in line in front of me and said to the woman, "he's having a heart attack, sorry."

Honestly think I could've handled the situation better, at least gone back and been more empathetic but I was caught between him, customers, and making sure I was visible so I could wave the paramedics to where they needed to go.

The post office there was tucked into the back corner and most of the store didn't even know about it until I told them later that day.

Never heard anything after, no clue if the guy survived, or not. Didn't see him again either way.

You?

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[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 1 points 1 month ago

When I was, I guess, about ten I saw some demented old fart drive straight into a level railway crossing. The barriers were down, the lights were flashing, the sirens were wailing. I know this, because I'd just had to walk over the footbridge to avoid the crossing. His car got caught and couldn't move. A passer-by literally had to drag him out of his car and he was livid - fucking incandescent - that the whole world was conspiring against him like this. I was the one who called 999 from an adjacent payphone and the train was stopped before it could make the situation worse. I left before the emergency services arrived but I seriously hope he was on the receiving end of some of that police brutality I hear so much about.

Actually, while I'm here - and at no additional cost to you - here's a similar story I posted in another thread where the question was about assholes on public transit:

I bumped into a friend who is cop in the British Transport Police at a station while he was working. While I was there somehow a happy-drunk guy fell between a train and the platform and got stuck. That's not the crazy part.

The crazy part is the four separate people who all ended up getting arrested because they attacked my friend and the other responders trying to free the stuck man - physically kicking and trying to drag them away - because he/they wouldn't order the train to leave the station and it was making them late. Four separate people, all apparently sober, all absolute psychopaths who would happily see someone mangled by a train so they wouldn't be inconvenienced, and so utterly convinced of their righteousness that they were prepared to physically attack police officers and paramedics.

I was later told this is pretty normal when there's a "one under": aside from the person who fell getting injured or dying, the biggest immediate problem is a handful of narcissistic cunts who interpret the whole thing as some kind of personal insult. It really shook me that anyone could be like that.