Panicking citizens flood LA police with 911 calls – because Facebook is down

[Inactive]

You read it here!
Unfreaking believable!

Monday 4 Aug 2014

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was forced to send out a Twitter message asking panicking citizens to stop calling 911 because Facebook was down.

Nervous residents – fearing that they had been permanently cut off from the world of cat memes and pictures of friends’ meals – had been choking 911 and the regular police number throughout the afternoon.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/04/panicking-citizens-flood-la-police-with-911-calls-because-facebook-is-down-4820299/

Man, 21, kills himself trying to take gun selfie

A vet who posed with a gun for a selfie died shortly after shooting himself in the head by accident.
Oscar Aguilar showed off on Facebook by posting photos of himself in front of sports cars, sitting on motorbikes and hugging attractive women.
But the Mexican’s desire to impress proved his downfall when he borrowed the gun and snapped himself waving it about.

He had failed to realise the gun was loaded, police said.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/08/03/man-21-kills-himself-trying-to-take-gun-selfie-4820110/

First rule is: assume every firearm is LOADED

[RR_Security]

All those people who called 9-1-1 deserve "a fine and a sign." As in Bill Engvall's "Here's Your Sign." Dumb***es like that drag down the collective IQ of LA County to around room temperature. Actually, people like that should be told they're too stupid to own a computer.

For the other guy . . . well, that's a miserable way to learn the rules of gun safety. The more rules you violate all at the same time, the more likely you are to have a bad outcome.

[Seventy2002]

Establishing the 911 system opened the door to the world of people who can't handle 7-digit phone numbers.

[Gradient Shift]

I take it that dialing 911 when officer.com is down would also be frowned upon? Noted.

[Langford PR]

Lemmings.....are there any cliffs near LA?

[Inactive]

Yeah, isn't this just a Darwin award winning example of the stupidity that exists out there? This is worse than the dorks who call 911 when they feel a temblor in California, do they not think that the officers down the street in the station house ALSO felt it?
Every one of them should be fined and signed, I like that idea!
I think half of this stuff comes from parents who teach their kids absolutely nothing, these are the ones who do this when they grow up, or if they make it to become your airplane pilot or bus driver these are the ones who take off from the wrong runway despite the lights being off, rough pavement and "CLOSED" signs and crash the plane at the end of the runway!

[RR_Security]

This is worse than the dorks who call 911 when they feel a temblor in California, do they not think that the officers down the street in the station house ALSO felt it?

That reminded me of another "things you wanna say, but shouldn't say" episode from 20+ years ago. The reeeeally stooopid calls all seem to begin with "Umm, yes . . . " and end like it's a question.
"9-1-1, are you reporting an emergency?"
"Umm, yes, I just heard a loud boom . . . ?"
There's a terrible temptation to say something like "So did probably thousands of other people between here and southern Maine, many of whom are also trying to call in here right now, not to actually report what caused it, but to satisfy their curiosity. So if there isn't a smoking crater in your back yard, then you're not reporting an emergency. Go turn on your TV and find out what to do if there's an actual emergency, or where to go to be issued your new Stupid Nervous Yuppie sign."

"Umm, yes, the sirens are going off . . . ?"
Things you want to say but shouldn't: "Okay, Tinkerbell, are you telling me they're going off, or asking me if they're going off? When the sirens activate other than at test times, it means you should turn on your TV or radio and receive information, not call 9-1-1 and expect to be spoon-fed the instructions, or to have your hand held."
That one was caused by somebody in an adjacent town fiddling with the wrong buttons, at the wrong time. And now that I think about it, Tinkerbell (especially the Julia Roberts one) wouldn't have called 9-1-1. She'd have just whacked it with her wand and fixed it.

[Aerohead]

Absolutely NO SURPRISE WHATSOEVER. People call 911 for EVERYTHING. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.

[Inactive]

That reminded me of another "things you wanna say, but shouldn't say" episode from 20+ years ago. The reeeeally stooopid calls all seem to begin with "Umm, yes . . . " and end like it's a question.
"9-1-1, are you reporting an emergency?"
"Umm, yes, I just heard a loud boom . . . ?"
There's a terrible temptation to say something like "So did probably thousands of other people between here and southern Maine, many of whom are also trying to call in here right now, not to actually report what caused it, but to satisfy their curiosity. So if there isn't a smoking crater in your back yard, then you're not reporting an emergency. Go turn on your TV and find out what to do if there's an actual emergency, or where to go to be issued your new Stupid Nervous Yuppie sign."

DO IT!!! DO IT!!! please do it!!! because someone has to train these people, and you look like a volunteer

[JustAJ]

When I saw that Facebook was down on the news, I was thinking "I woner what all these folks are gonna do with their free time?" Now I know.

[mookster]

Put people in a relatively safe and comfortable environment where they everything they need, and more, given to them. After that, everything that's "not supposed" to happen, no matter what it is, becomes a major emergency in their life and they expect someone to be able to fix the issue for them....

[Inactive]

"I woner what all these folks are gonna do with their free time?" Now I know.

After that, everything that's "not supposed" to happen, no matter what it is, becomes a major emergency in their life and they expect someone to be able to fix the issue for them....

Now you know JustAJ, and it's a cross-section example of the dumbing-down of America.

You pretty much nailed it mookster and I have read about similar calls to 911 as I'm sure you probably have as well.
I can't think of the details about some of the others I have read, but I remember shaking my head at the stupidity. I think I remember one 911 call was made by some woman whose food order at McDonalds was wrong and she was peeved, just some petty, insignificant, crazy and obvious (to us) non-emergency and she calls 911.

To that woman, who probably as you outlined- had everything given to her, lived in a nice soft chushy environment and something different happened- her food order was wrong- so she doesn't know how to cope with that and gets all upset, rants and raves like a child and then to top it lal off- calls 911, it all fits.

Here's another one, on the news:

A man who called 911 to complain about his McDonald’s order ended up going to jail.
He can now complain directly to the cops if his jail house grub is unsatisfactory.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ef_1375762410

What's more is I found a whole bunch more on youtube.

But I really think this one is priceless! this woman called 911 about her Burger King order
and while waiting for the state police to arrive she became irate, and...

WHITE TOWNSHIP, Pa"While awaiting the arrival of the state police, the accused exited her vehicle that was in the drive-through lane and engaged in threatening and yelling behavior, which caused public alarm," police wrote in a news release.

Police charged Smith, of Indiana, with disorderly conduct. Investigators said she was also wanted on outstanding charges in South Carolina.

LOL lesson to be learned there I guess- if you are wanted on a warrant don't call 911 to report your food order is wrong!

http://www.wtae.com/news/local/police-customer-calls-911-over-wrong-order-at-burger-king/24607436#!bx1KSL

And this one from Mesa Az in this news clip, it's amazing how people now become violent over a freaking food order these days and throw tantrums, what's worse is McDonalds corporate will probably apologise to these people and offer them gift certificates and stuff:

Another case of 911 abuse in a fast food restaurant was reported by the Inquisitr in December when an Arizona man and his wife were arrested for calling 911 because the hash browns they ordered from McDonalds were missing. The woman, Nova Smith allegedly threw the bag of food they ordered towards the manager of the McDonalds branch in Mesa, Arizona upon realizing that the branch didn’t give them the hash brown that was supposed to be included in their order. The man, Michael Smith went behind the counter to confront the staff of the fast food chain. Both were charged with assault and disorderly conduct by the local police.

[Kieth M.]

This is the modern day version of an eclipse to the ancient world. People panic, look to wiser ones for guidance. We should really capitalize on this incident...

..."Yes, through my dark magic, I have caused Facebook to go away. Now bring me two (insert your favorite fantasy zesty session partners, here) and I will bring it back! Oh yeah, don't forget the gold, and my weight in donuts!"

[BNWS]

Our precinct covered one of the wealthiest areas of NYC bordering the east river, but on the 4th of July we would get numerous calls from the residents reporting explosions and terrorist attacks as soon as the Macy's fireworks display began. This even happened before the 911 attacks.

[Langford PR]

The Gene pool is just TOO big!