Oh, my god, do you know about the new satellite function on Google Maps? Go look at your house. And then go somewhere else, from your house, and watch that blue line take you there (click and drag the map around). Amazing. Play here: http://maps.google.com (click the satellite button to the right).
This is my kind of fun.
And this, from Jon, is too funny. Not acceptable dispatch protocol, no. But funny.
Ian sent me that link and I had great fun with the satellite maps. When I looked at the map of Washington to see my office, I noticed that the U.S. Capitol is pixelated out. If I recall correctly, the White House is too.
But my building is there in excruciating detail.
I understand that they need to be professional and all that, but really… she was a pretty stupid person to call 911 because her kids were fighting. I think people like HER should be prosecuted for misuse of government facilities.
M
I looked at the satellite maps last week and they totally creeped me out. I really don’t like that it’s possible to tell in the photo which neighbours are home and which aren’t because you recognize their van in the driveway. Ugh. Creeeeepy.
Hmmm, 2,262 mi (about 1 day 7 hours)from my house to your house, it’s 9:30 AM my time, I’ll be there about 1:30 your time Saturday for lunch! Driving straight through! Ignoring the fact that I have to finish my work day here today! Definitely ignoring the fact that I have a mammogram scheduled this afternoon! Yuk, grab and smash or Rachael’s???
That dispatcher faux pas even made news up here in Canada! The newscast I watched even played the actual tape – I was shocked and laughing at the same time! Have you heard the tape?
I would have loved to hear the tape! I was just amused by the story as it was, and I knew that Rachael needed to hear about it.
I heard that 911 tape and immediately thought of you! The moment of shocked silence before the mother responds is priceless.
I howled when I heard about this and immediately thought of you! I was wondering how long it would take for that call to hit your blog…
As a professional, what’s your opinion on the actual call? Was that an appropriate use of 911 services?
I heard that on my radio station this morning. They had a couple of feedback calls from people who work as dispatchers, who both said, “Yeah, we all think things like that, but you’re not supposed to *say* them.” The woman does explain that the girls were out of control and both were larger than her, so she couldn’t stop the fighting. It was essentially a domestic violence call, I think. But 911? I dunno…
Yeah, but you must just want to do that sometimes. Like the silly lady who called 911 because she couldn’t get her BK sandwich. I mean, really…..
W. 🙂
I LOVE Google maps satellite pictures. I get sucked in and spend way too much time there. Yesterday afternoon I spent half an hour looking at the campus of my alma mater and identifying the dorms I lived in and the big flight of steps where I sprained my ankle senior year.
I found my farm! Thanks!
DD, a friend and I signed up for classes at Lambtown in July. I know you have to run on Saturday the 30th, but there are workshops on Sunday the 31st… I’m taking Judith’s novelty yarn class.
They played the tape on our local news too. They mentioned that the guy had a couple of other complaints in his file, but what does that really mean? I thought he gave her a good wake-up call kind of response–what did she really want the police to do? Parent them for her? And the next time they start fighting and know that she’s afraid of them and has no control over the situation, what then? They’re your little monsters lady, deal with them. And it’s a really good object lesson for the kids for her to freak out and file a complaint– way to prioritise, knucklehead. Forget your own squalorous life for a moment and spread the drama and discontent instead of dealing with what really matters.
And I’m sure I’m still just bitter from all my years of customer service, but she sure sounded to me like somebody who’d file a complaint if the officers responded with dirty boots/tasered her kids. Okay, so the two things are not the same, but still, I think she was spoiling for her own fight. People get amped up and lose all sense of perspective.
I’m amazed the article didn’t even mention that the woman’s call was an inappropriate use of the 911 number. Or am I missing something??
You know what I hate? I hate it when someone (I’m not naming names) blogs about something witty a person (again, no names) has said that is truly funny, and then that very same person number 1 IMMEDIATELY blogs about an entirely different subject so that person number 2’s moment in the sun at the top of the blog entries is abnormally shortened. That’s what I hate.
Okay, so I looked up where I work and the satellite’s a little out of date since it shows a building that has since been demolished. However, it also shows the utter insignificance of the building in which I work.
If anyone wants to listen to the call, you can find it at http://www.bryantchoung.com/archives/2005/04/help_i_cant_han.shtml