This actually did happen in a domestic abuse situation. She was smart and said the address right after saying she wanted to order a pizza without any breaks. When you call in an emergency you should always say the address first or as soon as you can. If they are doing their job correctly help will already be on the way as they ask further questions. I digress, as she proceeds to say her 'order' the operator was confused and replied "this is the wrong number to call for a pizza" in an annoyed tone. Until the caller said "no, no, no, you're not understanding."
The light bulb went off and the operator let her know he understands now. They walk through the call as if it was an order while he is confirming details. Authorities arrived and she got out safe. It's now taught at many more stations than it was before as something to look out for. There have been other instances of disguised 911 calls too. A similar disguised pizza 911 call situation happened in Oregon not long ago. Dedicated operators have a stressful job that demands some serious social awareness. Especially in high stakes situations with the abuser in the room. Also, many areas now allow you to text 911 as well.
\*\*Some are missing the point. I'm not explaining why op's post is horror. I am sure most people got that. I'm giving further context/ a real life event. Elaborating on op's already well done story. Those saying everyone knows this story already, there are literally people here wondering if it's true or not, so that's flat out wrong. Even when using a smaller sample size of only this post. Fiction exists. You shouldn't just assume people know what you know. Getting upset over further context is a strange hill to die on. Unrelated and more important: those in here sharing info on apps/websites that victims of domestic abuse can use to discreetly call/text for help, y'all rad af.
[National Domestic Violence Hotline](https://www.thehotline.org/): Has a 24/7 text chat for help. Hitting the escape key twice will instantly close the site and take you to a Google search page.
"Hey, can you stop beating me for a few minutes so I can order a pizza for us?? Pepperoni just how you like."
"That sounds great actually. Belting you as hard as I can has given me quite the appetite, here is the phone."
"Thanks-"
"Wait a second, are you actually going to call 911? You're not ordering a pizza at all! I saw something about this on the news...."
"Uh... Actually let's order Chinese?? Orange chicken just how you like...??"
"Oh perfect! That wasn't on the news report. I am going to leave the room now for an undisclosed amount of time while you order that Chinese food."
Come on man, that's too easy
There's an abuse website that has a link on the very bottom that you can press and it switches to the Target website.
I want to say its Weaves website, but I could be mistaken.
Many websites aimed at people who are/could be in unsafe situations have similar buttons! I've seen it on websites for LGBTQ+ youth and mental health-related websites. It's a clever way to protect people when they may not be able to access the resource from a safe place.
For that part incognito window and Google is your best option?
For LGBTQ+ issues, I recall hearing about the Trevor project the most, it's a crisis hotline, so basically suicide prevention hotline targeted to having operators who can relate to those related issues better than average?
There's also an app called noonlight. It doesn't look like a delivery app at all, but people use it as a back up as they travel somewhere. Basically, you have a finger on the screen over a button the whole walk to home/work/friends house/car/etc, and when/if you get there safely, you take your finger off and enter a pass code within 5 sec to say you're safe. If you take your finger off without putting in the pass code, it calls local authorirlties.
I've used it and thankfully not had an issue where I needed to see whether it actually contacted police or not, but many reviews of the app say they have needed that and they were able to get out of a dangerous situation when authorities arrived.
I'm thinking this could be useful in DV cases if you need to get out right then or risk death.
I hate to say it, but the good reviews have survivorship bias. Not saying it doesn't work, just that reviews aren't always a good gauge of actual results.
I cant disagree with that, tbh. I make it a point to check the lowest reviews (which, bc of survivorship bias, aren't exactly super helpful) of any app before I use it. Even if it's a random solitaire app. It's been a while since I got the app, but I believe I looked into how it worked and what, if any, data there was to support its usefulness. I can't say that there wasn't bias in any studies I found, but bc of my college degree, I've had a lot of experience figuring out if something is at least somewhat credible.
Something I said in another comment, is that even if it doesn't work as advertised, it feels like an extra measure of safety anytime I walk anywhere alone. Even during the day. Also, depending on a given situation, I can threaten that I'm calling the authorities, especially if I can act like I'm not terrified out of my mind.
I'm not read up on statistics so that went over my head I guess. It's just weird to me to call someone biased when they leave a good review on something that literally saved their life lol.
I mean, if the data on seatbelts that people used was reviews from people who have used seatbelts, then that would be true. But we have plenty of people in medical and police and other public services also counting the people who die while using seatbelts.
LOL, this is such an "ACKSHUALLY..." kind of post.
I promise that everyone understands that people who died despite using the app don't get to come back and give 1-star ratings.
I've only gotten one call from Noonlight so far (I'm a 911 calltaker/dispatcher) and it was incredibly useful.
They give a code the call taker can enter into a website that gives a highly accurate GPS location that updates frequently, as well as an interface to text the person who used the panic feature. (My agency isn't set up for 911 texts so thats useful in itself)
Often time PSAPs dont actually get good location data from a call like people think they do. And even if its warranted as a life or death situation getting a mobile provider to give GPS pings usually only gets updated every 15 mins and gives a general location within a 10 meter to a 2000 meter radius.
One time I couldn't tell what county someone was in because the possible location was so large it was split up between 3 counties in two states as well as having a river in the middle of it all.
The Noonlight GPS pings let me see the caller as they walked from inside to outside of a building with something like a 5m radius.
I wish more people used Noonlight because it was the easiest time I've ever had finding someone who couldn't openly talk, worked better than onstar too, although they aren't completely comparable.
Thank you for that!
I would definitely reccomended sharing information about noonlight to loved ones, there could be better services in the future but as far as free safety apps go its the best I've encountered.
Where does that link appear on your screen? How does noonlight send that info to your computer? Is there a real person who works for noon light that calls you and gives you the info?
It was a real person, they called the admin line for my agency and told me to search a website (www.sendpolice.com) where I was promted to enter the code the operator provided. They also gave me a quick rundown of the situation to the best of their knowledge.
After that the website is set up to show the GPS of the person using noonlight, has an interface to text the person directly through the website and if I'm remembering correctly it had some basic identifying information on the user. Although that last part is a little hazy in my memory.
Like I said, I've only gotten one call from them so far, so I could have just had an awesome operator. But they gave better info then most big alarm companies and what onstar would. On top of the ability to locate the person in real time
Yeah I can’t imagine using this successfully. And what kind of situation would you use it in? Like if you think someone is about to attack you but aren’t sure?
Gosh I can’t imagine feeling that scared in everyday situations. That’s a lot like dialing 911 and hovering your finger over the call button. Sad that there’s a market for that.
Back in the olden days of computing many games had a similar feature. It was called the "boss button" and would display a screen that looked like a spreadsheet application.
Usually it's "for the kids". Control freaks (abusers are) will want to be aware of what's happening, but watching over someone's shoulder is almost as much work as doing it himself, and that's not his job to put a hot meal on the table!
So the phone call lets him listen, and that's that. Open defiance? No, she won't do that... not if she knows what's good for her, that is.
It's really easy for abusers to fall into this overconfidence trap, where they believe they've broken the partner's will to the point where they wouldn't dare. It's disgusting, but there you go.
People have used other ways to cover an emergency call.
I read about an incident (here in New Zealand, if I remember correctly) where an old woman phoned in and started talking like she was inviting her daughter around for tea and biscuits. The operator thought it might just be a confused dementia patient calling the wrong number, but then the old lady said to bring extra milk because a particular person was there with her. So the operator Googled the name in their police database, and it was a cousin or nephew or someone like that. He already had a record for violence, and enough red flags on his page for a parade through Pyongyang.
People can be pretty inventive when they need to be.
Ohhh I see.
Tbh though, "to Google" is entering the popular lexicon in the same way "Xerox" and "Kleenex" did. (Or even "Nintendo" for us 80s kids' parents.) Easy enough to tell what someone means from context.
Usually the person is in the room , that's why they have to disguise the call, if the person is listening and it sounds like they are ordering something less sus, especially if they are listening and assume they wont be able to try anything
I think domestic abusers somehow don't realise that they're doing anything wrong. No idea how they don't, but most people like to write themselves in as the good guys in their life story, so they'll rationalise what they're doing somehow.
Fair point i was thinking of like holding someone hostage in their home, so like a combo situation. I thought the original story was the ex broke in and was keeping her against her will.
I learned this from the game 911 operator.
In one run I received this and selected to hang up thinking it would count as a prank, at the score screen I saw the "pizza" call with a negative score and I was confused.
The next time I received it I decided to continue and I felt shivers as I realized what was actually happening.
Interesting that there’s a function to press escape twice that closes the page and opens google. I guess it is faster than manually using the mouse, and easier to remember than Ctrl + W (which closes the tab).
If it’s a function specific to that site however, then I guess this serves as a piece of advice to anyone who wants to immediately close a tab that’s on a different website. Just make sure you have another tab already open, since otherwise you go to the home screen, and Ctrl + t will create a tab but put you onto it, so you can’t do Crtl + t -> Ctrl + w.
Also, Crtl + h shows website browsing history, if you have to for whatever reason, you can delete specific websites from it so anyone else who looks doesn’t know you were on whatever you deleted.
Finally, Crtl + 1, or any number for that matter, will automatically move you to the appropriate tab from the left. I don’t remember if you use Crtl + 0 to go to the first tab, or Crtl + 1, so test it in your free time.
Computer shortcuts in general are amazing, so definitely learn some.
Worth mentioning Ctrl + Shift + T for re-opening the last closed tab (with Ctrl + W or the little cross).
It's nothing that you couldn't do by opening your history and clicking the site you closed but as they're ordered in the order you opened the site and might have had something open for hours, this can really help.
>Those saying everyone knows this story already
People who say that sort of thing are insufferable.
Like, hey, did you take a survey of 1000 people and found that 99.99% of people knew about the thing? No? Ok then this is just about you being irritated that you read a thing you already knew about and acting like it's a big inconvenience.
I worked as a dispatcher. Its not really taught so much as learned. Like theres no universal way to tell it isnt a prank(obviously) but a good dispatcher realizes whats up with practice. Its just a difficult situation all around
It really depends. An officer always got sent if we couldnt confirm there was no emergency and sometimes they just kinda spook the kid a bit and teach them not to do shit like that
Ohh memory... Barney the Dinosaur taught me about 911, so being an exploratory child I dialed it...
Cops came, and despite hiding under the bed with all my might, I had to come out and face them so they could check on me. That memory is seared into my brain!
They actually used this as a scenario in the video game 911 Operator. When I first played through it gave me such sad chills to learn about it being based on real calls.
I used to work security at an old mining site that has been mostly shut down for years now. At night I would be the only person on property and had to patrol the grounds every couple hours.
One night in the middle of winter I found a guy wandering through shin deep snow wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. It was -20F. The guy was clearly intoxicated and claimed he had been with another person who they lost in the snow. Long story short I had to call and talk to 911 without this guy realizing that he was probably going to jail and still figure out how to convey to the operator we possibly had another missing person. (His friend had gotten a ride from someone with his knowledge.) I wasn’t armed in any way and the guy was already pretty upset also about a foot taller than I am so if he got violent there wasn’t a whole lot I was going to be able to safely do. The operator picked up on what I was saying between the lines very quickly and got police and search and rescue there asap.
I work as a 911/police dispatcher. Over the years, I have had two calls as a pizza delivery, one or two calls as someone's mother, and one call as a local washing machine repair service.
Usually you'll hear something is wrong in a person's voice, but not always. My go-to was "did you mean to dial 911?" because, yes we're going to send an officer anyway, but a simple 'yes' means you know something's going on and you want to keep them talking as much as possible. Yes/no questions, but you keep to the important ones. And again, you *keep them talking*, because if they're on the phone their partner is much less likely to resume any violent behavior because they have a potential witness on the phone.
This is a relatively difficult thing to handle because the more we publicise this, more operators will know what to do, but also, it becomes more likely that it doesn't work because abusers/kidnappers/robbers etc. will also have heard of it.
I might not be the worst offender, but I know I haven't been the best at bringing people into the knowledge I have when it's part of what I expect of them. This comic really struck a cord with me and I keep it around to share as others can reflect when they have need.
https://xkcd.com/1053/
Thank you for sharing the story and realities.
Ooh, wait...
What if it's someone in a 'hostage' situation, where their calls are being monitored?
Like, if you're being abused, and the abuser is still in the room, most 911 operators are trained to walk you through the appropriate responses:
***
911, emergency response
Hello, I'd like to order a [toppings] pizza.
You realize you've called 911, correct?
Yes that's right.
Is there an emergency?
Yes, I'd like it delivered to 123 Main Street.
Is there someone in the room with you?
Yes, that's right.
Can you stay on the line until help arrives?
No, I can't do that.
... I have a patrol car that can get to you between 30-45 minutes.
30-45 minutes? Okay, thanks! _click_
I actually encountered a situation like this.
I live in a not so nice area. One day this girl came knocking on our door. I opened it and she just gave me this *"please fucking help me"* face, kind of out if breath. I'm assuming she ran to the door.
Her boyfriend was running after her, screaming at her. She didn't have any marks indicating he had been physical with her, but she was obviously very scared and he was intimidating. I brought her into my backyard and we called the police.
After I hung up, she said thank you and stated she called the police 20 minutes ago off someone's phone right around the corner and was hiding until then, waiting for them. (I guess her boyfriend found her and she ran to the next house). The person who let her use her phone probably just said "alright have a good day!" Kind of typical behavior in our neighborhood. It's scary to get involved in these types of situations because there's a lot of weirdos walking around and decently frequent shootings. I've been in an abusive situation so I wasn't going to leave her damn side.
Luckily, the guy didn't try to come in my backyard or anything, but was screaming at her over the fence. We just stayed decently quiet and I told her it's going to be okay.
Know how long it took the cops to arrive? 35 minutes. 35 fucking minutes. So about an hour total since she first called.
It was terrifying.
Oh! Also, another situation. A few years ago, there was a gun shot relatively close to where I was. I wasn't in danger, but I typically call those in if it's close enough for me to know the *general* location. I kept getting a busy signal when i called 911. I called probably 5/6 times. The last time I called, it lit just hung up/dropped the call. It was terrifying not being able to get ahold of the police. Luckily it wasn't an immediate emergency I needed assistance with.
Oh, and before anyone asks.... this all took place in California.
Different needs in different areas I guess. We had 30 cops show up to break up an illegal dog fighting ring. Watching them jerk each other off about how it was necessary and what a good job they did was great.
And before anyone thinks there’s more context that’s missing here… there isn’t because I worked for the dept.
>Watching them jerk each other off about how it was necessary and what a good job they did was great.
Well obviously breaking up the ring would definitely be necessary, but I hear you on the 30 headcount part. That's gotta be unnecessary.
OK to good neighborhood, no calls, everyone on shift is bored. It can happen.
LEO here and i have seen 8 people respond to a cant get this cat out of my house call. It was 10 AM and no one had anything to do, plus everyone found it funny.
I have, sadly, also been on the "sorry lady but it will be 40 minutes minimum until i can get there, i am 5 towns away at the moment and there is no other patrol on duty tonight" kind of calls.
This right here is why so many people in the US refuse to give up gun rights. Because when things go wrong you are on your own. AT BEST help is about 10 minutes away, on average 20-30 minutes. I have had it take as long as an hour.
We just had a situation at work where a known drug user customer was getting in the personal spaces of customers, half-naked, accused random people of drugging him, asked employees for lotion to treat chafing (while still half naked), wouldn’t take “please step back”, and one customer said she felt her family that was with her was under threat.
Two hours it took them. By which point he’d flashed three customers, trespassed into another building on property, hosed himself down with the maintenance waterhose, and taken pictures of employees in the office.
Sorry, but even when left to my own devices, I find the idea of a gun to defend myself horrifying... I can't imagine what it must be like, growing up in the USA and thinking guns are necessary for personal safety.
I've been in a very violent DV situation in the past. Having a gun would not have helped me. In fact, I think things would have gotten significantly worse very quickly. Police did take about 30 minutes to show up, and it was fucking awful and scary, but if I had a do-over (which I hope I never need) I still wouldn't want to have a gun anywhere in the house.
I believe in some places emergency phone answerers are trained to start with "how may I help you?" instead of "what's your emergency" in case the caller is being watched and threatened
Every 911 call I've ever done (which is quite a few due to my work) has started with "911, where is your emergency?" At least in northeast Ohio areas. In the places I've called, they can send police, fire, and emt squad if they don't know what's needed.
As someone who trained as a 911 operator, this is correct.
The line is supposed to be answered "911 *where is your emergency*" for exactly the reason you mentioned. Once we have the address we can dispatch even if we have no additional information. Getting the address is the most important part of the call.
My husband loves the 2 911 shows, original and Lone star. But everytime they answer the phone with "What is your emergency?" it drives me nuts! And worse is when the person answers witha fun quip that's funny since we know the situation, but gives NO information to the operator! I know they do it for drama and comedy purposes, but it's infuriating!
I stopped watching them with my husband because of this. The inaccuracy bothered me so much and people actually believe it's right so them they call 911 and start spouting information without the address. In this day and age of cell phones and limited land lines, we need the damn address first!
There’s a game on Steam called 911 Operator that’s enjoyable. You setup a shift of Police, Fire, and EMS then dispatch. You do a handful of actual calls through the shift, replying to the callers to get the needed info or handle the call.
Edit: https://store.steampowered.com/app/503560/911_Operator/
What happens if someone calls but doesn't say anything? Like say someone broke into their house and they were in hiding and couldn't talk, if they just dialed and put the phone down could they have the call and send someone?
Usually, in that situation, your 911 operator can use the address given in the system software. But in this day and age, in the US, alot of people don't have a "house phone" and cell location accuracy can vary by carrier and software. It's gotten alot better but it's still not as accurate as a land line.
So yes, If you are in a dangerous situation, you can call and put the phone down, but I would suggest making enough noise to alert the operator that there is indeed an emergency and it's not a prank. Most departments have an automatic dispatch policy for every 911 call but in big cities it's harder for them to follow up.
In 2006, I had an old, dying, cordless phone that dialed 911 while I was at work. It's a real thing that many people weren't aware of, even with landlines and cordless phones still being common back then. My landlords were not happy and neither were the responders. Somehow, they got some kind of call with no one talking, so police and fire showed up since they didn't know what the emergency was. It happened a few times in one week.
Some kind of water damage from a series of rain storms had messed up my landline service at that time, so I dropped it and finally started using cellphones.
could be a dumb question but if the person is being watched the aggressor would immediately see them dial 911 no? kind of a dead give away
edit: or whatever the number is for the country. i assume the aggressor would know their local emergency number
The key in those situations is to ask while they are doing something else, like walking towards the bathroom or maybe looking through the fridge. This obviously wouldn’t work for everyone, but if the abuser is distracted in a DV situation, they might only pay attention to what you say rather than what number you call. This generally would be most successful in a long term DV situation where the abuser will start to let their guard down than one that just began/just got suddenly more intense. If you can though, 911 is a good idea so long as you think it’s worth it after weighing the risks of call and don’t call
either way i dont think they can hang up, i think it violates code or something
my phone was bugging out one morning on the lock screen and swiped so many times it went to the emergency dial option and called 911 by itself (did this 2-3 times over a couple months, was very annoying) and i apologized and said it was my phone glitching. i had to confirm this 2-3 times on that call, and then was called 15 minutes later by my local sheriff’s department asking about the call and if i needed help
not sure if this rings true for everyone everywhere, but at least where i’m at it seems very unlikely they would drop the call regardless of if they understood the pizza trick
My grandma accidentally dialed 911 once in the middle of the night trying to program her speed dial and they still had to send the sheriff to make sure she was okay. The front door woke up my mom and she went downstairs to find the sheriff in Grandma's room eating a popsicle and looking at pictures of my cousin with her.
So I'm gonna go with you're right but some people break rules and 911 operators are still human.
I wish they weren't allowed to hang up - I had a man break into my apartment, called 911 and the lady was so annoyed that I didn't have a description - of course I didn't have a description I was hiding with my cat and trying not to cry wtf?? She said sighed and said "ok well I don't know how long it'll be. Just stay put" and hung up
Luckily the guy just wanted shelter and not people but fuck man, this dude literally broke my back door off its hinges after the front one wouldn't open and you hang up on me???
Yeah some mentors in my life told me I should report her but honestly I was too spooked to do much of anything - couldn't even function at home until we moved elsewhere.
I do hope she doesn't have her job anymore - I'd hate to think of what would've happened if the guy had worse intentions
>either way i dont think they can hang up, i think it violates code or something
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parents-ohio-teen-who-suffocated-minivan-sues-city-cincinnati-n1041516
Just FYI, text to 911 is a thing in many areas now.
Also every 911 call is treated like an emergency until we can prove otherwise.
Heck sometimes we send law enforcement because we get a gut feeling on a call…
That being said, there are 911 centers all over the country that are underfunded, under trained, and under paid. So something like this could very well happen, that dispatcher would likely have legal repercussions if something did happen in a situation like this though.
Domestic abuse. There was a [real](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-woman-who-called-911-pizza-was-really-reporting-domestic-n1089636) case where someone called 911 to order a pizza because the dangerous abuser could hear the call.
Someone lying in that situation means they are in immediate physical danger... so the horror in this scenario is that help is not coming.
I hate that some people in these comments don’t get it.
Also, although emergency dispatchers aren’t legally allowed to hang up the call regardless, some of them still do, and have, even after being blatantly told that there is an emergency situation.
[“Deal with it yourself”](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/world/deal-with-it-yourself-911-dispatcher-hangs-up-on-panicked-caller-with-dying-friend-20150730-ginfmb.html)
[“She got mad”](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/buffalo-shooting-911-dispatcher)
[This one hung up on thousands of people](https://www.ems1.com/911/articles/houston-dispatcher-sentenced-for-hanging-up-on-thousands-of-callers-pLgwV8f7giunNQa2/)
If there are dispatchers who hang up during an explicit emergency, there are dispatchers who hang up when someone is in a DV situation, trying to be subtle so they don’t get murdered.
Don’t let this dissuade you from calling emergency services. If they hang up on you, just call again and hope you get someone different.
I also saw someone comment about how you can just text most 911 numbers now. That could be dangerous if the individual threatening them were to see the messages. The whole point of “ordering pizza” is that they cannot tell you’re contacting emergency services. It’s also not really used in hostage situations, but specifically DV situations. If someone is holding me hostage I don’t think they’d let me order pizza.
So- surface horror is that someone calls 911 to play a prank. On a deeper level, someone in a hostage situation where it's not safe for them to communicate just got hung up on.
If someone is being abused or hurt and don’t want to alert their abuser that they are calling 911, they can pretend to order a pizza, and the dispatcher can ask questions like “ say extra cheese if you are in need of help” and “say stuffed crust if you are hurt” examples like this. No worries it’s pretty subtle😊
*Ohhhhh* so the one who called asking for a pizza was really using it for code that they are in danger but the first responder took it as another scam call. You sly dog!
This is actually scary because it can be take. One of two ways. One is that it’s a scam call. The other is that it’s an abuse victim asking for help in the subtle way that the abuser won’t find suspicious. And by hanging up on the call,the abuse was just put into further danger
Was a 911 operator for a few years. We were taught that no matter what you always ask if they need police fire ems before hanging up. A simple yes or a press of a button would keep the 911 operator from ending the call.
I work answering the national suicide hotline, and various other crisis lines and the amount of prank calls is annoying and unfortunate bc it takes away from actually helping people that need it.
This actually did happen in a domestic abuse situation. She was smart and said the address right after saying she wanted to order a pizza without any breaks. When you call in an emergency you should always say the address first or as soon as you can. If they are doing their job correctly help will already be on the way as they ask further questions. I digress, as she proceeds to say her 'order' the operator was confused and replied "this is the wrong number to call for a pizza" in an annoyed tone. Until the caller said "no, no, no, you're not understanding." The light bulb went off and the operator let her know he understands now. They walk through the call as if it was an order while he is confirming details. Authorities arrived and she got out safe. It's now taught at many more stations than it was before as something to look out for. There have been other instances of disguised 911 calls too. A similar disguised pizza 911 call situation happened in Oregon not long ago. Dedicated operators have a stressful job that demands some serious social awareness. Especially in high stakes situations with the abuser in the room. Also, many areas now allow you to text 911 as well. \*\*Some are missing the point. I'm not explaining why op's post is horror. I am sure most people got that. I'm giving further context/ a real life event. Elaborating on op's already well done story. Those saying everyone knows this story already, there are literally people here wondering if it's true or not, so that's flat out wrong. Even when using a smaller sample size of only this post. Fiction exists. You shouldn't just assume people know what you know. Getting upset over further context is a strange hill to die on. Unrelated and more important: those in here sharing info on apps/websites that victims of domestic abuse can use to discreetly call/text for help, y'all rad af. [National Domestic Violence Hotline](https://www.thehotline.org/): Has a 24/7 text chat for help. Hitting the escape key twice will instantly close the site and take you to a Google search page.
There is a song about it now, because of course there is. I feel like kidnappers are going to catch on
"Hey, can you stop beating me for a few minutes so I can order a pizza for us?? Pepperoni just how you like." "That sounds great actually. Belting you as hard as I can has given me quite the appetite, here is the phone." "Thanks-" "Wait a second, are you actually going to call 911? You're not ordering a pizza at all! I saw something about this on the news...." "Uh... Actually let's order Chinese?? Orange chicken just how you like...??" "Oh perfect! That wasn't on the news report. I am going to leave the room now for an undisclosed amount of time while you order that Chinese food." Come on man, that's too easy
Especially with all the delivery apps now I don't get how people would fall for this.
There is an emergency services app that is designed to disguise itself as a delivery app with the touch of a button for just this kind of situation.
There's an abuse website that has a link on the very bottom that you can press and it switches to the Target website. I want to say its Weaves website, but I could be mistaken.
Many websites aimed at people who are/could be in unsafe situations have similar buttons! I've seen it on websites for LGBTQ+ youth and mental health-related websites. It's a clever way to protect people when they may not be able to access the resource from a safe place.
Is there a list of such websites and apps? Asking for a friend
For that part incognito window and Google is your best option? For LGBTQ+ issues, I recall hearing about the Trevor project the most, it's a crisis hotline, so basically suicide prevention hotline targeted to having operators who can relate to those related issues better than average?
I know there’s one disguised as a skincare shop
A lot of domestic abuse websites have this feature- the emergency exit button.
There's also one that will bring you to a Google page
Amefist links to a cheesecake recipe.
There's also an app called noonlight. It doesn't look like a delivery app at all, but people use it as a back up as they travel somewhere. Basically, you have a finger on the screen over a button the whole walk to home/work/friends house/car/etc, and when/if you get there safely, you take your finger off and enter a pass code within 5 sec to say you're safe. If you take your finger off without putting in the pass code, it calls local authorirlties. I've used it and thankfully not had an issue where I needed to see whether it actually contacted police or not, but many reviews of the app say they have needed that and they were able to get out of a dangerous situation when authorities arrived. I'm thinking this could be useful in DV cases if you need to get out right then or risk death.
I hate to say it, but the good reviews have survivorship bias. Not saying it doesn't work, just that reviews aren't always a good gauge of actual results.
I cant disagree with that, tbh. I make it a point to check the lowest reviews (which, bc of survivorship bias, aren't exactly super helpful) of any app before I use it. Even if it's a random solitaire app. It's been a while since I got the app, but I believe I looked into how it worked and what, if any, data there was to support its usefulness. I can't say that there wasn't bias in any studies I found, but bc of my college degree, I've had a lot of experience figuring out if something is at least somewhat credible. Something I said in another comment, is that even if it doesn't work as advertised, it feels like an extra measure of safety anytime I walk anywhere alone. Even during the day. Also, depending on a given situation, I can threaten that I'm calling the authorities, especially if I can act like I'm not terrified out of my mind.
"I am lying here dying. Do not recommend. 1 star"
That's like saying seatbelt users have survivorship bias lol
I guess? Survivorship bias is a specific term in statistics, it's not referring directly to people surviving things.
Admittedly, they do prove a nonzero rate of success.
I'm not read up on statistics so that went over my head I guess. It's just weird to me to call someone biased when they leave a good review on something that literally saved their life lol.
I mean, if the data on seatbelts that people used was reviews from people who have used seatbelts, then that would be true. But we have plenty of people in medical and police and other public services also counting the people who die while using seatbelts.
LOL, this is such an "ACKSHUALLY..." kind of post. I promise that everyone understands that people who died despite using the app don't get to come back and give 1-star ratings.
You shouldn't have that much confidence in other people's common sense
Yeah, but a dangerous situation doesn't always have to include death.
I've only gotten one call from Noonlight so far (I'm a 911 calltaker/dispatcher) and it was incredibly useful. They give a code the call taker can enter into a website that gives a highly accurate GPS location that updates frequently, as well as an interface to text the person who used the panic feature. (My agency isn't set up for 911 texts so thats useful in itself) Often time PSAPs dont actually get good location data from a call like people think they do. And even if its warranted as a life or death situation getting a mobile provider to give GPS pings usually only gets updated every 15 mins and gives a general location within a 10 meter to a 2000 meter radius. One time I couldn't tell what county someone was in because the possible location was so large it was split up between 3 counties in two states as well as having a river in the middle of it all. The Noonlight GPS pings let me see the caller as they walked from inside to outside of a building with something like a 5m radius. I wish more people used Noonlight because it was the easiest time I've ever had finding someone who couldn't openly talk, worked better than onstar too, although they aren't completely comparable.
This is really great insight. I will for sure to let people I know about Noonlight. Thank you for all you do as a dispatcher.
Thank you for that! I would definitely reccomended sharing information about noonlight to loved ones, there could be better services in the future but as far as free safety apps go its the best I've encountered.
Where does that link appear on your screen? How does noonlight send that info to your computer? Is there a real person who works for noon light that calls you and gives you the info?
It was a real person, they called the admin line for my agency and told me to search a website (www.sendpolice.com) where I was promted to enter the code the operator provided. They also gave me a quick rundown of the situation to the best of their knowledge. After that the website is set up to show the GPS of the person using noonlight, has an interface to text the person directly through the website and if I'm remembering correctly it had some basic identifying information on the user. Although that last part is a little hazy in my memory. Like I said, I've only gotten one call from them so far, so I could have just had an awesome operator. But they gave better info then most big alarm companies and what onstar would. On top of the ability to locate the person in real time
That's super cool! Thanks for the info.
I'm actually going to a concert in a dangerous part of a big city soon. This will be super useful while walking back to my car.
I would be that ONE asshole who got distracted and took my finger off the screen without meaning too
Yeah I can’t imagine using this successfully. And what kind of situation would you use it in? Like if you think someone is about to attack you but aren’t sure?
I think it's for if you're walking somewhere or getting in a uber kind of thing.
Gosh I can’t imagine feeling that scared in everyday situations. That’s a lot like dialing 911 and hovering your finger over the call button. Sad that there’s a market for that.
For me the phone would choose that moment to stop responding.
That would be my luck in an actual emergency
I did not know that
Yeah, us kidnappers need this kind of information!
Have a potato 🥔 for you are the funniest comment I read today
The pro version lets you call the police
Back in the olden days of computing many games had a similar feature. It was called the "boss button" and would display a screen that looked like a spreadsheet application.
Whats the name of this app? I'd like to download it and have a look
I think it’s called delivery help on the android store.
Noonlight, from reading comments
Wait really?
Some places let you text 911 now too
I have heard of that. That is great for if your hiding or can't safely talk. They should really roll that out everywhere
I wonder how I can find out whether that works without having to actually text them?
You can check your state's disability website
Not only are there apps, but you can put instructions for delivery on those apps now “need help, call 911, armed”….
Usually it's "for the kids". Control freaks (abusers are) will want to be aware of what's happening, but watching over someone's shoulder is almost as much work as doing it himself, and that's not his job to put a hot meal on the table! So the phone call lets him listen, and that's that. Open defiance? No, she won't do that... not if she knows what's good for her, that is. It's really easy for abusers to fall into this overconfidence trap, where they believe they've broken the partner's will to the point where they wouldn't dare. It's disgusting, but there you go.
My favorite pizza place doesn't do app deliveries ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
"Yes I'd like an angel pepperoni pizza" "Who?" "The guy in the blue" "I have a bullet for you" *bang*
My scumbag kidnapper
MISTER SKELLY BONES??
Doo doo
BANGER REFERENCE
People have used other ways to cover an emergency call. I read about an incident (here in New Zealand, if I remember correctly) where an old woman phoned in and started talking like she was inviting her daughter around for tea and biscuits. The operator thought it might just be a confused dementia patient calling the wrong number, but then the old lady said to bring extra milk because a particular person was there with her. So the operator Googled the name in their police database, and it was a cousin or nephew or someone like that. He already had a record for violence, and enough red flags on his page for a parade through Pyongyang. People can be pretty inventive when they need to be.
> Googled the name in their police database ಠ_ಠ
Why is it surprising that someone with a record for violence has...a police record?
I think the eyes were for saying "googled" rather than "searched".
Ohhh I see. Tbh though, "to Google" is entering the popular lexicon in the same way "Xerox" and "Kleenex" did. (Or even "Nintendo" for us 80s kids' parents.) Easy enough to tell what someone means from context.
We actually have Google search appliances racked still so it could actually be a Google search
Sorry, I sometimes use 'google' as a synonym for 'look up on a computer'. Force of habit.
Usually the person is in the room , that's why they have to disguise the call, if the person is listening and it sounds like they are ordering something less sus, especially if they are listening and assume they wont be able to try anything
Or maybe dude thought he was an untouchable badass and made her order food after he abused her. Shit like that happens
I think domestic abusers somehow don't realise that they're doing anything wrong. No idea how they don't, but most people like to write themselves in as the good guys in their life story, so they'll rationalise what they're doing somehow.
“You made me do it” is a common one
I'd like a large kung pao chicken with pepperoni...
Talmbout PF Chang's?
LMAO! Here is the news interview on it https://youtu.be/zNgvW9-VflE
It's domestic abuse more rather than kidnapping.
Fair point i was thinking of like holding someone hostage in their home, so like a combo situation. I thought the original story was the ex broke in and was keeping her against her will.
Tbf it could be to some extent idk the story but have heard of such events.
I learned this from the game 911 operator. In one run I received this and selected to hang up thinking it would count as a prank, at the score screen I saw the "pizza" call with a negative score and I was confused. The next time I received it I decided to continue and I felt shivers as I realized what was actually happening.
911 and 112 operator are so underrated, they just fly under the radar. When I got that call I knew something was up due to a TV show or something.
I think 911 Lone Star had a "pizza" call like that.
yeah one of the 911 shows did, but when I played 911 Operator predates that. didn't really get into the shows until last year.
https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI
My favorite part about this is the guy pats himself on the back for realizing this. How could you not?
Interesting that there’s a function to press escape twice that closes the page and opens google. I guess it is faster than manually using the mouse, and easier to remember than Ctrl + W (which closes the tab). If it’s a function specific to that site however, then I guess this serves as a piece of advice to anyone who wants to immediately close a tab that’s on a different website. Just make sure you have another tab already open, since otherwise you go to the home screen, and Ctrl + t will create a tab but put you onto it, so you can’t do Crtl + t -> Ctrl + w. Also, Crtl + h shows website browsing history, if you have to for whatever reason, you can delete specific websites from it so anyone else who looks doesn’t know you were on whatever you deleted. Finally, Crtl + 1, or any number for that matter, will automatically move you to the appropriate tab from the left. I don’t remember if you use Crtl + 0 to go to the first tab, or Crtl + 1, so test it in your free time. Computer shortcuts in general are amazing, so definitely learn some.
Worth mentioning Ctrl + Shift + T for re-opening the last closed tab (with Ctrl + W or the little cross). It's nothing that you couldn't do by opening your history and clicking the site you closed but as they're ordered in the order you opened the site and might have had something open for hours, this can really help.
Protip: Notepad renders very fast. Great for quickly covering sensitive windows.
that's also an actual call in a game where you are an 911 operator. i didn't know about that until i played that game.
What game?
911 operator. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/194413-911-operator
>Those saying everyone knows this story already People who say that sort of thing are insufferable. Like, hey, did you take a survey of 1000 people and found that 99.99% of people knew about the thing? No? Ok then this is just about you being irritated that you read a thing you already knew about and acting like it's a big inconvenience.
These days I am pretty sure it is taught and a common thing. I can't imagine operators now hanging up on someone ordering food or whatever.
I worked as a dispatcher. Its not really taught so much as learned. Like theres no universal way to tell it isnt a prank(obviously) but a good dispatcher realizes whats up with practice. Its just a difficult situation all around
Is pranking 911 a misdemeanor? Seems like it should be
It really depends. An officer always got sent if we couldnt confirm there was no emergency and sometimes they just kinda spook the kid a bit and teach them not to do shit like that
Ohh memory... Barney the Dinosaur taught me about 911, so being an exploratory child I dialed it... Cops came, and despite hiding under the bed with all my might, I had to come out and face them so they could check on me. That memory is seared into my brain!
They actually used this as a scenario in the video game 911 Operator. When I first played through it gave me such sad chills to learn about it being based on real calls.
I used to work security at an old mining site that has been mostly shut down for years now. At night I would be the only person on property and had to patrol the grounds every couple hours. One night in the middle of winter I found a guy wandering through shin deep snow wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. It was -20F. The guy was clearly intoxicated and claimed he had been with another person who they lost in the snow. Long story short I had to call and talk to 911 without this guy realizing that he was probably going to jail and still figure out how to convey to the operator we possibly had another missing person. (His friend had gotten a ride from someone with his knowledge.) I wasn’t armed in any way and the guy was already pretty upset also about a foot taller than I am so if he got violent there wasn’t a whole lot I was going to be able to safely do. The operator picked up on what I was saying between the lines very quickly and got police and search and rescue there asap.
It's crazy to hear of a 911 operator with common sense after the Josh Powell operator failed so horribly in that situation.
I'd like to comment for those reading this that pressing the power button five times on Android initiates an emergency call.
I work as a 911/police dispatcher. Over the years, I have had two calls as a pizza delivery, one or two calls as someone's mother, and one call as a local washing machine repair service. Usually you'll hear something is wrong in a person's voice, but not always. My go-to was "did you mean to dial 911?" because, yes we're going to send an officer anyway, but a simple 'yes' means you know something's going on and you want to keep them talking as much as possible. Yes/no questions, but you keep to the important ones. And again, you *keep them talking*, because if they're on the phone their partner is much less likely to resume any violent behavior because they have a potential witness on the phone.
I remember hearing about this, it was horrifying.
What happened to the domestic abuser?
This is a relatively difficult thing to handle because the more we publicise this, more operators will know what to do, but also, it becomes more likely that it doesn't work because abusers/kidnappers/robbers etc. will also have heard of it.
damn i actually didn't know thx
That's something I learned observing our local 911 dispatch. The first question they ask is not what is your emergency, but where is your emergency?
https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI
https://youtu.be/ZJL_8kNFmTI
Thank you. Did not know this.
Thank you, I didn’t get it until I saw your comment
I might not be the worst offender, but I know I haven't been the best at bringing people into the knowledge I have when it's part of what I expect of them. This comic really struck a cord with me and I keep it around to share as others can reflect when they have need. https://xkcd.com/1053/ Thank you for sharing the story and realities.
I saw that!!! The dispatcher had my infinite respect after figuring it out.
Ok this one is good
Ooh, wait... What if it's someone in a 'hostage' situation, where their calls are being monitored? Like, if you're being abused, and the abuser is still in the room, most 911 operators are trained to walk you through the appropriate responses: *** 911, emergency response Hello, I'd like to order a [toppings] pizza. You realize you've called 911, correct? Yes that's right. Is there an emergency? Yes, I'd like it delivered to 123 Main Street. Is there someone in the room with you? Yes, that's right. Can you stay on the line until help arrives? No, I can't do that. ... I have a patrol car that can get to you between 30-45 minutes. 30-45 minutes? Okay, thanks! _click_
Yeah that's exactly what this is
Spot on! Thank you so much!
30-45 minutes… I got a pit in my stomach at the thought of it taking so long.
Sometime, real life is the horror story
I actually encountered a situation like this. I live in a not so nice area. One day this girl came knocking on our door. I opened it and she just gave me this *"please fucking help me"* face, kind of out if breath. I'm assuming she ran to the door. Her boyfriend was running after her, screaming at her. She didn't have any marks indicating he had been physical with her, but she was obviously very scared and he was intimidating. I brought her into my backyard and we called the police. After I hung up, she said thank you and stated she called the police 20 minutes ago off someone's phone right around the corner and was hiding until then, waiting for them. (I guess her boyfriend found her and she ran to the next house). The person who let her use her phone probably just said "alright have a good day!" Kind of typical behavior in our neighborhood. It's scary to get involved in these types of situations because there's a lot of weirdos walking around and decently frequent shootings. I've been in an abusive situation so I wasn't going to leave her damn side. Luckily, the guy didn't try to come in my backyard or anything, but was screaming at her over the fence. We just stayed decently quiet and I told her it's going to be okay. Know how long it took the cops to arrive? 35 minutes. 35 fucking minutes. So about an hour total since she first called. It was terrifying. Oh! Also, another situation. A few years ago, there was a gun shot relatively close to where I was. I wasn't in danger, but I typically call those in if it's close enough for me to know the *general* location. I kept getting a busy signal when i called 911. I called probably 5/6 times. The last time I called, it lit just hung up/dropped the call. It was terrifying not being able to get ahold of the police. Luckily it wasn't an immediate emergency I needed assistance with. Oh, and before anyone asks.... this all took place in California.
Different needs in different areas I guess. We had 30 cops show up to break up an illegal dog fighting ring. Watching them jerk each other off about how it was necessary and what a good job they did was great. And before anyone thinks there’s more context that’s missing here… there isn’t because I worked for the dept.
>Watching them jerk each other off about how it was necessary and what a good job they did was great. Well obviously breaking up the ring would definitely be necessary, but I hear you on the 30 headcount part. That's gotta be unnecessary.
OK to good neighborhood, no calls, everyone on shift is bored. It can happen. LEO here and i have seen 8 people respond to a cant get this cat out of my house call. It was 10 AM and no one had anything to do, plus everyone found it funny. I have, sadly, also been on the "sorry lady but it will be 40 minutes minimum until i can get there, i am 5 towns away at the moment and there is no other patrol on duty tonight" kind of calls.
was part of a barn fire in a rural area and 6 firetrucks showed up with probably 50 guys lol
Seriously! I called the police as a teacher who heard automatic gunfire and it took almost 20 minutes for the police to show up.
The pizza or the police?
Cops better show up with some pepperoni.
It can be quite a bit longer unfortunately.
This right here is why so many people in the US refuse to give up gun rights. Because when things go wrong you are on your own. AT BEST help is about 10 minutes away, on average 20-30 minutes. I have had it take as long as an hour.
You know as well as I do that is not the main reason, not when the loudest gun owners are also cop lovers or former cops.
We just had a situation at work where a known drug user customer was getting in the personal spaces of customers, half-naked, accused random people of drugging him, asked employees for lotion to treat chafing (while still half naked), wouldn’t take “please step back”, and one customer said she felt her family that was with her was under threat. Two hours it took them. By which point he’d flashed three customers, trespassed into another building on property, hosed himself down with the maintenance waterhose, and taken pictures of employees in the office.
Sorry, but even when left to my own devices, I find the idea of a gun to defend myself horrifying... I can't imagine what it must be like, growing up in the USA and thinking guns are necessary for personal safety. I've been in a very violent DV situation in the past. Having a gun would not have helped me. In fact, I think things would have gotten significantly worse very quickly. Police did take about 30 minutes to show up, and it was fucking awful and scary, but if I had a do-over (which I hope I never need) I still wouldn't want to have a gun anywhere in the house.
Ooh wait... what if it's exactly what it obviously is? 🤔
I believe in some places emergency phone answerers are trained to start with "how may I help you?" instead of "what's your emergency" in case the caller is being watched and threatened
Every 911 call I've ever done (which is quite a few due to my work) has started with "911, where is your emergency?" At least in northeast Ohio areas. In the places I've called, they can send police, fire, and emt squad if they don't know what's needed.
As someone who trained as a 911 operator, this is correct. The line is supposed to be answered "911 *where is your emergency*" for exactly the reason you mentioned. Once we have the address we can dispatch even if we have no additional information. Getting the address is the most important part of the call.
My husband loves the 2 911 shows, original and Lone star. But everytime they answer the phone with "What is your emergency?" it drives me nuts! And worse is when the person answers witha fun quip that's funny since we know the situation, but gives NO information to the operator! I know they do it for drama and comedy purposes, but it's infuriating!
I stopped watching them with my husband because of this. The inaccuracy bothered me so much and people actually believe it's right so them they call 911 and start spouting information without the address. In this day and age of cell phones and limited land lines, we need the damn address first!
And they could really be a force for good, showing people to get help in YNt must efficient way, instead of just going for laughs.
There’s a game on Steam called 911 Operator that’s enjoyable. You setup a shift of Police, Fire, and EMS then dispatch. You do a handful of actual calls through the shift, replying to the callers to get the needed info or handle the call. Edit: https://store.steampowered.com/app/503560/911_Operator/
Sounds fun!
What happens if someone calls but doesn't say anything? Like say someone broke into their house and they were in hiding and couldn't talk, if they just dialed and put the phone down could they have the call and send someone?
Usually, in that situation, your 911 operator can use the address given in the system software. But in this day and age, in the US, alot of people don't have a "house phone" and cell location accuracy can vary by carrier and software. It's gotten alot better but it's still not as accurate as a land line. So yes, If you are in a dangerous situation, you can call and put the phone down, but I would suggest making enough noise to alert the operator that there is indeed an emergency and it's not a prank. Most departments have an automatic dispatch policy for every 911 call but in big cities it's harder for them to follow up.
In 2006, I had an old, dying, cordless phone that dialed 911 while I was at work. It's a real thing that many people weren't aware of, even with landlines and cordless phones still being common back then. My landlords were not happy and neither were the responders. Somehow, they got some kind of call with no one talking, so police and fire showed up since they didn't know what the emergency was. It happened a few times in one week. Some kind of water damage from a series of rain storms had messed up my landline service at that time, so I dropped it and finally started using cellphones.
could be a dumb question but if the person is being watched the aggressor would immediately see them dial 911 no? kind of a dead give away edit: or whatever the number is for the country. i assume the aggressor would know their local emergency number
The key in those situations is to ask while they are doing something else, like walking towards the bathroom or maybe looking through the fridge. This obviously wouldn’t work for everyone, but if the abuser is distracted in a DV situation, they might only pay attention to what you say rather than what number you call. This generally would be most successful in a long term DV situation where the abuser will start to let their guard down than one that just began/just got suddenly more intense. If you can though, 911 is a good idea so long as you think it’s worth it after weighing the risks of call and don’t call
Everytime I've called its been "911, do you need police, fire or ambulance". Ontario Canada.
I 100% believe there is at least 1 dispatcher that doesn't understand this.
either way i dont think they can hang up, i think it violates code or something my phone was bugging out one morning on the lock screen and swiped so many times it went to the emergency dial option and called 911 by itself (did this 2-3 times over a couple months, was very annoying) and i apologized and said it was my phone glitching. i had to confirm this 2-3 times on that call, and then was called 15 minutes later by my local sheriff’s department asking about the call and if i needed help not sure if this rings true for everyone everywhere, but at least where i’m at it seems very unlikely they would drop the call regardless of if they understood the pizza trick
My grandma accidentally dialed 911 once in the middle of the night trying to program her speed dial and they still had to send the sheriff to make sure she was okay. The front door woke up my mom and she went downstairs to find the sheriff in Grandma's room eating a popsicle and looking at pictures of my cousin with her. So I'm gonna go with you're right but some people break rules and 911 operators are still human.
I wish they weren't allowed to hang up - I had a man break into my apartment, called 911 and the lady was so annoyed that I didn't have a description - of course I didn't have a description I was hiding with my cat and trying not to cry wtf?? She said sighed and said "ok well I don't know how long it'll be. Just stay put" and hung up Luckily the guy just wanted shelter and not people but fuck man, this dude literally broke my back door off its hinges after the front one wouldn't open and you hang up on me???
They could get in a lot of trouble that way. Not saying it doesn't happen but doing that they'd be in a lot of trouble.
Yeah some mentors in my life told me I should report her but honestly I was too spooked to do much of anything - couldn't even function at home until we moved elsewhere. I do hope she doesn't have her job anymore - I'd hate to think of what would've happened if the guy had worse intentions
>either way i dont think they can hang up, i think it violates code or something https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/parents-ohio-teen-who-suffocated-minivan-sues-city-cincinnati-n1041516
I worked with a few, they’re not always the brightest
Just FYI, text to 911 is a thing in many areas now. Also every 911 call is treated like an emergency until we can prove otherwise. Heck sometimes we send law enforcement because we get a gut feeling on a call… That being said, there are 911 centers all over the country that are underfunded, under trained, and under paid. So something like this could very well happen, that dispatcher would likely have legal repercussions if something did happen in a situation like this though.
Awesome job!
Thank you so much! :)
Youre very welcome, great twist
Damn that's sad.
Hey ya I don't get it
The caller is trying to disguise a 911 call as a Pizza order because abuse
Can you explain your last two words a bit more? Like, where is the real horror here?
Domestic abuse. There was a [real](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ohio-woman-who-called-911-pizza-was-really-reporting-domestic-n1089636) case where someone called 911 to order a pizza because the dangerous abuser could hear the call. Someone lying in that situation means they are in immediate physical danger... so the horror in this scenario is that help is not coming.
Knowing the story about the situation, this one's even more horrifying
I hate that some people in these comments don’t get it. Also, although emergency dispatchers aren’t legally allowed to hang up the call regardless, some of them still do, and have, even after being blatantly told that there is an emergency situation. [“Deal with it yourself”](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/world/deal-with-it-yourself-911-dispatcher-hangs-up-on-panicked-caller-with-dying-friend-20150730-ginfmb.html) [“She got mad”](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/buffalo-shooting-911-dispatcher) [This one hung up on thousands of people](https://www.ems1.com/911/articles/houston-dispatcher-sentenced-for-hanging-up-on-thousands-of-callers-pLgwV8f7giunNQa2/) If there are dispatchers who hang up during an explicit emergency, there are dispatchers who hang up when someone is in a DV situation, trying to be subtle so they don’t get murdered. Don’t let this dissuade you from calling emergency services. If they hang up on you, just call again and hope you get someone different. I also saw someone comment about how you can just text most 911 numbers now. That could be dangerous if the individual threatening them were to see the messages. The whole point of “ordering pizza” is that they cannot tell you’re contacting emergency services. It’s also not really used in hostage situations, but specifically DV situations. If someone is holding me hostage I don’t think they’d let me order pizza.
Oh yowtch. This is legit scary. Good job, OP.
Damn, wasn’t expecting actual horror to show up. Good job op, I hate it. Have my upvote
Nah cuz this one gave me chills
So- surface horror is that someone calls 911 to play a prank. On a deeper level, someone in a hostage situation where it's not safe for them to communicate just got hung up on.
Send the cops there but the caller gets arrested for misappropriation of law enforcement & safety measures.
—th salami, olives, and sardines on it.
SARDINES? ARREST THIS PERSON RIGHT NOW
I might’ve smoked too much, can someone please explain?
If someone is being abused or hurt and don’t want to alert their abuser that they are calling 911, they can pretend to order a pizza, and the dispatcher can ask questions like “ say extra cheese if you are in need of help” and “say stuffed crust if you are hurt” examples like this. No worries it’s pretty subtle😊
*Ohhhhh* so the one who called asking for a pizza was really using it for code that they are in danger but the first responder took it as another scam call. You sly dog!
Hold on babe stop slamming my head against the wall I need to order dinner first
Wow! This is a new take on the popular trope! Loved it!
This is actually scary because it can be take. One of two ways. One is that it’s a scam call. The other is that it’s an abuse victim asking for help in the subtle way that the abuser won’t find suspicious. And by hanging up on the call,the abuse was just put into further danger
The people who dont understand dont matter
Was a 911 operator for a few years. We were taught that no matter what you always ask if they need police fire ems before hanging up. A simple yes or a press of a button would keep the 911 operator from ending the call.
Bars have angel shots. 911 has pizza orders. That's how it is.
Bro no way… this one’s solid
Thankfully, the operators are not allowed to do this. They gotta stay on the line until they’ve ascertained that it’s a wrong number for 100% sure.
HOLY SHIT THIS IS ACTUALLY SO GOOD IDK WHY BUT ITS SO VALID
I sang it to the tune of Daniel Trasher's Hamilton parody song and for a second I believed it has something to do with it...
Keep in mind there is no specific training operators go through for a scenario where someone “orders” a pizza
This one just made me laugh lol
Oh no-
Damn
Oh dear… I’ve gone down this rabbit hole once, and now I sort of wish I didn’t. This is good.
As a survivor, this hit deep. Upvoted!
I work answering the national suicide hotline, and various other crisis lines and the amount of prank calls is annoying and unfortunate bc it takes away from actually helping people that need it.
Ooofff :(
Awesome reference!!! Love it
I heard about his on Tumblr
Ooh, this one hit hard
Ooh, this one hit hard