The other day we were driving into Portsmouth and passed a broken down vehicle on the side of the road. It was a red convertible and it had the hood and trunk open so it was obviously in distress. Oh, and did I mention that the driver was hobbling around the car with a pair of crutches because he only had ONE LEG?!!?!?
I got on the phone and called 911 because I figured he needed some help and I'm not Joe Mechanic. The call went roughly like this:
911 operator: What's your emergency?
Me: We just went by a broken down car on the Spaulding Turnpike. The driver only has one leg and needs some help.
911 operator: Where is he broken down?
Me: He's on the southbound side of the Spaulding Turnpike right before the bridge...it think it is Newington.
The 911 operator calls Newington dispatch and I go through the entire explanation again, emphasizing that this guy only has one leg and needs help.
Newington Dispatch: That's not Newington, you have to call Dover.
The 911 operator calls Dover dispatch and I go through the entire explanation AGAIN, emphasizing that the guy only has one leg and needs help. At this point I'm laughing a bit at the bizarre nature of this call and started to feel like I was telling a bad joke..."There was this guy on the side of the road with one leg named Smith...what's the name of his other leg?!?!?"
Dover Disptach: Yeah, uh...call the State Police.
I went through the whole explanation for the third time. I'm guessing that by now the guy rebuilt his engine while hobbling around the car or has been struck and killed after toppling into the road. The State Police said they'd take care of it but were was the urgency? I called 911, the guy was broken down on a busy road, and was hobbling around with only one leg on crutches.
I just hope that the next time I call 911 it is handled with a little less passing of the buck.