911 Ain't a Joke

If you listened to Public Enemy's hit, "911 is a Joke", you may be led to believe that the emergency phone service for the Police and Fire departments shouldn't be taken all that seriously. In fact, some treat the 911 number as an information service. Amy L. Edwards, a writer for the Orlando Sentinel, wrote a brief article in today's paper about this dilemma.

Some people call 911 for utterly mundane reasons, like ordering dinner. Edwards shares the transcript from an actual call to Orlando 911:

"Nine-one-one emergency. This is Josh. Your call is recorded."

"Um, yeah, can I get an order of the pork fried rice and ... do you guys have crab rangoons?

"This is the Police Department."

"Uh, OK. I'll also have an egg roll, too. Do you know how long it will be?"

"Ma'am, this is the police."

"OK. Do you know how long it will be?"

"This is the Police Department, ma'am."

"So you can't tell me how long it will be?"

Or how about the gentleman that called 911 while inquiring about the services of a lady of the night:

"The dispatcher pointed out that the caller had phoned the police. The caller said he knew that, adding that he figured police would know how to find prostitutes."

I guess I'll think twice before calling 911 next time my pizza delivery is late. You can read the whole article here.

The Orlando Magic & April Fools

Lori and I were able to have a fun time last night along with a couple of our kids at the Orlando Magic vs. the Toronto Raptors game last night. Thanks to the Orlando public school system, Brennan and Leah received free tickets for their good grades this year. Of course, Lori and I had to pay for ours (nothing is completely free in the land of Mickey Mouse.)

It was a good game and we had a great time with the kids. But the best time of the night came at halftime. Earlier in the game, they had selected a random fan to try to make a half-court short in order to win $100,000. Halftime rolled around and the announcer informed us that the guy was going to be blindfolded during his shot attempt.

He also told us that the whole arena was going to act as if the man made the shot so that we could play an April Fool's Day joke on him. So dude comes out and gets blindfolded. He heaves up a pathetic shot and the whole place erupts. The mascots start jumping on him, music blaring, lights are flashing and he's told that he made the shot. Once it sinks in, the guy starts running around the floor celebrating like crazy.

The announcer asks him what he'll do with the 100 grand and he says that he was just laid off from his job so this is all great. They then give him one of those fake, over sized checks (made out for $100,000) and have him turn it around. On the back, it says "April Fools." The guy looks dumbfounded, embarrassed and somewhat angry. The announcer explains that his girlfriend, who is there, set him up and this is all in good fun. They then had him a 100 Grand candy bar and send him on his way.

A great April Fool's Day joke, huh? Albeit cruel, but funny, right? Well, it appears the joke was on us. According to Orlando Sentinel sports writer, David Whitley, the guy was actually an actor and the only people who got fooled were those of us in the stands. I felt bad for the guy so finding that out was a great topping to a great evening.