It's suprisingly awkward being a 911 dispatcher

When I tell you what I do for a living, you probably think I deal with just the craziest, stressful, life and death kind of stuff. Every night I go to work and it’s just a white-knuckle ride of making sure everybody I talk to survives the shift. Umm, that’s not quite accurate, at least in my smaller town. I have had some intense nights but that’s not what I’m going to writing about this time.

Being a 911 dispatcher can put you in some uncomfortable situations. A friend or relative can get arrested, somebody you know might call with a sensitive issue that they need help with. I always feel weird when somebody calls about something minor, and I recognize their voice and they recognize my voice but I still go through my routine and ask them for their name as a reporting party.

It was my brother’s birthday a couple years back when I was working. Him and his girlfriend were out at the bars, I knew about this so if they needed a ride home I could take my lunch break and go grab them. Anyways I get a call about a car sliding off the road and smashing into their porch. I didn’t think too much of it until officers arrived on scene and ran the license plates. It was my brother’s car! He wasn’t driving thankfully; the girlfriend was and she went to jail that night. Oh and nobody was hurt, they did have to pay for a new porch and car though.

I’m not forthcoming when I meet people about what I do, mostly to avoid weird conversations, like I’m a portal into how the police work. I’ve had one girl tell me how an officer would take blowjobs in exchange for getting out of a ticket, she didn’t know where I worked and knew this officer. I knew she was lying so I just shut my mouth let it go.

Other times people will tell stories about how they got arrested, it’s really tough when I took the call and read the reports or saw the body camera footage and know this guy was causing trouble or starting fights. If you ask him though, he was just minding his own business then the cops came, beat him up and took him to jail.

Some people we deal with a lot more than others, regulars and I know them by the sound of their voice, I know all about the crap they pull. Good news is they don’t know me. This is awkward because you see them at the grocery store and around town. Like when you see somebody you want to avoid and you just go the next isle and half to get mustard next time. I always wonder why I should avoid them, they have no idea of who I am, but I still steer clear.

These are kind of minor awkward things that happen, sometimes you learn things you really wished you didn’t know. Part of the job includes figuring out past history with people, like their phone numbers addresses, and what they drive. This info will be under a type of case, say an assault for example. Joe beat up Bob at this address on such and such date. We stopped Joe on a traffic stop driving a white Honda on another date. In case Joe just stole beer from the gas station then took off in a white car, I can look back and see he has a White Honda and the plate number.

Anyways going through the database I found out a friend of mine was raped by another guy I know. I had no idea, and don’t know think many people know at all. I stumbled upon this case by accident and wish I hadn’t. I won’t ever bring it up to anybody and just need to kind of forget I know. There are some things can I learn or have to deal with that are not a funny kind of awkward.

So, I hope you enjoyed my post. If you have any questions go ahead and ask them in the comment section, or maybe have any topics you would like to hear about.

Thanks much.