the who gives a sh!t thread

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Here's one; it's almost worth giving a shit about, given the abuse in question, but it's still nice and absurd.

Oregon woman arrested for using 911 to find "cutie-pie" cop

A woman in Oregon who called 911 to get "the cutest cop I've seen" sent back to her home got a date all right — a court date.

The same sheriff's deputy ended up arresting her on charges of misuse of the emergency dispatch system.

It all started with a noise complaint called in last month by neighbours of Lorna Dudash, who lives in Aloha, Ore., Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff's Department told KGW-TV of Portland on Thursday.

The deputy sent to check on the complaint knocked on her door, spoke to her briefly, then left.

Thompson said Dudash then called 911, asking that the "cutie pie" deputy return.

"He's the cutest cop I've seen in a long time. I just want to know his name," Dudash told the dispatcher. "Heck, it doesn't come very often a good man comes to your doorstep."

After a short silence, the dispatcher asked again why Dudash needed the deputy to return.

"Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911," she said.

"I know this is absolutely not in any way, shape or form an emergency, but if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back, would you mind?"

The deputy returned, verified that there was no emergency and arrested Dudash for misusing the 911 system, an offence punishable by a fine of up to several thousand dollars and a year in jail.

Thompson said it was the first case he knew of in which someone called the emergency line for such a personal reason.

"That's taking up valuable time from dispatchers who could be taking true emergency calls," he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2006

[djmelbatoast]

If there time is so valuable why is it that they can spend 5 minutes trying to persuade a helpful citizen into giving all of there information, name, address phone number, mothers maiden name. I have actually yelled and the operator before saying, "I'm not going to give you any of my information, but there's a guy getting the shit beat out of him down the street and the cops might want to come and check it out!"

[StoneMtn]

Sounds consistent to me. If I made every person who called me go through all those hoops before I spoke to them, I'd be short of time too.

That's terrible that this actually happened to you Melba.

[Calamity Jane]

Oregon woman arrested for using 911 to find "cutie-pie" cop

The deputy returned, verified that there was no emergency and arrested Dudash ....

hopefully she really had a thing for the uniform and being in cuffs...then I guess it was worth her thousand bucks!

If there time is so valuable why is it that they can spend 5 minutes trying to persuade a helpful citizen into giving all of there information, name, address phone number, mothers maiden name....

MY EXACT experience! I also remember it seemed AGES before anyone even picked up the phone...like 5 or 6 rings! Incredibly freaky when you have someone taking a major epileptic seizure in your home (interesting story!!)

I LOVE how threads mutate!!! I both LOVE and DON'T LOVE to give a shit.....so keep 'em coming!

[bradm]

Is this room for rant?

One of my guilty pleasures on holiday Mondays, especially those which aren't holidays in the USA, is watching those morning "confrontational/topical" talk shows. As I'm not generally home weekday mornings, it makes for an interesting way to observe culture and behaviour, especially of people whose life experience(s) are radically different from mine.

But. Why is it that every time I watch Maury Pauvich's show, he's always doing a "Who's the father of my baby?" DNA test show? I swear, the last three or four days I've been able to watch him over the last several months, his show is chock full of desparate loudmouth women and obnoxious loudmouth men arguing over who is or isn't the father. Results are read, stages are stormed off of, tears are shed, and on and on it goes.

It's getting to the point that I think I've detected a pattern: some shows are all "You are the father" while others are all "You are not the father." There's also one woman I've seen once or twice who's been on several times, and had about four or five different guys tested to see who is the father of her child. All the tests have been negative. And this is where the show falls short: if Maury were truly interested in helping this woman, he'd point out to her that having unprotected sex with over five different guys in the space of a couple of weeks (I figure a woman who gets pregnant can generally determine the date of conception plus or minus a week) is not only irresponsible, it's downright dangerous. (And why doesn't Maury end these shows by advising women and men to practice safe sex or refer them to Planned Parenthood or other resources?)

But no. All he does is tell her the latest candidate isn't the father, go to a commercial break, and then deal with another case after the ads for the latest weight-loss craze are over.

I'm also mystified at the behaviour of (a lot of) the guests. Have we raised a generation of trash-talking impolite loudmouth yahoos? These people, it seems, can't even carry on a simple conversation without behaving in ways that would have got me or any of my friends a slap upside the head if we had behaved that way when we were kids. If I were a therapist (and it sounds to me as if a lot of these people, individually and as couples, really need therapy), and a patient were behaving this way, that person would very quickly cease to be a patient of mine.

Now I realize that it's a TV show, and Maury is after conflict to fuel his ratings (does he enourage his guests to behave this way? does he reject the polite ones?), and people who act politely, speak nicely, and behave respectfully don't garner much in the way of an audience, but I wonder if there's a bit of positive feedback going on here, with people who watch the show thinking it's an appropriate way to behave.

Aloha,

Brad

[StoneMtn]

I think you are correct, Brad, that people have gotten much less cultured and polite over time.

I'm not particularly offended by the behaviour I see on these shows, but I am embarrassed by it. When I see humans behave in a manner that makes them look like complete fools, and seems to indicate a self-absorbed attitude and an inability to plan beyond the next few moments, it makes me want to disassociate myself from that sort of thing. I like to believe that they are that kind of human whereas I and my peers are of a completely different breed.

I feel embarrassed, though, when I have to admit that these people come from a very similar society to mine, speak my language, and are of my same species.

[color:green]Some people's kids!

[Deeps]

Sort of political, definitely not worth giving a shit.

American Leader to be Ousted

[color:purple]And here I was trying to look up to her.

What do I do now? WHAT DO I DO NOW?

[timouse]

I think you are correct, Brad, that people have gotten much less cultured and polite over time.

I'm not particularly offended by the behaviour I see on these shows, but I am embarrassed by it. When I see humans behave in a manner that makes them look like complete fools, and seems to indicate a self-absorbed attitude and an inability to plan beyond the next few moments, it makes me want to disassociate myself from that sort of thing. I like to believe that they are that kind of human whereas I and my peers are of a completely different breed.

I feel embarrassed, though, when I have to admit that these people come from a very similar society to mine, speak my language, and are of my same species.

[color:green]Some people's kids!

in the words of Rowan Atkinson, "I wouldn't trust them to sit the right way on a toilet seat."