Strange Phonecall

[dispatch]

Part of my job duties include answering the phones for the towing company, I just got one for the books and felt the need to share it with all of you.

MOL=Mischevous old lady

Me: ****** Towing, this is Joe

MOL: Hi Joe! this is *Jane Doe*, you have been towing my car for years and I just wanted to tell you not to beleive everything you read. My name is going to be in the obituaries on Monday, but I'm not really dead, just having some minor surgery at *hospital* and decided to play a hoax.

Me: .....Okay, that's good to hear, I'll send out an email to everyone, thanks for letting us know!

MOL: Thank you Joe! If any of you would like to come and visit I'm in room ***

me: Okay, thanks for calling!

I'm a bit bewildered, but then again it would be cool to fake your own death and see people's reactions.

does anyone else get weird stuff like this?

[Seanette]

I had a doozy last week. I had come in early (they'd asked for OT volunteers and the extra money is always nice, not to mention brownie points for when I'm interviewing to go permanent), even though I'm not a morning person. First caller of the day was over twenty minutes of how her "husband's" new "wife" was forging documents, committing identity theft, sending gangs to kill her, etc. My training did not cover handling mentally ill callers, so I was kinda on my own, but I did manage to get her soothed off the phone.

This turned out to be just the beginning of a really bizarro day.

[Brighid45]

When I worked at the security call center, I had a lot of calls that involved talking with wack jobs. My first such call showed up as a burglary. I ended up talking to the customer, who claimed he had highly classified government material in his house as part of his work, and that he was being continually followed and harassed by people who wanted to get their hands on that material. The area with the alarm going off was a roof hatch; this guy said that the neighbors were constantly 'probing' the hatch and setting off the alarm, trying to get into his house. (They also aimed brainwashing rays at his head through the walls. I had to fight the urge to recommend a tin foil hat.) He refused at first to give me his passcode and got quite irate when I insisted, telling me that he couldn't give me the code as his neighbors would hear it and he would have to change it again--the fifth such change in just the past week (yes, it had actually been changed that often). At first I didn't know what to make of this customer, but figured out fairly quickly that the cheese had indeed slid off his cracker. We finally got everything straightened out, but that call set the tone for the rest of the night, as I remember.

Funny how one weird call can often be an indicator that you're entering the Twilight Zone.

[Becks]

MOL: Hi Joe! this is *Jane Doe*, you have been towing my car for years and I just wanted to tell you not to beleive everything you read. My name is going to be in the obituaries on Monday, but I'm not really dead, just having some minor surgery at *hospital* and decided to play a hoax.

Isn't it illegal to fake your own death/have a fake obituary?

[Severen13]

Several years ago I was working as a secretary at Unnamed University and this weirdo called my department *twice* asking if anyone there would pay to wrestle his sister. The sad thing is I think he was actually serious.

Boy, I sure know how to pick 'em. LOL

[repsac]

It's not illegal to have an obit of yourself. Some friends of mine pulled that stunt with my HS reunion when I refused to go. I think, the obit said something like this:


*Repsac* Born 1975, died 2005. Age 30 (pic included). Repsac died suddenly last thursday, after his attempt to enter the guiness book of world records. A spokes person close to Repsac stated that he was trying to set the record by pleasing a woman. "Well, at least he tried. Looks like he died doing something he loved. I mean, look at him, he's got a smile on his face." A morturary representative noted that they had tried to make the smile more lifelike, but apparently the face was frozen that way. Funeral will be at an undisclosed location, with a kegger to follow. Entertainment will be provided by Shooters strip club.


Yeah, it's silly, but you get the idea. And me, well, to quote "brain" from pinky & the brain. "If I could reach you, I would hurt you."

[Jester]

It is not illegal to fake your own death if all you are doing towards that end is doing a fake obituary.

It IS illegal to fake your own death if you are looking to collect life insurance (through a third party, or for a third party, etc.), as that is insurance fraud.

You could also get in trouble with faking your own death if police resources are used to investigate it. Once again, I think this falls under fraud, or filing a false report, or some such. (I am neither a lawyer nor a cop, so don't know the exact wording for these things.)

I don't think faking your own death is itself illegal if it does not cause other illegal activity to occur, as above. Does that make sense?

[batmoody]

When I worked during college at a tiny 911 dispatch center in a small town (basically not a whole heckuvalot happened there) this old senile lady would call up at least once a week and report that her knitting needles were stolen by a gang of boys. It was frustrating talking to her because we knew she had just misplaced them, but she was adamant, and sometimes we'd even send an officer over there just to make sure she was ok.

[Hempress]

It is not illegal to fake your own death if all you are doing towards that end is doing a fake obituary.

It IS illegal to fake your own death if you are looking to collect life insurance (through a third party, or for a third party, etc.), as that is insurance fraud.

You could also get in trouble with faking your own death if police resources are used to investigate it. Once again, I think this falls under fraud, or filing a false report, or some such. (I am neither a lawyer nor a cop, so don't know the exact wording for these things.)

I don't think faking your own death is itself illegal if it does not cause other illegal activity to occur, as above. Does that make sense?

That's what I was led to believe when I faked my own death once. I really don't want to get into the why's and what not, but suffice to say, I didn't get in any trouble. I did turn myself in after I found out I was about to be on the news.

I had a missing person's poster and everything. It was cool. Too bad I spilled Kool-Aid on it.

[Becks]

It is not illegal to fake your own death if all you are doing towards that end is doing a fake obituary.

Thanks, Jester. I appreciate the answer.

[Erin]

My name is going to be in the obituaries on Monday, but I'm not really dead, just having some minor surgery at *hospital* and decided to play a hoax.

So, was her name in the obits today? I'm in Omaha also...just read the paper...I always check the obits

Maybe I'll go back and check the obits and see if anyone has any strange comments in their obit notice.

[dispatch]

I looked at the journal star, didn't see it, so I dunno, but people are crazy I spose

[repsac]

What's real fun, for our local 911 call center is the area code here.

The area code in my area is 912. Now most don't know this, but if you dial 1911, it still goes through. I've been told in the past that half the 911 calls in this area, are people who are trying to dial out and misdial the area code.

[Imogene]

Several years ago I was working as a secretary at Unnamed University and this weirdo called my department *twice* asking if anyone there would pay to wrestle his sister. The sad thing is I think he was actually serious.

Boy, I sure know how to pick 'em. LOL

Was it Andy Kaufmann?