We are NOT the Coast Gaurd! (longwinded)

[dispatch]

I work for a company that provides roadside assistance and my branch covers a very large area. With the flooding in Milwaukee and Chicago last week we had quite a few people calling us who were upset that they couldn't get their cars towed out of water that was 3 feet deep. Since I've been at the company for awhile and am lucky enough to have risen to a position where I'm not a supervisor, but take supervisor calls ("I want to speak to your manager!") and advise agents in abnormal situations, I get to see the full spectrum of suckage in mass craziness situations like this.
Given the new wave of "Why the f*&% are you calling us" calls we got last week, I was reminded of all the other situations I've encountered over my career here that I thought you all would enjoy.

Friday night there was flooding in Chicago, as I'm leaving for the night I pass an agent who stops me to vent.

A; "Dispatch, can I ask you something?"
D; "Sure, what's up?"
A; "You're in your car, the area is flooding, and you're now floating down the street. Who do you call?"
D; *sigh* "That actually happened, didn't it?"
A; "Yup, then when I told her all we could do is connect to emergency services she asked if she should open the door."
D; "I'm gonna go have a beer...have a nice weekend!"

All too freaking often this happens, and this is why I'm confident that in an emergency, 90% of western society would be useless. Am I the only one who was taught at a young age that if my life is in danger or someone else is hurt to call 911? Insurance company, property manager, dinner reservations, and roadside assistance all come later, the first thing you need to do is live through this event and THEN worry about cleaning it up! Don't get me wrong, I really feel for the people who were washed out of their homes and lost other property, but if there's water coming up past your headlights doesn't logic dictate that it's going to be a little hard for a tow truck to get to you? let alone if your car is floating down the street?

Back when I was a dispatcher, I had the following conversation with an agent.

A; "I have a customer who needs service in the next 20 minutes."
D; "Why in 20 minutes?"
A; "He's out on the interstate and he says there's a tornado heading to his location and it will be there in 20 minutes, so he needs a tow truck there to get him and his car to safety because there's no shelter around."
D; "There's no way that's going to happen! Tell him to call 911 right now!"
A; "Why not? It's an emergency!"
D; "Listen to me very carefully! If there's a tornado that close to him, then everyone in the area, including tow truck drivers, are going to be either in shelter or heading to shelter. His only chance for safety is if he gets in touch with the police to have an officer come get him to shelter. If he refuses to call 911 you need you to warm transfer him to local emergency services."

Let me start off by saying that my agents are awesome people. Normally I don't have to explain things so plainly to them before they know what they need to do. I was extremely tempted in this situation to inform her that we do not have chinhook helicopters at our disposal. If you are in the middle of a situation where the National Guard may be needed to clean up, then you should NOT be calling roadside assistance!

There's more, but those are the worst of it. People refusing to leave their cars during tow bans for blizzards and floods aren't as uncommon as you might think. All of this makes me weep fr society as a whole and reminds me to teach my children not to follow the crowd in an emergency. Anyhow, enjoy!

[LillFilly]

You reminded me of a coast guard story; I now have to post it!

[Bronzebow]

Do cars actually float? I just assumed that the roof would get ripped off by the trapped air. XD

Wow. I guess the person in the second story just really wanted to save their car. If a tornado is coming, all bets are off guy. Get yourself to safety. Trying to avoid the hassle of calling your insurance company isn't worth rolling the dice on your life.

[Whiskey]

dinner reservations

Oh god I can't stop laughing. I grew up in the "911" era. I'd call 911 if my faucet was leaking.

[Argabarga]

*Sigh*

I can relate, sounds like the people who drive up one of the jeep trails in the mountains here, (which are in no way intended for use by highway vehicles) thinking they've found a great shortcut, don't turn around when the pavement ends, or the trail narrows to one lane, or the grade goes into double digits, get stuck 5, 8, 10 miles back in the woods, call us for roadside service, and are informed there's nothing we can do because we can't get a tow truck back to them where they are and, since they are now off-road, their roadside provider will most likely decline the service anyway, meaning they'd have to pay out of pocket even if we can get the truck to them. Cue the bitching

[trunks2k]

Do cars actually float? I just assumed that the roof would get ripped off by the trapped air. XD

They float for a few seconds, but then start to sink. If you find yourself in this situation, this is when you open the door or window if you can. There's enough holes in the car that water will start flowing in and the air will escape.

[sirwired]

Do cars actually float? I just assumed that the roof would get ripped off by the trapped air. XD

They'll float for a little while, but they will eventually sink. If you are in a car trapped in a flood, and it starts to float downstream, your first priority is to get the windows open or broken and GTFO. (You probably won't be able to open the door due to water pressure.) The water pressure is not so great that it will tear the roof off.

SirWired

[Sliceanddice]

All too freaking often this happens, and this is why I'm confident that in an emergency, 90% of western society would be useless.

random sleepy head response below

This is why in some of my favorite books almost everyone dies.
90% of the population would try to kill zombies with fire, would think 'oh lets send the potential zombie to the maximum security prison that's falling apart' (ive been watching alot of zombie movies when i wake up at 1 am), doesnt know how to cook with canned food, would forget the water bottles when they are stocking up and couldnt properly dress a wound if you had a gun to their head.

.... just imagen their guts being eaten by zombies.

[Magpie]

90% of the population would try to kill zombies with fire, would think 'oh lets send the potential zombie to the maximum security prison that's falling apart' (ive been watching alot of zombie movies when i wake up at 1 am), doesnt know how to cook with canned food, would forget the water bottles when they are stocking up and couldnt properly dress a wound if you had a gun to their head.

.... just imagen their guts being eaten by zombies.

Hold on a sec. If you're relying on canned food and bottled water you're in trouble. me, I'd stalk up on cartridges for my water filter (0.2 micron). And I have wheat and quinoa that I could grow for next year's food.

Knowing to call 911, however, wouldn't be a useful skill in that circumstance.

[bankworking]

"Hello, roadside assistance? The Zombie apocalypse has started and my car ran out of gas trying to flee the army of undead. Could you send a truck out to get me? I need help fast, because I see zombies in my rear-view mirror."

[hotelslave]

One of the first calls I ever took doing in call center for road side assistance is some guy was driving his bosses car and drove it down a stair in the parking garage at the metro station. To get to the stair he had to hop the curb and drive on side walk to get to the stairs to drive down a stair. He wanted the tow truck to come out immediately since it was an emergency.

[Shalom]

I have wheat and quinoa that I could grow for next year's food.

You might want to make sure that it's fertile. The quinoa probably is, because that's not a bulk large-volume crop that would have attracted the attention of Monsanto and their gene-tweakers, but I wouldn't be surprised if the wheat you get is specifically designed to be non-plantable, so they can charge the farmer for his next year's seed.

Apologies in advance if you've already thought of that and taken care of it.

(Or do they only do that with corn?)

[Magpie]

Hmmm... you have a good point, but my aunt bought hippie-brand grain. I'm assuming that's safe, but I might want to go dig out my barley.

[Seshat]

I'm with you, Magpie. I'm not fit to be the hunter, gardener or builder of a little survival enclave, but if you want anything to do with fibre work, or need a medicine woman, or a teacher of a HECK of a lot... you can count on me.

I have a bunch of friends who ARE fit for the other tasks, and while in some senses I'd be a liability for immediate survival, if we can manage the immediate survival, they want to keep me around for long-term utility.

In extremis, I'm fine with that. But it'd have to be the damn zombie apocalypse!


Back to the on-topic: yes, I agree. The average person has no idea what to do in an extreme situation.

[EricKei]

Oh god I can't stop laughing. I grew up in the "911" era. I'd call 911 if my faucet was leaking.

We have no choice here -- maybe it's because I'm in an "unincorporated" area (read: Council, no Mayor), 911 is THE number to call for any Emergency contact. I have even tried looking up a direct number in order to report a theft that was discovered after the fact. They told me to just call 911 and start off with "this is a NON-emergency call"

"Hello, roadside assistance? The Zombie apocalypse has started and my car ran out of gas trying to flee the army of undead. Could you send a truck out to get me? I need help fast, because I see zombies in my rear-view mirror."

Depends. Slow, Romero-style? Start running, you might make it. Fast, L4D-style? Bend over. Kiss your ass goodbye.