top 10 absurd calls to 911 in 2025: parking woes, broken dishwasher, hornet
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a bad haircut, a broken dishwasher or a hornet buzzing around the house may feel like a crisis at the time — but they are not reasons to call 911.
these woes are among b.c. e-comm’s 2025 list of top 10 “unusual” calls, which call takers receive more frequently than one would think.
“it’s quite jarring to hear some things people expect police can do… things that are not criminal matters that police can’t help with, but we get these calls quite often,” said bailey mitchell, a police call taker at e-comm, who estimates she gets one such call per shift.
while the agency’s annual list is lighthearted, the goal is serious: to remind people about the appropriate use of 911.
call takers have to take each call as an emergency until they can confidently determine otherwise, said mitchell. “every time we receive those calls it takes important resources away that could be used for people who are actually in life-threatening emergencies.”
one of the top 10 frivolous calls include a call mitchell took from someone who wanted help with their broken dishwasher.
in a recording released by e-comm, she could be heard saying: “you’ve called 911. this is for life-or-death emergencies. did you mean to call 911?” before asking them to call a repairman or building manager.
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the caller’s statements were edited out and could not be heard on the recording.
in another example, a person called 911 to gripe about another driver who took a parking spot.
in that instance, the call-taker could be heard clarifying the reason for the call.
“so you’re calling 911 because you wanted to take a parking spot but somebody else took your parking spot but then you saw that this person wasn’t going into starbucks, they’re actually using that parking spot to go into fraser mart?” said the call-taker with a slight tone of disbelief.
she then asked: “did he have a weapon or something … did he assault you?
she then told the caller: “i’m not sure why you’re calling 911 to complain about a parking spot … this is super inappropriate because 911 is the emergency line.”
e-comm handles about two million 911 calls a year. the majority of people use 911 responsibly, but some call with general questions, consumer complaints or inconveniences, which are better suited to police non-emergency lines or other resources. e-comm cannot transfer callers to non-emergency lines.
however, mitchell said if people are unclear if their situation is an emergency, they should call 911.
“we don’t want to deter people from calling, so if you’re on the fence, we do encourage you to err on the side of caution,” she said.
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e-comm’s top 10 frivolous calls of 2025 are:
- their luggage exceeded the carry-on limits.
- walmart wouldn’t return an air fryer.
- their dishwasher was broken.
- someone parked at starbucks and went into a grocery store instead.
- a non-electric car parked at ev charging station.
- they wanted to complain about traffic.
- they got locked out of their airbnb.
- they left their ipad at the skytrain station.
- they wanted help getting a hornet out of their apartment.
- they were unhappy with their haircut.
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