I used to be a 000 dispatcher. AMA

I used to be a 000 dispatcher. AMA

000 dogged me hard once when i called for assistance.

Why aren't operators better trained to deal with people in distress who may be slightly aggravated due to their emergency situation?

whats the worst call in you've ever had to deal with?

Triple murder suicide.

Do you like cheeseburgers? Cats?

A lot are not trained properly, some are volunteers. Due to the high volume we recive we have to outsource to NFP.

hardcore

This one one girl called dusty, from Shepparton Victoria, she committed suicide while I was on the phone. She hung herself just as I sent out dispatch. Shit has always stuck.

Nothing like that

There was nothing like that

Anything truly terrifying you have heard on the job?
The old bat used to work for the QAS and had a few scary stories.

A legitimate scary thing was we had a call from an obvious old man in a home invasion, we told him we would send help and they are on their way. The words he spoke "fuck then this is my house" I could hear the scuffle he was obviously losing. By the time dispatch arrived he was robbed and beaten.

Thats sad. That poor old man.

wait, so they murdered someone, and then kill themselves twice?

Hardcore kek

What's the stupidest call you have ever had to take?

Also, you did a good thing surviving that, some of my old team met a few in the Melb office and heard some of the shit you guys had to put up with, wow, just wow

It was very harrowing, his confidence in the fact he could do this. The reality of him Not being able to.
And the brutal sounds of the beat down.

How many funny abo stories do you have?

That sucks. Totally produced a worse outcome in my case that could've been less stressful for everyone involved with a correctly trained operator. Oh well.

Most stupid call was a guy from mooropna voc, who got stuck in a washing machine playing hide and seek.
He made national news.

Thanks a heap, was a hard job,

Honestly? A lot.

For sure! Truth is we don't have the funding for dispatch workers so a lot have to guess, I'm sorry your experience went that way.

Haha I remember that, you have to wonder about some people.
At the same time did it somewhat balance it with being able to sit back and have a bit of a laugh between the shit storm of deep shit you had to put up with?

Honestly I didn't believe it at first, I actually called a few colleagues to come listen, we were talking amongst ourselves and trying to decide if it was a prank or not.
We sent the dispatch and listened the whole time. (Of course we would of hung up in actual emergency but slow night)
It was beautiful, it was definitely a relief.

Please tell us some

A call came through because his sister in law took his half of his "sniffing petrol"and spilled it when they fought for it, he asked me how to sue.

If I call 000 do you know my phones location?
My younger brother called 000 at one point and didnt know his address (hes 4) and I was wondering which phones you can revive coordinates from.

That's gold, please keep going

We can do it, it comes down to the specific operators however. As we have to bring in a superior to do a trace, it doesn't take much but it stakes a reputation, if you mess it up it looks bad. A lot don't trace but some do.
Hope that helps?

Yeah kinda, I just want to know that if I pass out while calling 000 you guys can find me somehow. Or if someone is being strangled after calling 000 it has a chance to be traced.

It's a chance for sure, a trace = money, if am operator fucks it up, they ruined money. Can cost a job. If they're right it's praised but if it's ruined it's money. A lot of ops won't do it but some will, only if we're certain.
Fucked a human life is money, buts it's the truth.

Only costs so much these days because of the ACMA bullshit compliance. If it could be justified and 'will save a life, or prevent X from happening' it was just done, no questions at all
Now it's just too much political bullshit

That's exactly it unfortunately

What drove you to stop being a dispatcher?

I remember being on the job when a trace was warranted, but I never called one, as
That could ruin my job.
When the horrible thing happened I got an "ohh well shit happens"
This is why I quit, shit doesn't happen, sure a trace costs $2,000+ but that's a human life

The price on life honestly, we were told not to do certain things to save money.

The fear of putting your neck out to save a life vs saving a few bucks is ridiculous.
Sorry to hear it was something you had to go through, that's enough to drive alot of people to the brink, but sounds like you got out at the right time

I could understand this to an extent. If your department spent hundreds of thousands savig a few extra lives every year they might be shut down because of overspending or simply not being able to pay everyone. It might be better that they can stay around takig calls for the immediate future instead of being disbanded when they're needed.

For sure I do, and there is definitely a few times me not calling in a trace was a mistake, but was never seen as such. Where the fee I did in the early days and was not needed I was berated.
It's a tough job and I guess just wasn't for me, I did it for three years but after a point enough is enough.

Hi OP. More power to you. Love your work.

This used to be my gig. But I quit because on top of the pressures of the calls, our management were fucking brutal and raped us daily. Could handle the calls but got suicidal dealing with my boss over stats and call volumes.

Have you had that shit???

Also, aren't middle easterners, lebs and pakis the worst in an emergency? Calm the fuck down dude, you're an adult, I've talked a 5 year old into doing CPR, so you can just a deep breath, calm your tits, stop screaming, man up for me and save this cunts life.

Hey user bro thanks for your service.

What was it that made you leave the job? I was considering doing something like this but idk, is it a good career path?
I'm from Vic

What fucks me right off is that it costs money for the 000 guys to have it done, but the network team that do most of them only have a pay per trace for 000 calls....

That's exactly what my supervisors said, and I get it in a way, it just was not for me to be the one to make those calls, I did the job for three years and could never stick to those decisions, hence my leaving.

Thankyou! And for sure!
Upper management ruins this job completely, as I said I've quit after three years. The "KPI" we had to hit was insane while also determining our money vs value of send out was horrible.
I never had too much trouble with Arabs etc but they were always the most stubborn crowd

Hey thankyou!
I can concour the upper management is what made me leave, the "KPI" we had to hit and the cost vs send out, just stemmed too horrible, as I've said I was 3 years in the job and simply couldn't do it anymore.
The Arab etc crowd was more stubborn but no serious issue

what country is 000?

It's a good career path if you can handle it, on the job emergency situations become a sales situation. You have to make a turnaround of calls vs "what's worth the money" you gotta know what is real.
It's hard to judge human life over instinct.

It's not right

I see , I've read thru the thread and see you no longer work there.

Did you have someone you could talk to outside of work? Some of my mates loved to hear workstories but I don't think they ever got just how shitty it could might joke about the etoh idiots with them but you can't really tell people about the calls with kids finding their mum dead or shit like that.

Did you ever have a call that you know you'll always remember? You mentioned the triple fatality, I only ever had one murder and I'll remember her. But anything else you still carry with you???

Australia it's like 911

Apart from what I mentioned? A child called talking about abouse, I put it on hold and went to my supervisor for help.
After his advise I had to call it off as a prank, the child's scream when I hung up haunts me.

If you don't mind OP I might drop a greentext of a call I took that's been on my mind
> Tell me exactly what's happened
> Um, I dunno exactly, I'm at work I do nightshift, my 5 yo daughter's just called me. Said mum didn't wake her for school. She's gone into the bedroom and said she thinks my wife is dead.
> Ok got help on the way, I'll call your daughter, what's your ETA to the address?
Call the scene, cutest sweetest sounding voice says hello
> I'm with the ambulance and we are coming to check on your mum, also dad's on his way, he will be there soon, tell me what happened
> mummy didn't wake me for school and I made my breakfast and went to check on her but she's still in bed. I keep asking to wake up but she won't
> Can you go to mum and tell me what you see?
> Yes, she's lying on her side and she's all cold and not moving, is my mummy dead?
Damn, sounds like she's a gonna, tell the girl
> We've got the ambulance coming and they will check your mum. Can you go and unlock the door for us so they can go straight in
> I think I can hear a siren
I'm like thank fuck for that. Crew arrive, I hear them with the little girl. End the call. Switch onto the radio, after a couple of minutes crew request police assistance, which means pt deceased.
They worked on her for a short while but pointless, called her stat 0.

I always thought of the husband. Rushing through morning traffic after taking the worst call of his life, knowing he was going home to the worst thing imaginable. Sometimes think how they're doing now.

Damn, going through a rekt thread doesn't shake me at all but HEARING anything mortal sticks with me. I remember hearing a child getting his head crushed between a boat and a wooden jetty when I was younger and the sound stuck with me forever. He was only 4 or 5 and probably didnt know what was happening, so I can be thankful for that at least.

Shit that's bad. Yeah that will stick with you.

Did you have good report with your colleagues? Suppose every shift has good and bad dispatchers. How did you handle the hours?
Also did you get half price Mickey Ds and Subway as well?

Did this happen in perth between 2-4 yrs ago? If so that was my neighbor and you might be relieved to know that they're doing fine and we invite them over for bbqs with our adjacent neighbors. She died for a seizure overnight but docs said it was near instant.

The amount of doubt when I called with an abuse call (I was a caller) was ridiculous. I understand not every call can be taken seriously but it just annoys me.
Turns out the call for cops 5 minutes later for fight and disturbance got the right treatment

This is always a horrible yet beautiful thing we deal with. Generally when it's young chews send out out immediately, the perspective is they don't know exactly what's happening but they know it's not right so they call, I've been on the phone to kids crying and trying to talk them down is horrible. It's one of those things, telling little voices mommy is getting help soon..... "what's your name?"
It's a thing we have to hold back tears for really.

oatb fuck rekt threads dis real shit

Mind. Blown. Small. Fucking. World.

You might be bullshitting me and just got lucky with the location but maybe you're the real deal. I don't remember the suburb, I think around Bibra Lake but I can't be sure, often get details like that mixed up after a couple years, some jobs run together.

I want to believe you.

Rekt threads have the ability to keep you grounded, or in my case know that there have been more messed up things than I've seen irl.
Seeing irl, or reading a story on this thread is actually the kind of thing that really brings on the emotions

Nothing that ever came through was great, some pranks were funny however and did lighten up the mood .
Yes, everyone understands why I left, even management and they are a good reference in future endeavours.
No half price food however we did have pre made sandwiches and other snacks free at the center:)

Nothing that ever came through was great, some pranks were funny however and did lighten up the mood .
Yes, everyone understands why I left, even management and they are a good reference in future endeavours.
No half price food however we did have pre made sandwiches and other snacks free at the center:)

Is this fucking Canada, eh? The EuroPinkos or somewhere else hanging onto 2nd World status?

Australia

It's unfortunately the way it is, workers can be punished for false claims and sending out when unwarranted. People could just have phone anxiety and not be speaking well and ruin their chance for help.

>lighten up the mood .
I got a call once
> This chick I'm rooting she's started shaking, she's having a seizure
How old is she?
> Fucken no idea cunt, maybe 22 or something, don't even know her name
Go through the protocol
> Oh fuck me, she's kicked my stereo, that cost $2000. Stupid bitch stop shaking! Your ruining my stuff

We had an all bloke team on that night. Call was listened to a few times and responding crew came in and had a chat about it. She was on sorts of recreational drugs, they narcanned her, transported her, it was all good.

We all wondered what it's like to be fucking a girl who starts seizing. All decided we would try hold on as long as we could and enjoy the ride. Humour helps in the job.

For sure it does,
The time as I've mentioned above.
>h-hello, I'm stuck
Stuck where sir?
>wa wamishdin
What?
>washing machine
Ok, how sir?
> I was playing hide and seek with my girlfriend
Fucking kek.... this was my best day in the job and seeing the photos the boys took.... even better...... seeing it on national news? Life made.

How old were you when your started working as one?
And are alot of the people there around the same age or is it like any other call centre with a massive amount of difference?

I was 25, the age range was very mixed

Not being condescending here but fuck man, your young to have to deal with all of that.
Seriously hope someone has bought you a drink for having to go through it
Tbh not just you though, but seriously you all deserve a drink

I still am young and unfortunately nobody has bought me a drink haha

Far out! If board wasn't user I would buy you one, but for now, one day somehow it will happen.
Assuming you were in the Melb centre, there is a small chance, but still a chance haha

I'm bendigo ATM man, used to be Melbourne:) maybe one day for sure

Male + ausfag, member of B.A?

more abo stories please