Finland to open line for "dumb questions"
 

Pretty funny news in the local paper (link for Finns and foreigners weird enough to know Finnish). We are fed up with people calling the emergency number to ask what to do if their nose bleeds or when should the car tires be changed, so now we are going to have a whole special phone line to answer those questions. And some people are going to get paid for answering them.

Not sure what to think. It's basically a good idea. I'm just not sure how they imagine that the people who don't know what the emergency number is for are going to accept that they shouldn't call it to ask how to boil potatoes now, if they haven't grasped it in the past either. And this just begs for prank calls.

Then again, maybe such number is needed after all. After a year of working in a customer service profession to fund my studies, I have come up with the theory that a perfectly reasonable and pleasant fellow can lose 120 % of his / her IQ and all the manners when becoming a customer. So hopefully the emergency number workers will get at least a small relief out of this and lets them concentrate on, I don't know, actually saving the lives of those in real emergencies.

I thought stupidity was a problem in America only. :D Did I say that out loud? :oops:

Edit: deleted
Seems i posted this in an entirely wrong thread lol, my apologies :oops:

Here in the UK we have a Health Line where people can get advise on non emergency medical matters from qualified staff.

Stupidity and Ignorance are 2 different things entirely.

Please, there is no such thing as dumb questions. There are only dumb people who ask questions.

Incorrect.
The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

PS: Nice to see you again Rockstar:woot: Been a while.

My avation teacher once said "There is no such thing as a dumb question". I wonder how many times he's had to rethink that phrase.

That number service should be paid for by the Alko stores..... :woot:

The old joke claims these calls were made to the boss of a local Alko, but it might as well have been emergency number...

Midnight. Phone rings. The boss picks up.
Obviously intoxicated caller: "When does Alko open tomorrow?"
Boss: "At 9."
Obviously intoxicated caller: "Oh. OK." [Hangs up]

3am. The phone rings again.
Obviously intoxicated caller: "When does Alko open tomorrow?"
Boss: "I told you before, it opens at 9!"
Obviously intoxicated caller: "Oh. OK." [Hangs up]

5am. The phone rings once more.
Obviously intoxicated caller: "When does Alko..."
Boss: "For heaven's sake I have now twice told you it opens at 9! You are not getting inside any earlier, so stop calling me!"
Obviously intoxicated caller: "Inside? Who said anything about getting inside? I'm waiting for you to come and let me out of here!"

:har:

In the uk we have a number (999) we call only for emergency services, I actually know a guy from a place I do some work who was a little bit annoyed that he got short shrift for calling it when he came back to his car in a carpark to find someone had blocked him in.

That is why we now have a non-emergency 101 number.

In the case of a blocked in car there was no imminent threat of danger to life or a serious emergency situation.

Yes I agree wholeheartedly, he should never have called 999 for that, I dont think it come across in my post but I was dumbfounded when he told me.

Oh don't get me wrong, people will continue to ring the emergency number for many a reason but the controllers will now filter them into either category via a series of questions.