Yes, I’m Calling to Cancel that 911 Call

I am living alone near one of the most dangerous cities in New Orleans.  For the past two weeks, I’ve been watching Law and Order Marathons while unpacking, organizing, and everything.  I think it’s starting to catch up with me.

At 10:00 tonight, my doorbell rang.  Since I don’t know anyone yet, I didn’t know who it could be.  I look through the peep hole to see a man, wearing a wife beater.  Not what I wanted to see.  I yelled “Hello” through the door to figure out if it was one of my neighbors who I have yet to meet.  No answer. I yelled “Hello” again.

So, I called 911.  The dispatcher was quite nice, and when a 504 number called me, mid-conversation, I couldn’t figure out how to answer it (she said she would hold).  So, I let it go to what I thought was voice-mail.  Then, Dave calls, so the dispatcher and I say our tearful good-byes, but I am unable to answer his call in time either.  Thinking it could be a neighbor, I called the 504 number back.  Yes, it was a neighbor calling to tell me that her boyfriend just dropped off my packages that were delivered to her door by mistake.  Whoops!

Anyway, I went out to our front doors and finally met my neighbor (but not her boyfriend).  Maybe I’ll meet him for real another day.  She was very nice, so I feel a bit bad for calling the cops on her boyfriend … although it had already been 15 minutes and no sign of the cops.  When I got back inside from our meet-and-greet, I dialed 911 one more time to cancel my call.  And, it worked.  I thought you aren’t allowed to cancel 911 calls, but I guess you are.

Tags: 911, moving, neighbors