He interpreted his mother’s advice quite literally when she told him to call 911 if he needed help. Now a young boy is being praised for his spunky efforts in problem-solving.
Having learned from his mother to call 911 in a situation he needs assistance, a four-year-old boy petitioned the support of an emergency dispatcher with a puzzling problem… it left him stumped.
Years ago, a four-year-old boy named Johnny dialed 911, desperately seeking assistance.
When the dispatcher answered the call, Johnny quickly and confidently said, “yeah, I need some help.”
“What’s the matter?” the concerned operator asked.
“With my math,” the boy replied.
Believing Johnny was asking for help with his “mouth,” dispatch asked where he lived, prompting Johnny to emphatically say, “No with my math. I have to do it. Will you help me?”
Patiently, the operator asked where he lived but Johnny insisted they continue talking on the phone.
Still uneasy and wanting to send an officer to his location, the kind man on the other end said, “No, I can’t do that but I can send someone else to help you.”
The child was persuasive.
Empathizing with the boy’s battle with numbers, he asked, “What kind of math do you have that you need help with?”
Explaining he had “take aways,” the operator understood that Johnny meant subtractions.
“16 take away 8 is what?” Johnny said, appealing for some help.
Encouraging him to hazard a guess, instead of providing the answer, the operator said, “How much do you think it is?”
When Johnny answered “1” dispatch recognized he was very young and asked for his age. Hearing Johnny was “only four,” the operator started playing along.
“What’s another problem? That was a tough one,” he said, his gentle behavior feeding the enthusiasm of his young caller.
While the two were working on “five take away five,” Johnny’s mother can be heard in the background, yelling, “Johnny, what are you doing?”
Responding that “the policeman is helping me with my math,” the audacious four-year-old then told his mom, “you said if I need help to call somebody!”
The operator assured his mom that everything was okay and Johnny learned that 911 is strictly for real emergencies, not for help with math.
Cyber fans are still getting a laugh at the audio, saying that his interpretation of his mom’s advice is adorable.
One commenter wrote, “’You told me if I need help to call somebody’ ‘I didn’t mean the police’ Lmao this is the best line in the video, A 4 year old used logic against his mom.” While another wrote, “Legend says the boy is still searching for someone to help him in his math.”
Another user wrote, “Imagine having a call like this at such a stressful job. The man’s mood must have been enlightened!! The kid is such a sweetie.”
911 has no shortage of unexpected or bizarre phone calls, from parents dealing with uncooperative children to bad haircuts to even claims of UFO sightings.
Compiling a list of outrageously funny 911 calls, Reader’s Digest writes that in Jacksonville, Florida, a man called 911 twice, first to complain that his sandwich was denied its special sauce and the second time to complain that police weren’t responding fast enough.
Meanwhile, a British man was in a frenzy and called 911 when he saw an unidentified object, which turned out to be the moon, lighting up the sky. Then there was a man in Romania who was panicked over loud noises coming from inside his home. When police arrived, they found the man alone with his very noisy and rambunctious pet cat.
And, of course, calls from children, who at a young age, identify emergencies as anything that upsets their personal happiness.
A seven-year-old girl Wisconsin girl snitched on her grandfather, who was cheating at a game of cards, and a 10-year-old Massachusetts boy wanted cops to taking away his mom, who insisted it was bedtime.
READ MORE
- Mother of 6-week-old baby calls 911 in the middle of the night because she ran out of milk
- 5-year-old boy calls 911 for McDonald’s, so police officer delivers it for him
While we understand 911 operators are very busy, it’s nice to hear some lighthearted stories, which no doubt also makes dispatchers smile.
What do you think of this adorable story?
