This just goes to prove that pizza trumps everything, including an emergency call for help. That’s exactly what happened after a man passed out at a Fort Lauderdale optometrist office and the dispatcher at a 911 emergency center was too busy ordering pizza to take the call.
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According to the report in the Sun Sentinel, when an employee at the optometrist’s office called 911 for help, the call went unanswered for 15 seconds. The caller hung up and tried again, and again, but still, no answer. Another person at the optometrist office called 911 from a cell phone, but that call rang for 75 seconds and also went unanswered.
An investigation conducted by the Broward Sheriff’s Office revealed that the only dispatcher available at the time of the call was on the phone with Poppy’s Pizza for eight minutes ordering food.
Here’s how part of that 8-minute food order went down.
Poppy’s Pizza: “Okay what can I get for you?”
Dispatcher: “Let me have one slice of cheese pizza. Let me have a lunch special, the pizza lunch special– two cheese pizzas and a Coke. Let me have the lunch special– two pepperonis and a Coke. Let me have a one slice of pepperoni pizza. Let me have a, I guess a cup of– what is it? Pasta fagioli… fagioli. I don’t know what I was saying”
Poppy’s Pizza: “That’s okay it doesn’t look anything like that.”
Dispatcher: “Okay, let me have a tuna mini on white bread. Provolone cheese. Let me have onions and tomatoes, salt and pepper. I guess oil and vinegar.”
As for the young man who passed out, he reportedly regained consciousness and was OK. Meanwhile, the dispatcher was reprimanded.