It really is an emergency, honest

I was surfing my way through the BBC website earlier and came across an article that said a police force in Scotland was again reminding people only to use the emergency 999 phone number to make emergency calls. Apparently this latest reminder stemmed from the fact that a woman who had bought a pet rabbit via an advert in the newspaper called 999 to say that the rabbit's ears weren't floppy.

The article goes on to say that another woman called 999 to complain that a car had driven through a puddle and soaked her, and when the call centre staff told her she shouldn't use 999 for that type of call, she hurled abuse at them.

I did some more research and found some other examples of inappropriate 999 calls:

• "Do you know a good stain remover?"
• "There's a rat in my kitchen"
• "I can't turn my tap off"
• "I think my neighbour is a spy"
• "My wife's gone out and there's no food in the house"
• "What year did the Internet start?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at my fellow human beings.