Senility must really, really suck.
I had a Very Confused Caller today.
He phoned one of our many, many medical clinics, and asked me if he could speak to his wife. It's Sunday; the clinic is closed.
Leaving out a lot of repetition, I got his name and told him his wife wasn't there and I didn't know where to find her, and asked him if he was having an emergency. His emergency is that he needs to find his wife. I strongly suspect that his wife didn't go out for the day, but probably died some time back.
Do you need me to call 9-1-1 for you, sir? Are you hurt, or is something wrong?
He needs to find his wife, why am I not looking for his wife?
Sir, do you know what to do if you're having an emergency? Can you tell me what you'd do if you had an emergency, please?
He told me a couple of times that he "didn't know that 9-1-1 number", and he just needed to find his wife. He gave me a phone number, which was no longer in service when I tried it. I opened a message on one of our auto-capture files to get the number he was calling from, and asked if it was correct (sometimes our system can't grab a proper number from switchboard calls, etc) and he confirmed it was correct.
I put him on hold and dialed the incoming number. Bingo, nursing home. Elder care facility. Whatever you want to call it. Nurse says, Oh, him! Yes, he looks for her all the time. Let me just go in and talk to him.
Man, you do NOT want to be privy to these conversations. The nurse kept me on the line and went into his room, where he was still on hold, and reminded him that his wife died about two years ago, and she's very sorry, but the lady on the phone (me) doesn't know anything about it.
Poor old guy. I think maybe it's a shock every time they remind him? He started crying, and I had to hang up or I would've been doing the same.
He phoned one of our many, many medical clinics, and asked me if he could speak to his wife. It's Sunday; the clinic is closed.
Leaving out a lot of repetition, I got his name and told him his wife wasn't there and I didn't know where to find her, and asked him if he was having an emergency. His emergency is that he needs to find his wife. I strongly suspect that his wife didn't go out for the day, but probably died some time back.
Do you need me to call 9-1-1 for you, sir? Are you hurt, or is something wrong?
He needs to find his wife, why am I not looking for his wife?
Sir, do you know what to do if you're having an emergency? Can you tell me what you'd do if you had an emergency, please?
He told me a couple of times that he "didn't know that 9-1-1 number", and he just needed to find his wife. He gave me a phone number, which was no longer in service when I tried it. I opened a message on one of our auto-capture files to get the number he was calling from, and asked if it was correct (sometimes our system can't grab a proper number from switchboard calls, etc) and he confirmed it was correct.
I put him on hold and dialed the incoming number. Bingo, nursing home. Elder care facility. Whatever you want to call it. Nurse says, Oh, him! Yes, he looks for her all the time. Let me just go in and talk to him.
Man, you do NOT want to be privy to these conversations. The nurse kept me on the line and went into his room, where he was still on hold, and reminded him that his wife died about two years ago, and she's very sorry, but the lady on the phone (me) doesn't know anything about it.
Poor old guy. I think maybe it's a shock every time they remind him? He started crying, and I had to hang up or I would've been doing the same.