A Massachusetts couple called 911 after getting lost in an apple orchard.
Mark and Marcia Rosenthal had quite an adventure this week when they took what was meant to be a leisurely stroll through their local apple orchard. Unfortunately for them, that walk-about turned them around and they found themselves lost among the greens. Their only recourse, they decided, was to call 911.
We are in Honey Pot Orchard, and we can’t find our way out. We are walking, but it is getting dark,” said Mrs. Rosenthal. “We just don’t want to be here in the dark.”
Mr. Rosenthal later told the 911 dispatchers, “We feel like idiots… I feel like the lady that got lost in that maze not too long ago.” He’s referring to another set of Massachusetts residents who earlier this month called police after losing their way, quite predictably, in a corn maze.
“Hi, I just called. I’m still stuck at Connors Farms. I don’t see anybody. I am really scared. It’s really dark and we’ve got a 3-week-old baby with us,” said the worried woman. “We thought this would be fun. Instead it’s a nightmare. I don’t know what made us do this. It was daytime when we came in. And I never take my daughter out. This is the first time. Never again.”
Never again? What, will this lady keep her child locked away at home for all of her life? I hope not. I also fail to understand why she took her newborn daughter to a place specifically designed to confuse and misdirect its inhabitants.
These calls are not as frivolous as the increasingly common tales of people calling 911 to complain about fast food joints — a Florida woman famously called the number when McDonald’s ran out of McNuggets, and another man did the same when the chain “robbed” him by overcharging for his burger — but do suggest that people are more prone to call 911 than to help themselves.
Who knows, maybe the next 911 trend will be for toilet paper on post-party mornings when you’ve forgotten to buy some, or maybe just to chat? Whatever the next 911 trend is, it’s clear the service has grown far beyond its emergency roots, and indicate it may be time to revive William Shatner’s classic 90s-era reality show, “Rescue 911.”
