Unfiltered Story #314621

(My dad picked me up from the shared housing where I live. I am in a foul mood at the time – I can’t remember why – and I started shouting at him. He started to shout back at me. This carried on whilst we were in the car. After a while I heard my phone vibrating. It was at the bottom of my bag, inside of another bag, on the floor of the car. I thought that it might be my mother, but I was in such a bad mood that I told myself if she wanted to talk to me so badly she could call my dad, since his phone is built into the car. My dad and I carried on arguing for a good five minutes before I realised that my phone was still vibrating. I picked it up just before the call ended and saw that the caller ID was registered as ‘Unknown’. I assumed that it may have been a cold caller, so I put the phone back in my bag and tried to ignore it, still in a bad mood. After it rang again, I was at my wits’ end. I picked it up and answered it.)

Me: What the <i>hell</i> do you <i>want</i>?

Operator: Hello, I’m ringing from the Emergency Services. Did you attempt to call us?

(I feel my face go red as I work out that my keys must have pressed against the buttons on my phone.)

Me: No, no, I didn’t. I – I think that I sat on it.

Operator: OK, well, I can see that you are currently on [Road]. Is that correct?

Me: Wait a second. (I turn to my dad.) Is this [Road]?

Dad: Yes.

Me: Yes, we are.

Operator: And you are about to turn into [Other Road]?

Dad: Just hang on, let me pull over.

(We pulled over. My dad explained to the operator that he had picked me up and that we were travelling to our destination. He also told her that I have [Mental Disability] and therefore can become confused sometimes and unsure of what to say. We gave the operator our names, addresses and telephone numbers and left it at that. I felt so embarrassed, but my dad saw the funny side of things.)