April Fools....

Debra hung up the phone, "Unbelievable! Some people just have no clue!"

Stan rolled his chair back from his desk so he could see her around their low cubicle wall, "Another prank call?"

"Yes! I hate this day. Every year it's the same old thing! Unbelievable!" She was fuming. "I'm going to take my break. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Stan rolled his chair back to his desk, double checked the main switch board to see that Debra had marked herself as offline before leaving, and settled back in for another round of calls. He wondered how many operators he would lose this year. The job was stressful enough. Remaining calm and detached yet helpful and reassuring to a panicked caller was a skill not everyone could master. And to add to that the number of people who called for non-emergency information that you had to deal with. The people who were lost, or mad about their fast food order, or just lonely and wanting to hear someone, anyone on the other end of the line. And then once a year...well this.

He had learned over the years to schedule extra operators every April 1st and to have meetings leading up to the day to try and prepare his workers for the onslaught of people who thought it was hilarious to call 911 with a made up emergency for their April Fool's Day amusement. But even with the warnings and extra staff it would still be a horrible day. Almost every one of his people would get fooled at least once. Hopefully the prankster would tip them off before the emergency crews were dispatched but often it wouldn't be until after. The amount of time and money wasted was always a sore spot with the budgeting committee and his department always took the blame. It didn't matter that they had to treat every call as serious and the difference in sending a crew at the beginning of a call or the end could be the difference in life or death....

Stan took a deep breath and looked at the clock. Four more hours and this day would be over. He always took the last shift as the rate of pranks increased through the day. He had gotten 6 so far himself. As much as he hated them he was glad when the pranksters made it through to his line instead of one of his crew. And tomorrow he would make sure there was coffee and donuts for the early shift and brownies and cookies for the late shift as a thank you for the extra work they put in today. But for now there was just making it through today.

"911 what's the nature of your emergency?"

"there's someone at the door..."

"I"m sorry, ma'am, can you speak up please I can barely hear you."

"There's someone at the door. They keep rattling the knob and shaking the door. I'm here alone. I'm so scared. Please, send someone. I checked through the peep hole and no one was there, then as soon as I walked away they started again. I tried to call the doorman to see if he let anyone in and he won't answer the phone. Please..."

"Ma'am,  I have you calling from 365 NW Broadway Apartment C, is this correct?

Ma'am?

Ma'am?"
....

"Yes, this is Operator 657 calling from Main please send a police unit to...."
....

"APRIL FOOL'S!!"

"Operator 657, rescinding request. Sorry about that."

Stan made another tally mark on his list. Seven.  Three hours and forty-five minutes to go.

.......


Norglargh and Spaglock arrived back on the ship with their newly acquired specimens. It had been a productive night. Today was always the most productive of days for them. They had learned the trick years ago. Wait until April 1st and the humans would have their guards down. They thought the "aliens" there to "abduct" them were a big joke. An elaborate prank. And even those that tried to call for help could be taken. You just had to learn one phrase in their clumsy language.


April Fool's....