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We all had a prank call moment when we were younger.

 Me: Is your refrigerator running? Them: Yes Me: You better catch it!

Sometimes they’re as silly, and less guilt-laden than calling the police or emergency services, completely unaware of the negative impact that might have.

In that instance, hogging the line is not funny. That is the message the City of Cape Town sent to residents after its emergency call centre recorded a 153% spike in prank calls, Cape {town} Etc reported.

The number of prank calls to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre has skyrocketed over the past month, with a total of 104 prank calls recorded over the past weekend, compared to 41 four weeks ago.

“These nuisance calls hog the lines, and that extra time that a caller with a real emergency has to spend waiting, could mean the difference between life and death, or a criminal getting away,” said JP Smith, the City’s Mayco member for safety and security.

“And, while many prank callers consider themselves would-be comedians, some are downright abusive. The nature of an emergency call taker’s job already comes with a lot of trauma and stress, and so prank calls really aren’t as funny as the callers might think.”

Rather stick to calling your sister’s aunt’s gran, guys. Unless she works for an emergency service, then don’t.

Weirdly, Smith notes that the prank callers are not always children.

“Sadly, many adults make themselves guilty of it. However, as we head into the school holidays, I want to urge parents to please talk to the children about the potentially serious repercussions that can come from meddling with the emergency services.”

[source:capetownetc]