Monday, May 21, 2012

Further proof that I'm an idiot

Friday night, I stopped at the grocery store after work, and there was this old dude lying on the ground outside of the store. And he was trying to get to his feet, but he couldn't get up. And his cane was beside him on the ground. And people coming out of the store were walking around him to get to their cars.

There was a cart boy just kind of, like, standing there, so I asked him what was going on. "I don't know," the kid said. "I just got back from a customer's car and he was just lying here. And he can't get up."

I called 911. I explained the situation. The dispatcher had me ask the dude some questions, which the guy was able to answer (No, he hadn't fallen, he wasn't sure what had happened; no, he had no history of seizures; no, he wasn't on any medications; etc.), and said he'd send some paramedics.

Once the old dude had been able to get himself into a sitting position and it was clear that he wasn't, like, about to DIE or something, I started chatting with him. Just to, I don't know, pass the time, as the dispatcher had asked me to wait with the old guy until the ambulance came. He said he'd lived in Chicago and California and came back to the area to care for his parents, who had since passed away. He was a retired social worker and he didn't much care for the local weather and blah blah blah and the ambulance got there.

"Sir," one of the paramedics said, "What happened? Did you fall? Are you dizzy? Have you ever had seizures?"

"Hell, son," the old dude said. "I'm DRUNK!"





Yeah, I'm not too smart. I called 911 for a wino.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bless your heart. (No, seriously. You did a good thing.)

-bridgett

Becs said...

What Bridgett said.

(Ha! word verification:
Burespee ypeAss

wv is swearing at me!)

~~Silk said...

All the people who ignored him didn't know he was drunk, so that still earns you five of five stars in my book.

rockygrace said...

Oh, come on, like any of you wouldn't have done the same thing.

I just thought it was funny because it never even crossed my mind that he was stone drunk. I mean, he was neatly dressed, he wasn't slurring his words, he didn't smell like booze ... oh well. I'd do the same thing again. You can't just leave some old man lying on the ground, for Pete's sake.

Birdie said...

I am glad that you stopped. Even being drunk, he deserves someone to care.

fmcgmccllc said...

Drunks get dizzy, have strokes and stuff like that, it just doesn't hurt as much when you are drunk.