The latest on an ever-growing laundry list of ridiculous reasons to call 9-1-1 comes from Peel Region, where a man recently called the emergency service to complain about a “really, really bad” hotel room.Peel Regional Police shared audio of the call in an attempt to remind the public that 9-1-1 should be reserved for actual emergencies.“So, we rented a room and honestly it’s really, really bad,” the caller told the dispatcher, who replied, “What do you mean it’s really bad?”“It’s horrible,” he shot back. “There’s no ventilation, there’s like (expletive) on the wall.”“Sorry, you’re calling 9-1-1 to complain about the hotel room you’ve gotten?” the perplexed dispatcher replied.“The reason that I’m calling is they’re not refunding our money,” the caller replied with a tone of righteous indignation.“This is not appropriate to call 9-1-1 or the police at all,” the dispatcher told him. “Contact the manger, it’s not the police.”This is an actual call our communications team received. While we can laugh at the absurdity of it, the reality is that tying up 9-1-1 for a bad hotel experience puts actual lives at risk.If you are ever unsure if your situation is an emergency, but it is NOT life-or-death or a… pic.twitter.com/DacbV5rvWs— Peel Regional Police (@PeelPolice) July 8, 2026 A second person in the room can be heard saying “sorry” to the dispatcher about the ill-placed call.But the original caller’s anger still swelled, making the ridiculous call seem even more preposterous.“Well, you don’t have to be so (expletive) rude about it,” he yelled.Peel Const. Tyler Bell-Morena provided narration to the audio call.“Imagine being under your bed, you need the police right now and you can’t get through to 9-1-1 because someone like this is calling over a motel room. It’s ridiculous,” he said.Ridiculous 9-1-1 calls nothing newThere’s no lack of evidence of people using 9-1-1 to air petty grievances and file juvenile complaints. Just last winter, York Regional Police revealed that a person called 9-1-1 to report that snow plows were driving too slowly on Highway 404, and would make him late for work.“I’m heading southbound on the 404,” the man explained. “I understand the snow plows are trying to do their job, but they’re driving at 20 kilometres an hour down the highway and if I’m late again I’m going to be penalized at work.”“You might want to send an officer out here.”Back in 2024 in Durham Region a man called 9-1-1 to complain that the loud sound of police sirens in Whitby were “disturbing the peace.”“I grew up here my whole life, I never hear sirens like this,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. And unless there’s a lot of crime going on, I don’t know what you guys are doing, but it’s a bit of a disturbance to be honest.”There are also several other calls that warrant 9-1-1 Hall of Shame consideration.In 2021, Durham police released this jaw-dropping list of reasons people called 9-1-1:Taco Bell drive thru line was too long.Caller’s kitchen flooded so they dialed 9-1-1. The caller was advised to contact his insurance company and a plumber. The caller didn’t appreciate that answer so they hung up and called 9-1-1 again and said the same thing.Kids called 9-1-1 asking if the call-taker’s refrigerator was running.Parent looking to have police attend to ‘scare’ their 12-year-old son who is talking back.The caller’s nine-year-old son changed the wi-fi password and refused to give them the new one. The caller wanted officers dispatched to force the child to provide the new password.Caller dialed 9-1-1 asking police to find their wi-fi passwordTrying to find COVID test results.Uber driver upset that after 10 minutes, the customer wasn’t coming to the vehicle.Cat got out of the house/stuck in a tree.Caller requesting the non-emergency police number.A pizza place made the caller the wrong pizza, and they wanted them charged because they wouldn’t make a new one.A parking garage gate ate the caller’s money and they couldn’t exit the garage.