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When Facebook and Instagram went down for around an hour yesterday, a lot of people were annoyed.

But at least FIVE people called the police in one US city alone, according to an emergency dispatcher.

The anonymous dispatcher - from California - contacted a local news service to ask them to tell people to not call 911 when a website doesn't work.

"We have nothing to do with Facebook and when Facebook isn't working, it’s not an emergency. Our lines are dedicated to handling life and death calls, and even though Facebook is important to a lot of people, it's not a matter of life and death when it stops working."

"One caller even called back to tell me I was being rude because I told her it wasn't a life-threatening emergency."

It's not the first time idiots have called the emergency services for trivial reasons.

Police in the UK have had to field calls from a lot of idiots: someone whose takeaway hasn't turned up, a man whose washing machine won't stop spinning, a woman who is outraged her TAXI hasn't arrived and a man who lost his keys.

People have also called up 999 to report the "crime" of Manchester United's terrible performance in a game against Sunderland and the theft of a snowman.

poll loading Which of the following is a real emergency? 0+ VOTES SO FAR Facebook going down Pizza arriving late Snowman melting You've been stabbed

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