"Do you understand what an emergency is?" *warning...language"

[orcprincess]

If she does call, surely they would pull the tapes to see what really happened?

No tapes. We are super small and don't record the calls. Supervisors can log in and listen while the call is happening, but they don't work much past 9pm, which is when this happened.

[Sapphire Silk]

If the sprinklers were unable to shut off and flooding the house, then yes, that's an emergency. But just not working, that's an inconvenience, not an emergency, and certainly not worth yelling at and belittling you over.

All houses have emergency shut off valves for the water.

But I'm not clear; was the sprinkler refusing to shut off, or not turning on at all.

Either way, not an emergency.

Of course, if you have your own source of water - such as a rainwater tank - you can use that for any non-drinking purpose you like. (Unprocessed rainwater - especially in cities - is not considered drinking quality.) You can also use greywater (post-laundry, post-basin, etc) for non-food plants if you want. Including lawns.

But .. I guess my point is... LAWN SPRINKLERS? Who uses lawn sprinklers if they're not a golf course or a tennis court?

They're pretty common in California. It's so dry out there that you have to water regularly most of the year to have any kind of lawn at all.

Where I live in North Carolina, they are not common. It rains enough to keep most lawns going without watering (I never water mine, and it is green all season, even though we're officially in "drought" conditions).

A lot of places in the US ban using rainwater tanks to water lawns or flower beds. The feeling is toxins from roofs will get into aquifers. They prefer water to run off into the storm systems, where it can be treated I suppose. I'll say no more lest I wander into Fratching territory.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

On a sign of my friend's office when he was in the Navy...

Unless it's on fire, bleeding profusely, or about to reach critical mass, this is not an emergency.

[EricKei]

Something inconvenient happening to me = Emergency

Something inconvenient happening to you = Comedy

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

- Mel Brooks, "The 2,000 Year Old Man", et al

[Seshat]

They're pretty common in California. It's so dry out there that you have to water regularly most of the year to have any kind of lawn at all.

"They" (being the water authorities and the relevant govt depts) promote a range of native and dryland grasses that can survive even our summers, even in the drought phase of El Nino/La Nina.

Of course, the surface of the lawn is dry and crispy at that point, but the root system is hibernating. Come the rains, the lawn is nice and green again.


Re toxins and aquifers: I honestly don't know what our situation or research is. Otherwise I'd join you in Fratching.

[KatherineB]

The only emergency type of sprinklers that might require a call like this, other than the ones inside buildings that come on if there is a fire, are the ones that are often on the roofs of houses in bushfire-prone areas of Australia to aid in protecting the houses in the event of said fire. Again, fixing the sprinklers would only be a priority if a bushfire was on the way, in which case evacuation would be a smarter option.

[pzychobitch]

it's only an emergency if she has them stuck up inside her

Thanks for giving me a new porn niche idea! LOL