Bad haircut, lengthy food delivery waits, lost nose ring: Here's the top 10 nuisance 911 calls made in B.C.

As we prepare to ring in the New Year, B.C.'s emergency dispatch centre for 911 calls is reminding the public to think twice about what is considered an emergency before dialing 911.

In what has become an annual tradition, E-Comm has released its list of the top 10 "nuisance calls" made to its emergency line in 2023 amidst what it calls a record-breaking year for calls to 911.

Some of the top offenders over the past year include calls complaining about a bad haircut, a lost nose ring and lengthy food delivery waits.

Another caller decided to dial 911 when they needed directions home from a Drake concert.

E-Comm, which handles 99 per cent of B.C.'s 911 call volume, said it has seen an increase of 13 per cent in calls in 2023 and keeping lines clear for emergency situations only has "never been more critical."

"No matter how absurd a call might be on the surface, we have to treat every 911 call as an emergency, until we can confidently determine otherwise," E-Comm call taker Alaina Milicevic said in a news release Friday. "Every second we spend fielding questions about Airbnb reservations or complaints about UberEats orders, is time that could otherwise be dedicated to helping someone in a life-threatening emergency situation."

Instead, E-Comm suggests that people in these kinds of situations reach out to customer service agents or file a report with the Better Business Bureau.

Here's the full list of the top 10 nuisance calls of 2023:

1. To ask for directions home from the Drake concert;
2. The traffic light was taking too long to turn green;
3. They lost a nose ring down the shower drain;
4. Their Airbnb host cancelled their reservation;
5. Their UberEats order was taking too long;
6. A burger joint wouldn’t let them in before opening;
7. They couldn’t find their cell phone;
8. To complain about a pothole;
9. Their McDonalds order was taking too long;
10. The barber gave them a bad haircut.

E-Comm said it handled more than 2.1 million 911 calls so far in 2023.