I Totally Relate To A Woman Who Called The Police To Remove A Spider From Her House

Lex Gabrielle
spider on a web
Unsplash | Ed van duijn

There are very few things in life that make us scream on the top of our lungs. One of those things happens to be spiders. Big, eight-legged, creepy, crawly spiders. Sometimes, they come out of nowhere and they drop down from the sky on their little webs, taking us off guard. Other times, they crawl onto our arms, or we see them climbing on the wall.

As it turns out, being scared of spiders is very common in people.

spiders on web outside
Unsplash | Peter dos Santos

There are many people who are scared of spiders, which is known as arachnophobia. Some researchers say that people can fear spiders due to trauma. This can stem from childhood trauma or past experiences with spiders.

Fear of spiders can also be genetic.

black spider
Unsplash | Vidar Nordli-Mathisen

Graham Davey of City University London found in a study that arachnophobia might be a family trait. This means that if your family members are scared of spiders, there's a possibility you could be, too.

Some people hate spiders just because they look scary.

spiderweb
Unsplash | Chase McBride

While most spiders are not harmful or poisonous, many people fear them because they have long legs, move quickly, and sometimes have too much "fur." Not everyone is scared of being bitten by spiders, just are scared of how they look.

Recently, one woman went viral online for her encounter with a spider in her own home.

spider
Unsplash | Umesh Soni

As anyone would, when the woman found a spider in the home, she immediately freaked out and tried to get some help to get the spider out of her house.

She decided to call the police.

police siren
Unsplash | Scott Rodgerson

The woman called the West Yorkshire Police Department, the police department in her own, and said that she needed someone to come and help get the spider out of her house. She told them she knew they would be annoyed with her calling, but they were her last hope.

West Yorkshire Police even shared the phone call online.

police car
Unsplash | Matt Popovich

“Hiya, you’re probably gonna go mad at me right but I’ve literally tried ringing everyone and you’re my last hope. I need someone to come and get this spider out of my house. It’s absolutely massive and I’m not even joking," the woman said on the call.

The police shared that they couldn't help the woman.

woman on her cell phone
Unsplash | Kev Costello

Police told the woman they couldn't come to help her in her house to rid it of the spider, and also shared that people should not be abusing the emergency line for things of this nature.

They said the line should be used only for life or death situations.

police officer
Unsplash | Fred Moon

"A call like this could prevent someone in a genuine emergency receiving the support they need," the police department shared at the end of a video clip they posted online.

The department also shared they receive hundreds of calls that are not "emergencies."

phone
Unsplash | Annie Spratt

"This is just one example of an inappropriate call that we've had to our 999 emergency line. On average, we receive 120 calls a day to our 999 line that are not a life or death emergency. One is too many," they shared.

Many people online said the woman was wrong and she knew it.

shame gif
Giphy | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

"I think what makes this phone call worse is that she clearly knows she’s doing wrong. Please just lock these people up in a spider-filled cell and throw away the key," said one person on Facebook.

Despite our undying fear of spiders, we can see where the police are coming from.

spiders gif
Giphy

We'd do just about anything to get someone to come to take care of our spiders. However, we can understand that calling the police is definitely not the way to do it.