i trod on a bit of glass and got it stuck in my foot a few months ago. admittedly it is very painful and not easy to walk on but i'd never have even considered dialling 999! after trying to get it out myself, i went to see the practice nurse at the local medical centre who prodded it with her finger a couple of times and said "well i'm not going to poke around, you'd better go to a&e if you're that bothered". so off i went to a&e after a couple of hours at home trying to a) get the bit of glass out myself and b) decide whether i really needed to go. a nurse poked at my foot with some sterile needles for about 20 minutes and got nowhere, so i went home. eventually got the glass out myself using a completely unsterile sewing needle the next morning. anyway, your job last night - some people just really are the limit! there should be some kind of penalty scheme in operation for pointless call-outs - maybe a compulsory workshop where you learn about when you should dial 999 and when you should get your equally stupid husband to drive you to hospital. only time i've ever called out an ambulance was when my housemate was suffering from transient global amnesia (though obviously we didn't know that at the time) and lying on the lounge floor wailing. we tried to get him to stand up but he couldn't (wouldn't?) so we reasoned that the only way to get him to a&e at 2a.m. with no-one around to help us lift him into a taxi was to call an ambulance who could put him on a stretcher or something. the paramedics weren't too pleased when he stood up and walked to the ambulance of his own accord ... and neither were we!