When is a prank not a prank?

D

delgirl

Registered User
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It appears that the Receptionist who took the call at the hospital where Kate Middleton was staying recently for treatment from 'The Queen' and 'Prince Charles' has committed suicide.

Not sure yet if she was subject to any form of disciplinary action by her employer.

The reaction of the Australian Radio Station who set up the prank will be interesting.
 
Oh my god, thats awful, the poor girl. I heard the call and she really did think she was talking to the Queen.

I would have imagined that the hospital had procedures in place when treating royalty, I was shocked the receptionist who answered the phone put the call through at all. Surely its very dangerous to be presuming the person on the phone is the Queen?
 
I'm gutted for her and her family. I dont know if I'd blame the DJ's though, the nurse's employers should have supported her, given her counselling if they thought she was taking it that bad.

The prank would be tomorrow's fish & chip paper, more or less a 'no harm done' scenario if the nurse hadnt taken that drastic action. Ok the DJ's should have called a halt (or probably the lawyers checking the recording) when it got to medical details, but I wouldnt be blaming them for her death as such. (e.g. in South America dont guys occasionally jump off the top tier of stadia when their team loses - would you blame the players in that scenario?)
 
You wouldnt know what kind of other issues are going on in someones life and perhaps this public humiliation was the last straw, or perhaps she was facing some kind of disciplinary action in her job, or perhaps it was unrelated to the incident or perhaps it wasnt suicide at all.

Whatever the reason, its a terrible tragedy.
 
I too was very surprised that a strict procedure was not in place when dealing with the royal family. RIP.
 
HMC said:
I too was very surprised that a strict procedure was not in place when dealing with the royal family. RIP.
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There is more than likely a procedure for dealing with all callers. If it's anything like where I work you could spend the whole day reading them. By the time you're finished, you could start all over again and find there are 20 new ones.

I don't see why the royal family should have their own special one.

I'd be of the view there were other issues but who knows. It certainly is a tragedy.

As for the DJ's, their managers cleared this. I certainly feel for them. It was a prank (very bad taste but that's what it was).
 
becky said:
I don't see why the royal family should have their own special one.
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Because as historical figures and monarchs they are a security risk and their private lives are of interest to the general public. Its highly unlikely the Queen ever makes a phonecall herself unless its to a private individual who is a friend. Anyone could be (and was) on the other end of the phone.

I would have thought it was obvious that if you deal with the royal family you should put special procedures in place for security and privacy reasons.

Id expect the same for the head of any state tbh.
 
I agree there should be a procedure but the one would do. Heads of state can easily be covered by it.
 
Bottom Line:- The Receptionist is dead.
The Radio Station People are responsible.

Ask the receptionist's family what they think of the "prank."

And what information do some of the people on here know that the queen rarely makes a telephone call?
 
You can't say the radio station or the DJ's were responsible for the tragedy. None of us anything about the poor woman and what was going on in her life. It's very very rare that one event causes people to take their own lives.

Having said that, even if this tragedy hasn't happened, the prank was not funny and a ridiculous thing for them to do. They put ordinary working people in a position where they could have lost their jobs.
 
What exactly is a prank ?
Is it tricking innocent well-meaning people into breaching confidentiality, or to performing an action that exposes them to public ridicule, and/or to causing discomfort to other innocent people.

Isn't this what conmen do ? Is that funny?
 
Leper said:
And what information do some of the people on here know that the queen rarely makes a telephone call?
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She doesn't, unless it's to a family member. Calls always come from her private secretary or other member of the Royal Household.

Sunny said:
Having said that, even if this tragedy hasn't happened, the prank was not funny and a ridiculous thing for them to do. They put ordinary working people in a position where they could have lost their jobs.
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I think everyone believes that they had no intention to cause this level of harm, however as Sunny points out, it would have been reasonable for the DJ's to assume that had their prank call been successful, someone could have possibly lost their job for disclosing private information about a patient, and a royal one at that.

The Australian authorities are looking at this 'reasonable assumption' angle to decide whether to bring legal action against the DJ's or the station. Another offence they're looking at is if it is illegal to record a telephone conversation for broadcast without the permission or knowledge of the person to whom they are speaking.

The least that should happen is that they should lose their jobs. Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand lost theirs with the BBC for a prank call that had a much less serious outcome.
 

+1.
 
Bullbar -like conmen , tv/radio pranksters do their pranks for financial/material gain.
 
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