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SOUTHERN COLORADO -- Most of us learned about the 911 system before we entered Kindergarten. How to use it, when to use it and when not to use it.

But some, even "adults," misuse the system every day.

911 dispatchers all across El Paso County go through a lengthy training process to handle emergency calls. But, they're also trained on how to deal with those who misuse the system.

For Kathi Speight, a dispatcher at the Colorado Springs 911 Center, patience is key.

"You really never know what you're going to get on the other end of the phone, and we kind of just gotten into expecting the unexpected," Speight said.

With the holidays coming up, Speight said she gets a lot of folks calling asking how long to leave their turkeys in the oven or how to cook in high altitude.

Another common misuse is folks calling upset because their fast food order was wrong in the drive thru, and they want someone at the 911 center to send a cop to fix the problem.

Then, you have habitual offenders - folks who call on a regular basis over non-emergency issue.

Like one resident who called to tell the dispatcher Kelly Rippa has an outtie belly button.

Dan Ausec, a supervisor for the El Paso County 911 Center has been working the phones for five years. One of the oddest calls he's come across is a woman calling 911 telling dispatchers to tell them aliens were coming out of her walls and attacking her.

"We take all 911 calls very seriously, and we do our absolute best to make sure we provide the services needed," Ausec said.

And that goes for every call that comes into the center.

One major problem is hang-ups. Hundreds come in on a daily basis, and every hang-up needs to be called back.

That can sometimes take one dispatcher their entire shift, if not longer.

Hang-ups mostly stem from pocket dialing, and they can be difficult to trace at times.

The dispatch center received 222 hang up calls in one day in October. Dispatchers said a lot of times it's children calling and hanging up.

It's important for folks to realize if you give your child an old cell phone, as long as it turns on, it can and will dial 911.

The problem is misusing the system ties up the phone lines. And in a real life-or-death situation, every second counts.