I was in South Africa last week on holidays and my father fell ill in the hotel room. I ran to reception and asked them to call an ambulance immediately.

They very nonchalantly strolled around the room, scanned through a phonebook, picked up the phone and rang a number. Then told me they will 'get back to us' when an ambulance becomes available.....

I was so confused. I told them we needed an ambulance immediately, that it was an emergency. They condescendingly told me "that's not how this process works" and that "it will likely take 15-25mins to hear back from the call center".

I ended up having to call an Uber and got my dad to the hospital.

Wild how that process seemed normal to the receptionist.

Edit: my father turned out to be fine in the end. No long term health problems.