Empathizing with the boy’s battle with numbers, he asked, “What kind of math do you have that you need help with?”
Explaining he had “take aways,” the operator understood that Johnny meant subtractions.
“16 take away 8 is what?” Johnny said, appealing for some help.
Encouraging him to hazard a guess, instead of providing the answer, the operator said, “How much do you think it is?”
When Johnny answered “1” dispatch recognized he was very young and asked for his age. Hearing Johnny was “only four,” the operator started playing along.
“What’s another problem? That was a tough one,” he said, his gentle behavior feeding the enthusiasm of his young caller.
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