A Fake Pizza Order Saved Her Mother
read between the lines: to understand what someone really means, even when they do not say it directly
On November 13, 2019, Tim Teneyck answered a strange call at work. A woman said, “I would like to order a pizza.” Teneyck was an operator for 911, the emergency call center in the United States. He told her she had called the wrong number. The woman said, “No, no, no, no, you’re not understanding.” Then she asked for a large pizza with pepperoni.
Teneyck sensed this wasn’t a prank and that she couldn’t speak freely. He asked simple yes no questions about her situation. Then he sent police to her address with their sirens off.
Inside the apartment, the caller’s mother was in danger. Her boyfriend, Simon Lopez, was drunk. He had punched her and thrown her into a wall.
If she called 911 and asked for police, he might attack again. But a pizza order would go unnoticed. That night, police safely arrested Lopez.
The woman did not invent the pizza strategy. In 2014, a former 911 operator posted a story on the internet about a call just like this from his own career. Millions of people read it. In 2015, it became a television ad about domestic violence. It played during the Super Bowl, the biggest TV event in America. Four years later, a frightened woman in Ohio used the same trick when she called 911. She never said the word help. Teneyck had to read between the lines.
Sample sentences
Politicians rarely give direct answers, so voters have to read between the lines.
My boss never said my job was in danger, but I can read between the lines.
The ad said the apartment was “cozy and full of character.” Anyone who can read between the lines knows it is small and old.
Origin
In early secret writing, people sometimes hid a message in invisible ink between the visible lines of a letter. To find the truth, you had to literally read between the lines.
Read More
When a Woman Called 911 for Pepperoni Pizza, a Dispatcher Recognized a Call for Help
