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Heh. My example isn't as bad as yours (nobody's life is hanging in the balance), but still reminds me of when I was sick over Christmas 1999 (turned out to be pneumonia). On the day after Christmas, which was a Sunday I believe, I had a pain in my ribs so bad I wondered if I had cracked one from all the coughing. So I called up my doctor and told the answering service that I needed to talk to whoever was on call, and they gave me the number for another doctor. So I called that number.
Me: Hi, I need to talk to Dr. X. I'm a patient of Dr. Y.
Service: They're closed now. The office will be open tomorrow. You can call back then.
Me: Well, I was told Dr. X is on call for Dr. Y's practice this weekend. Is that true?
Service: [long pause] Yes, he is.
Me: Well, since he was on call, I thought maybe you could page him for me.
Service: [long pause, obviously to allow this person's view of the universe to be rearranged] Oh, yeah, we can do that.
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