Has anyone ever actually called a friend at 3am?

Yes, friend called at about 2am, in very active labour very quickly and at 35 weeks. We were Military and her Parents were 2 hours away. I shot out of bed and round to hers to sit with her toddler so her Husband could get her to Hospital.
Another time when one of my charges Mums called ( I was a Childminder ) Child was ill and Mum was panicking and Dad was deployed so went round. Turned out the child had Swine Flu. She was alright within a few days, but I caught it and ended being blue lighted into hospital and into ICU. Was in hospital for 2 weeks.

Maybe true friends are those set as exceptions to the Do Not Disturb - I have some family members and a couple of friends. With elderly parents I couldn't risk blocking their calls when I set my DND, so when I added them to the exception list I added a couple of others too. I know the only reason they would ever call at 3am is if it was an emergency, and I'd definitely want to be able to answer if they need me. So maybe I need to ask my mates whether I'm an exception or not, see if they really like me!

I haven't made the call but I've received the call. I have no issues with this as a one off

I’ve never forgotten the friend whose response when I called her at 4am was only “it’s 4am”. Even when I explained I had been sexually assaulted, had run out of the party and was near her house but wasn’t exactly sure how to get there she just said “it’s 4am” and sounded very pissed off.

I’ve always been very clear with friends that if they need help at daft oclock then I’ll be there. Luckily I have another friend that is the same.

That said after hearing a commotion I’ve driven a neighbour to the hospital at 2am when their child was very unwell and their car wouldn’t start. I wouldn’t see anyone in need stuck.

Completely agree.

A friend called me in the wee small hours of the night, she had just had a call to say her child (adult) who lived overseas had taken their own life. I answered because she is a friend and something must've been awfully wrong for her to be calling me at that time of night. My DND allows me to filter calls that can get through even when it is set to on.

Yes, I reversed the charges too - this was clearly long enough ago that a phone box was still easily found! My handbag was stolen. She came and picked me up with my spare key. She also dropped everything several times to come and sit with me when my mum was dying and my husband was away. I’ve provided similar support for her over the years.

My husband has been sectioned with psychosis and called all sorts of people from
hospital. He didn’t know what he was doing and wouldn’t remember it within 30 seconds. The people couldn’t help, it made no difference whether they answered or not tbh.

I called my next door neighbour (we are good friends as well as neighbours) when my husband walked out on me in the early hours of the morning. She came straight over with a bottle of wine and we talked for hours. I then found out I was pregnant the following weekend. She was the first person I told but thankfully this was during the day!

I've never had to, but a neighbour rang a friend of his in Holland once. The friend was concerned enough to email me immediately (we'd met before, but had only exchanged email addresses, not phone numbers) but this was pre-smartphone days and I didn't pick the message up until mid-morning, by which time the neighbour had already taken his own life.

No and I think this is quite a teenage idea- “a good friend will pick up the phone at 3am!” In reality adults would never, or very rarely, need to call someone at 3am for support.

Being an adult is about holding it together until appropriate times and also showing a level of self sufficiency that isn’t always present in those intense teen friendships.

having an emergency where you need an action taken is somewhat different, but the phrase indicates the person should be there to support at 3am. Adult respect other adults need to be asleep at 3am.

No and I think this is quite a teenage idea- “a good friend will pick up the phone at 3am!” In reality adults would never, or very rarely, need to call someone at 3am for support.

Being an adult is about holding it together until appropriate times and also showing a level of self sufficiency that isn’t always present in those intense teen friendships.

having an emergency where you need an action taken is somewhat different, but the phrase indicates the person should be there to support at 3am. Adult respect other adults need to be asleep at 3am.

I called a friend once at 2am. We had a very serious gas leak and I needed somewhere to take the children. She answered and had beds made up for me when I arrived.

Have only had late calls for support when family members have been very ill. In this scenario I am totally there.

I am not up for a rambling crisis chat in the middle of the night. I'm not a medical professional and I'm not going to be giving you any helpful advice when I can't string a coherent sentence together.

This has always baffled me as well, the favoured one for a while was "who would put you up for a night if you'd be stuck out on the street/who would you put up for the night" - and the answer there is basically anyone I knew even vaguely well enough to be reasonably confident they weren't going to burgle my house or sexually assault me.

If my friends were classified by "who would you call to help you clear out your wardrobe/paint your kitchen/rescue you from a flat bike tyre" it would be a much much shorter list!

I wouldn't answer the phone at 3am. It would be on silent

Yes, I needed a lift to the PDSA when my cat suddenly started having a seizure at 2am.

As for the DND on phone - you can set it so that if someone calls twice in a row the second call goes through. It means random accidental stuff wont wake you up but people can still get in touch in an emergency.

When my DD died I did exactly that, there are two other friends I would have felt fine calling as well.

They’d not get through.

Only family will get through on my phone between 10pm and 6am. I need my sleep!!

I haven’t but I am comforted to know that there are people I could if I needed to. Isn’t “3am” really just an analogy for a friend who you know you could absolutely rely on if something awful happens?

I turned up on my friend's doorstep at 3 a.m. (this was decades ago) after fleeing domestic abuse. Fortunately she answered the door!

No, I've not called anyone but in the days when i had a landline i used to get calls from a drunken woman around 3am. I've also had calls from people phoning in sick at 2am and being surprised that I'm not X hotel.

I've phoned my dad in the early hours when I went on holiday for the first time and got stranded at the airport. I didn't have the contact details of my family I was staying with or any local currency so had to reverse charge the called;!
Lesson learned rather fast!

No I've never contacted anyone at 3 a.m. There are a few people I probably could, if I really needed to.

My (male) best friend called me at 2am around 30 years ago. He had heard some news that really upset him and he feared that he might do something stupid. I had been asleep but came to and we talked for about 45 minutes. He promised that he wouldn’t do anything other than drive to his parents’ house and would call me after I got back from work.
I was glad I was able to be there. As a result of that call and some devious work on my part, last year he celebrated 25 years of marriage to the love of his life, but when he called me, he thought he’d never see her again.