The month was April. I had just moved to town a few months prior, and I went to FedEx to make some copies of some birth certificates. They had several copy machines, and the first two were occupied, so I went to the third one. I had a bunch of copies to make(about 20 pages to scan).
Soon after I came in to start scanning, the woman at the first copier started talking. I thought she was on her phone. She was saying all kinds of stuff. I wasn’t paying attention, but it was clear that she was mad at someone. And then I heard her start to make comments about someone who was stalking her, saying that “they” had sent multiple people, and that they always had a similar appearance and were always a same age. I was a little concerned.
I finished my first group of pages, and went to grab my second group, and I looked up, and this woman was looking at me. She said directly to me “And don’t even pretend.” She said it in a really weird voice. I had never seen this woman in my life, but I was scared of her now. She looked like someone who was either 50 years old and trying to look 30, or who was 30 years old and it had been a hard 30. But I knew something was wrong, and I didn’t care to find out.
Okay, I decided to move from the third copy machine to the fifth copy machine, farther across the store and nearer to the door opposite from where she was(and opposite from the parking lot entrance).
Some other people actually came in and started using the third and fourth copy machines, so at least there were people between her and me now.
She continued watching me and continued saying things. I didn’t look up again, but I was always listening to hear if she started approaching, because I was ready to run out the entrance behind me, even if my car was nearer the entrance behind her. I was ready to bail. I continued making copies, but paying as much attention to her as to my copies.
Eventually, she finished what she was doing. I heard the door behind her open, and when I looked up, she wasn’t in the building. “Oh, thank God.” I continued finishing up my copies, and then I crossed the building, expecting that our interaction was over. But no.
When I got out into the parking lot, my car was at the opposite end of a small parking lot, but she was still out there, in a truck parked near the door. She was standing next to the passenger’s side (open) and was looking at me as I walked across the parking lot. She started yelling at me. I hurried to my car, hopped in, did NOT bother buckling my seatbelt in the lot, and started reversing to pull out.
The truck started reversing, too, and it started to pull in my direction. But we were on opposite ends of the parking lot, so I knew whichever direction it headed, I was going to try to go in the opposite direction. Whoever was driving the truck had pointed their truck at the entrance near me, so that meant my goal was to go through the opposite entrance nearer to them. The parking lot was mostly empty, so instead of backing all of the way out of the spot, I barely backed my car up, just enough that I could drive not in the place that people normally drive, but instead driving through the entire row of empty parking spaces themselves, still with my seatbelt not on.
And just as I got to the end of the parking lot, I saw a police officer pull an unrelated vehicle out of traffic just outside the parking lot entrance I was leaving through. I felt somewhat safe to leave through that entrance, and I turned left, then an immediate right onto a major street, and I drove in kind of an agressive way, crossing three lines of traffic to make it through a light and turn left just as the light was about to turn red, just so I would be far enough away that the woman would not be able to follow me.
On my way to where I was going, I still made sure to take the most convoluted path to get there, making lots of unnecessary turns and things like that. But I successfully lost the woman. I don’t believe she knew where I went after exiting the parking lot.
Then, that same Halloween(like six months later), I ordered a pizza from a place that didn’t have delivery, but did have a drive-thru. I pulled up into the parking lot to go through the drive-thru. I was going to get into the drive-thru line, but it was super long. This particular restaurant had a pretty big parking lot(big enough that a whole other building could have been built there, but there was just the one), and the line wrapped all of the way around the lot. I decided to walk in and do carryout instead.
And as I approached the counter, what do you know, here comes the exact same woman walking toward the exit, dressed like Belle, from Beauty and The Beast. She looks at me and makes a really snide remark, but doesn’t stop or anything. She just walks through the exit and leaves.
I was thinking “Am I hallucinating this person, or did this really just happen?” I went to the cashier, and mentioned the encounter with the woman previously, and the cashier acknowledges having seen the woman, but says she was unaware of anyone complaining about the woman that night, and says “Don’t worry, we have security, and if you need them to walk with you to your car, we can arrange that.” I said thank you, but didn’t accept the offer. This time, I was parked almost directly by the door. After getting my pizza, I did hurry to my car, but there wasn’t anyone around when I walked to my car, and I got in, did properly buckle my seatbelt, and drove off.
To this day, I have no idea what this person’s deal was. I think she likely may need help, or maybe I look like someone who had done her wrong in the past. I hope that she gets the help she needs.
Around 2022, I was driving from a Pride event to an after party and happened upon a car that had driven into a giant, about 5 ft diameter tree in a suburb. I got out and went over to help and there was a woman in the car who was absolutely blackout wasted. She was slurring and said she already called someone. She tried to get out and walk on her ankle that was turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction then fell and hit her head really hard. The sound it made was awful 😭 I had to stop her from getting back up until the ambulance got there. She had a moment of lucidity where she was saying her life was over because she’s going to get a DUI. Thankfully the ambulance got there pretty quickly and took over. I still wonder what happened to her after that and if she ever quit drinking…
8 years ago I was staying at a hotel and sitting alone on a park bench outside when a sudden flashback of really bad memories hit me and I had to cry. After a while a woman walked by me. She noticed and asked me if she could help me, so I told her and she comforted me with a long hug.
A lot has happened since then and I only thought about that encounter a couple of times, but I don’t think I’ll ever forget how a complete stranger was there for me when I needed it.
This was about 35 years ago. It was early evening and I was in a supermarket picking up some shopping etc on my way home. A woman comes up to me and asks my opinion about a lamp shade, I reply “Sorry, I don’t work here.”… then walk off confused. My clothes were nothing like the shop workers.
In the next aisle she’s there again and says something like “O, hi again. We must stop meeting like this or people will begin to talk. Maybe your girlfriend?”I reply “Ha, yeah, yeah. Anyways, no worries on that because I’m single. See ya.”
At the checkout she’s one till over and waves to catch my eye. Then smiles and says something like, “Well that was fun…I’ll be going home to my dogs then…”
“Have a good night. Bye.”, I say still absolutely completely oblivious.
I’m in my car driving home when all of a sudden I realise what she was doing. What a fucking idiot.She was looking to hire a dog-walker?
Cashiering once; I like to play with my rubiks cubes and had a 3x3 and 5x5 with me.
Well a very disheveled couple with 3 kids came through, and as I started scanning their items I decided to give one of the kids the 5x5.
For a brief moment I checked them out, and distracted their kids. As they were paying and I was talking with the kids one of them said I was “Really cool”.
But the silent “thank you” mouthed from the Mom as they walked away is why they stuck in my mind. Something about coraling the kiddos, while working my regular job, then being thanked for it felt pretty good.
Back in my hippie days, we used to get a bunch together and go on road trips in my friend’s van . One trip, we ran out of gas in a park about 400 km from home. Checked around the van and no one had any money left. Most of us had to get back to work the next day. Stupid teenagers in an epic time. Some woman came up to us and handed us $20 (enough to fill up the tank at that time) and said, “I just feel like I should give this to you. God bless.” I never forgot that lovely woman whose kind gesture saved our stupid butts.
Damn, stories like this make me want to be like that lady. But instead of “god bless,” I’d say something like “hail Satan”
Over at the other site there was a guy who frequented r/morbidquestions. I think he was a teenager at the time and had some mental issues. He wanted to stop talking and was convinced the only way his family would accept that was if he would cut off his tongue. So he was trying to build a mini guillotine to do that and posting updates and requests for feedback in that sub. This was across a long timeline with multiple versions of the mini guillotine and many people tried to convince him to stop but he went through with it anyway.
There was an update post at some point. He wasn’t completely successful and had ended up in a psychiatric hospital with a reattached tongue but he seemed to be doing better.
There were many people posting weird things in that sub but this actually felt real. He still pops up in my mind every now and then and if it was real, I really hope he’s doing better, wherever he is.
This woman at a music festival whose hairstyle I absolutely loved but I didn’t have the courage to go tell her. I didn’t even have any further intentions as I was there with my girlfriend. I’m just annoyed at myself that I didn’t say anything. I’m a strong believer in sharing any positive thoughts about people with them.
Edit: Oh! And the one time someone sent me a blow-kiss from a passing car while I was waiting for the light to turn green, standing there with my longboard. I don’t even care if she was just fooling around - that never happens to us guys.
when I was in high school I was very self conscious, hated myself, thought I was ugly. I ended up resigning myself and being completely unkempt, never getting haircuts, wearing pyjamas everywhere and ect. but one day in the hallway a girl standing in the corner called to get my attention and told me I had nice hair. I was so astonished that I even looked around and pointed to myself and asked “me?” and she said yep. that was the only time id ever received a compliment from another person until I was 22. and as a result these days my hair is by far the part of myself I take care of the most. it’s halfway down my torso in length because I still haven’t gotten it cut. often when my mind wanders, I wish I could tell her how much she helped me become more confident as a person because of that interaction.
Wow I had a very similar experience but for someone complimenting my cheekbones of all things.
It wasn’t necessarily the compliment that stuck in my head, but hearing someone appreciate something about me that i didn’t particularly care for was strangely formative for me, I think. And I feel the same way - I wish I could tell that person why that was important to me.
One day I was sitting on a bench and a girl walked up to me and sat down next to me and started talking and she told me about how she had been sexually abused by her uncle and the effects that had had on her life.
She talked for about 15 minutes, and then said, “Thank you. You’re a really good listener” with a very solemn tone, and then she got up and left.
I’ve never seen or heard from her ever again, but ever so often I think about her and I wonder how she’s doing.
I thought of her earlier tonight. I was 16, I was on the pediatric ward to get rounds of IV antibiotics to treat the MRSA infection in my lungs. Because I was the oldest kid on the floor by a lot and was supposed to stay in my isolation room while other people were out and about the nurses let me hang out with them (while wearing a mask and gloves) at the nurses station in the late evening. One night it was dark and quiet and all of a sudden I heard the most primal scream I’ve ever heard in my life to this day. A woman burst out of a room down the hall and threw herself screaming against the wall. I was ushered quickly into my room. The next day I asked about what had happened and they told me they weren’t supposed to say but because I had witnessed it, and was upset by it, they told me the why. Her child had just received a terminal diagnosis. She still haunts me, that scream… I’ll never forget it. I hope wherever she is now she’s found peace.
Saw a girl walking across campus, and she was glued to her phone texting or whatever. I also remember she was in Ugg boots, they were in their hay day, this was like 2011. Anyway she fully inadvertently kicked a squirrel while walking and didn’t notice. Squirrel bolted away, I feel like I was the only one who noticed
I’m sure the squirrel noticed, but yeah, it’s a small club with just the two of you in it.
This reminds me of the last time I went to Vegas. When we landed, we went to the rental car pickup place, and while we were waiting for the teller to get our keys, we first heard and then saw a young Asian girl running across the rental car pavilion in flip-flops, with a loud, echoing, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, with every step that she took that filled the entire room.
The oddest thought crossed my mind, and I said aloud to my girlfriend and the teller, “imagine if your serial killer wore flip-flops and that was the last sound that you ever heard”.
Do you ever have those moments where you just talk without thinking and it sucks all of the air out of the room? The teller stared at me and then looked at my girlfriend and then they both looked at me and then they both burst out laughing. They laughed until they cried.
Like, I’m definitely not an S tier comedian or anything, but that was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever said.
The high I get from moments like this with my friends, family, and random strangers cannot be understated. The laughter from those times sustains me in a primal way like nothing else.
its the survival brain that kicks in. i do this but its always relative to zombie attacks. imagine if a mass zombies were wearing flip flops coming right for you.
dang i thought squirrels would have had more survival instinct.
It was a calm summer night. My brother, his girlfriend, and I were in the city, walking under the streetlight.
My brother had just bought a full-sensor camera that took amazing pictures at night. To try it out, we decided to walk around the city, talking and occasionally pointing at things to take pictures of.
As we were walking, there was a similar group walking in front of us. It was two guys and a gal. They were in their 20s or 30s.
At some point, the strangers did something unusual, something light-hearted. They giggled and moved to the curbside. They hunched over and playfully hid behind a car.
My brother saw this and immediately started to take pictures.
As we saw the scene, we realized who they were hiding from: an older couple that was walking toward us all (my group and the strange group).
My group realized what was going to happen: the strange (and giggly) group would surprise the couple.
My group slowed down a bit, and we just let the scene play out. Surely enough, when the couple was close enough, the giggly and hidden group jumped and surprised the couple.
The street suddenly got filled with laughter. Smiles. Kisses. Hugs. Eyes lovingly looking at each other. It was such a heart-warming sight.
It was obvious they loved each other and hadn’t seen each other for a long time. I don’t know for sure, but I think the hiding group was the children of the older couple. A part of me thinks this was the first time in half a decade that the whole family could be together.
As we walked past them, I told my brother that all of the strangers would probably like to look at the pictures.
He walked up to them, briefly interrupting their greeting. He lifted his camera and showed them a picture. They looked at the camera and huddled around it. They were very happy.
They asked if my brother could send the pictures, to which my brother accepted, of course. They exchanged contact details and thanked my brother.
We all wished each other a good night, and my group resumed our night walk through the city. I imagine the other group laughed a bit more and started catching up.
Today, years later, I am still awed at this experience. It gives me goosebumps and gets me teary-eyed. It was so lucky and beautiful.
This is really beautiful, thanks for sharing this!
Do you know/remember what happened afterwards? Did you keep in touch after the photos?
Two come to mind.
College. There was a platter of leftover bagels on a table outside one of the classrooms. Looked like the students had had their bagels and were now in the lecture hall learning, with bagels. No one else was around. I went to pick one up and this lady comes bustling over and says “they’re not for you!!”. She picked up the platter of leftover bagels and took the whole thing into her office down the hall. Really important to save $2 worth of bagels from my thieving appetite, I guess.
I was doing a cross country road trip in my youth. We stopped at some gas station in like Missouri, and I chatted with the guy working the counter. He was probably in his late 30s, early 40s. I told him about how me and my friends were doing a summer road trip. He got a little faraway look and said he’d love to do that, to travel with friends. I thought about being fuck-it spontaneous and telling him to quit his shit job and come with us, but his vibe was a little off. I wonder if he ever traveled.
I have a few but this is the first one that comes to mind. I was visiting New Zealand. I was in a grocery store and asked where the bathroom was. I was pointed in a general direction and headed to the door I calculated as the correct one. When I opened it there was kind of a foyer before the bathroom proper. A woman was coming out. I’m male so I stopped and asked if I was in the wrong bathroom. She stopped and looked around the bathroom to figure it out for a few seconds and finally just sort of gave up and said, “oh, who cares.”
Coming from a country (US) that was actively trying to dictate where trans people could or couldn’t pee, I sort of loved her in that moment for cutting through the bullshit.
