Sometimes, a random person can cause you a world of pain. Whether it’s ignorance, misunderstandings, or just plain maliciousness, people can be much meaner than you’d expect. These Redditors share stories of when absolute strangers surprised them in all the worst ways.
1. The Breakfast Rush
I was in the hospital recovering after some serious operations and one nurse decided to sign that she had given me my pain meds without actually doing so. After I had been screaming in agony for a few hours, the other nurses worked out what she had done and told me it was so she would be able to take her break before the cafeteria stopped serving breakfast. Luckily, she got what was coming to her. She got fired in the end for forging controlled documents. A basic stock take showed what she'd done.
2. Scheduling Conflicts
When I was about 16, I got a job as a waitress in a local restaurant. On my first day, I met a few of my co-workers for the first time. One of them was a girl who loudly proclaimed to the other workers that she "didn't like" me "at all". Nothing led up to this, and she had no reason to not like me because she had actually only known me for a few minutes.
The company had a policy where if you quit or failed to show up to work within the first 30 days of your employment, you would not receive any of your pay for the days you did work. This is against regulation, but they had the policy nonetheless. I didn't think it would be a problem though, because I planned to be there.
They put me on the schedule for the next couple of days. The next day, that girl calls me and says that they "didn't have anything" for me right then. She was a waitress, but also helped out the managers with various other tasks, like calling employees with scheduling. I was confused, and informed her that I saw my name on the schedule, to which she replied, "Yeah, I think they took you off". I didn't go to work.
A couple of weeks later, I call and ask for my pay for the two days I did work. The manager tells me I won't be receiving my pay because I had failed to show up for work. Turns out that the girl deliberately called me and told me I wasn't on the schedule so I wouldn't show up to work and would, as a result, be fired.
3. I See Right Through You
My friend was born with cerebral palsy. She was not in a wheelchair and she did not look like she had a handicap, but it affected her walking. We worked in a retail store and a customer came up to her and then said the rudest thing I've ever heard. She tells my friend, referring to the way that she walks, "I know you're faking it...I work with people like that and I know you're faking it". What a jerk.
4. The Least Favorite
When I was around 11, my parents were having a party and I was attempting to stay away by playing videogames in my room when this woman came in and asked who I was and why was I playing "their videogames" because guests weren't supposed to go in that room. When I told her I was one of my parents’ three sons, she said "Really? I thought they only had two sons”. Then, she added insult to injury. I guess those are the ones they talk about". That made me feel pretty awful.
5. Driving By
I was heavier in college than I am now. I was on a date and we were walking from a bus stop back to his place. A car full of college “men” drove by, and one guy leaned out the window and screamed at me, "Don't wear skirts, FATTY!" and threw a half-eaten sandwich at me before driving off.
I tried to play it off by laughing, but I couldn't keep the tears at bay. Jokes on them because I since lost 75 pounds, and the guy I was with and I are now married with a 3-month-old. Also, the rest of that sandwich was delicious.
6. Welcome To The City
A friend and I were visiting Toronto and staying in a hostel. As we left to walk into town for the first time, we pass a girl who looked to be about 14 years old. She had a pleasant smile the entire time she was within my range of vision, but when we passed her, she suddenly kicked my friend in the shin as hard as she could. He was completely flabbergasted, and she just kept smiling and walking on. That still confounds me to this day.
7. His Smelly Shoe
A guy I used to work with was in an airport in Chicago. He goes to use the bathroom and he somehow ends up immediately next to a guy in a stall taking a dump. I guess his foot was a little too close to the gap—but even then, what happened next was truly disgusting. The stall neighbor takes a piece of used, poop-covered toilet paper and throws it onto his shoe.
My buddy of course is all kinds of confused but is helpless due to his position as the guy walks out laughing. He said he was gagging as he was washing it off in the sink and some guy yelled at him for being the "kind of person that just can't make it in the toilet and gives a bad name to the rest of us". Except it wasn’t even his fault!
8. A Rocky Gift
When I was around 12, I was playing in the neighborhood with a few of my friends and we were pretty much minding our own business. There was this guy in his early 20s and two kids, a girl and a boy around six, sitting on the sidewalk, and the guy called us over to them. We walk over even though we had never seen nor spoken to them before, and as soon as we get close, I can see the guy is holding something.
When we stop and ask what he wants, the guy gives each of the kids a large rock and tells them to throw it at us. The little girl hits my friend with a rock a little larger than a golf ball right in his forehead, and I get hit in the side of the head with one a bit smaller. My friend ended up needing stitches and I was bleeding but I didn't want to tell my parents, so I received medical care in my other friend's basement. The man just laughed while we helped our crying friend get home.
I wish I could say he got caught or something, but when our friend told his parents, they really didn't understand that the dude coerced the kids into doing it. I still remember the look on the little girl's face though, she looked completely confused. She looked like she felt bad, but had two people she knew celebrating and laughing next to her.
Freepik,freepik
9. Just Passing By
When I first learned how to ride a bike, I felt amazing, like I could do anything. I got way overzealous and decided to ride my bike down a grassy hill at a park. My bike hit a rock and flipped, and I tumbled the rest of the way down the hill. It wasn’t that bad—but it was about to get so much worse.
My bike landed right on top of me. I landed a few feet from the pavement, where people were jogging. Everything was hurting. I cried out for help, but people ran right past me. I had to wait for the pain to wear down a bit and crawl over to where my friends were. Multiple people saw me and ran right by me. All these people just completely ignored me when I was in a lot of pain and needed help!
10. Trying To Keep It Cool
When I was about 14, my family went out to dinner at a restaurant in town. My little brother, who must have been about 11 or 12 at the time, is autistic, and even though he functions fairly well in social situations, it's seldom that someone doesn't notice that he's different. As we're sitting through our meal, my mom notices that this woman from a few tables over has been staring at my brother.
She was staring. And staring. And staring. My mother is understandably sensitive to this sort of thing, and after about 20 minutes of relentless and rude gawking, my mother walked over to her table and kindly asked if she could help her with anything. This woman, a complete stranger, looked my mother straight in the eye and asked her in mock concern if she was sure my brother was "suitable to be taken out in public".
It wasn't until years later that I was able to fully respect my mother's ability to keep her cool, silently pay for our meal, and calmly walk the family out of the restaurant. I'm not sure that I would have been able to keep calm myself.
11. Playing Ball
I was finishing up moving into my dorm sophomore year at a large state school with a perennial top-25 football team. I am walking with a basketball past the athletic complex. When I’m walking past the football team, some jerk knocks the basketball out of my hands. Thing is, he drops his cell phone. A nice Blackberry. I grab it quickly and turn to run.
I take three or four steps like I'm going to sprint off with it but instead I turn around and ask him if he'd like to trade. Of course, he does, while his teammates all stand there stunned at what happened. The best part is that my sister who had just graduated the previous year is dating one of the school’s assistant coaches at the time. He tells her this story that night about one of the players getting mocked all day about a little white kid taking his phone. He knew nothing about my story yet, but I found out afterward that they were talking about me!
12. Messy Responsibilities
At my first job at a Mcdonald's, it was my responsibility to clean the restrooms. One day I walk into the men's room stall to sweep and I was greeted with the worst thing I have ever seen anyone do to a public restroom. How he managed to smudge poop on the ceiling I'll never know. The cherry on the sundae was the stained pair of tighty-whities that he left behind.
13. Jumping The Queue
After a night on the town drinking with some friends, we caught the train back to station nearest to my friend's house and waited at the taxi line with many others. Some awful jerk and his girlfriend jumped in front of the queue. Everyone yelled at them to get to the back, but they said that they called ahead and booked this taxi. We called them out on their lie, and the taxi driver said that no one had booked anything.
So then, these two jerks just run and get in the taxi anyway, which just starts to drive off before anyone else could get to it and get them out. As they drive away, this jerk winds down the window, sticks his finger up at everyone else waiting and says "That's how I roll", thinking that he is some sort of cool guy.
14. In The Midst Of The Rain
I was once driving in the country and it was pouring rain in the middle of the night. It was coming down so hard that I was driving very slowly and couldn’t see any of the signs. I had never been in rain this heavy. I had to pull over to the side of the road to try and see the sign to see if I was going in the right direction.
I didn’t get out due to the rain, so was craning my neck forward to try and make out where I was when suddenly the passenger door opened and a man got inside the car, sat down, and looked at me. Here in South Africa, there is a fair amount of disorder and car hijackings, so I instinctively started panicking and yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs, flailing my arms to try and do something, anything to stop this guy from attacking me. He started screaming as well in terror and jumped out of the car.
I quickly leant over and closed the passenger door and sped off down the road. I was breathing so heavily at this point and trying my best to calm down, nearly in tears. I kept replaying it in my head the whole time, and suddenly remember that the man smiled it at me. It suddenly dawned on me that it was probably a hitchhiker that I hadn’t seen, who thought that I was pulling over to give him a lift from the rainstorm. Except he was greeted by me screaming and trying to hit him. Turns out I was the jerk.
Flickr, Leonora (Ellie) Enking
15. That’s Not A Plant!
Years ago, I used to work as an ecological surveyor. Basically, I got paid to take long walks in the Peak District National Park here in the UK and note down all the plant species I saw. I was walking down a trail one morning along the edge of a woodland when suddenly about eight of the bushes stand up and produced rifles.
I nearly fainted, but they were laughing like heck. It turns out it was a bunch of British army personnel on a camouflage and concealment exercise, and they had been following me to practice. Apparently, I had nearly trodden on one of them earlier as he was hiding right by the trail. We all ended up sitting around talking about football for a bit. They were a nice bunch of guys, but very scary indeed.
16. This Feels Icky
While working a late shift at a restaurant at 16, I had a customer who just wouldn't leave. He was like 50, and just stared at me the entire time he ate his food, which lasted two hours for some reason. When he came up to pay, he was super weird about it. I'd say, "okay here's your price", and he'd pause and say "Do I get a discount?" I said, "no, will you be paying cash or card?"
He told me he would pay cash, and then he just stared at me while I waited for him to hand me his cash. After like two minutes of this weird interaction, he has his change, the bill, and he can leave. I say "have a good night", and he says "can I go now?' And I say "yup!" He says something like "am I pestering you? Why don't I take you home and pester you there?"
I just went "NOPE" and walked right back to the backroom where I got my coworker to deal with him. Apparently, she scolded him and said it was shameful he would say that to a minor, and he said "well then can I take you home?" What a creep.
17. A Very Close Call
When I was about six, I was with my family at an incredibly crowded street festival we’d go to every year. I remember we had stopped to watch a band play for a minute or two, and then I felt my mom took my hand and we continued walking. After a few seconds, I made a disturbing realization.
The hand I was holding was puffy and hot, and my mom’s hands were always cool and slenderer, so I knew it wasn’t her hand. I looked up to see a woman with long blond hair and sunglasses grinning down at me. I said “You’re not my mom”, and she just laughed and said, “That’s okay, you can come with me anyway”! Obviously, my mom and dad had realized I was not with them at this point and were freaking out.
My dad just happened to look in the exact right direction at the right time and saw this lady leading me away through a break in the crowd. He ran over to us, grabbed her shoulder and she dropped my hand and disappeared in the crowd. I still can’t believe he spotted us.
18. A Rapid Checkout
I was in a store picking up some items for my house when I began to get this eerie feeling. Like someone was watching me. That’s when I noticed a man was literally peeking at me from around a corner. I first brushed it off and continued my shopping, but was aware that this man was following me around the store.
He then called out to me and said I looked familiar and asked if I went to the local university, I didn’t so I said no. At this point I got creeped out, so I checked out and went to my car. I heard footsteps behind me and knew he had followed me so I just jumped in my car and locked the doors. It was dark so I hadn’t noticed him go around the back of my car until he banged on my passenger window. I ignored him and started the car.
This prompted him to run around the front and start banging on my driver's side door trying to open it and asking me for a ride. I was terrified and just pulled out of the parking space as fast as I could and drove off, with him chasing my car until I rounded a corner. I have no idea what his plan was but to this day I am nervous about dark parking lots at night.
19. City Late Night
I was walking home after a late shift, at 3 or 4 AM. The streets of Seattle were mostly empty except for a few homeless folks walking around, when a guy came out of an alleyway and asked me to help him out with his car. I told him no, and that I wasn’t mechanically inclined anyway, so I couldn’t be of much help.
He persisted and I reiterated “no”, when a huge dude came around and got in his face. He started telling him that I had already said “no”, to get out, and leave me alone. I had recognized the homeless dude as a “local” whom I’d seen plenty in the neighborhood, so I gave him a nod and continued on my way whilst he kept berating the other guy.
I’m not sure what the first guy’s intent was, but it wouldn’t have ended well for either of us.
20. Grocery Store Scare
I dropped my son off at school one morning and then went to the grocery store with my infant daughter. It was so early, there was only one or two other customers. There was an older man with a walker that I didn’t really pay too much attention to that kept popping up in the same aisle as us. I got out of my car and put my groceries in. I was putting my daughter in her car seat when the man came up behind me.
He asked me a question and when I turned to answer, that’s when it happened. He shoved his walker into the back of my legs pinning me against my car inside the open door. I tried moving around but couldn’t go anywhere except forward and he started pushing me down to the floor of my car.
I was so scared that once he had me down there, he was going to grab my daughter so I threw myself over her so my whole upper body was in her car seat and wedged myself in tight trying to cover as much of her as possible. He grabbed me by the hair and was trying to pull me up when someone started honking their car horn. Another mom had been sitting in her car with her own baby asleep, and had seen what was happening.
Another car pulled up behind mine and the man ran over and got in quickly, obviously never needing the walker I saw him using. The authorities were called but the plates on the car that he left in were stolen so as far as I know, he was never found.
21. The Fashion Critic
In Wal-Mart, a guy walked up to me. He looked like an 18-year-old trying to look cool, and I was 24 at the time. I'm in town visiting my mom, who I'm helping through the store, because she has trouble walking without a basket to lean against. Anyway, this guy walks up and says "Yo dawg, where you got yo clothes?"
I replied that my mom gets me all my clothes, because I'm somewhat proud of the fact that my mom has good taste in clothing. Apparently, it wasn’t good to this kid, who replies, "Yo mom's got something wrong with her, brah". I didn't hit him like I wanted to, instead I just walked away. But I was close.
22. Hairspray!
In elementary school, I was on a school bus, going home, and a couple of older girls in front of me were doing each other's hair. I was sitting quietly by myself, looking out the window. Suddenly one of them turned around and sprayed me in the eyes with hairspray. Not just a little, but a LOT. Right in the eyes. Then they both laughed while I panicked, trying to get it out of my eyes. That stuff burns.
Freepik,8photo
23. Watch Where You’re Looking!
I was on my way to my grandparents for Thanksgiving when I was 13 years old or so, and our family stops to use the restroom at a very busy gas station. I go to use the only available urinal beside some old guy. So, I start to pee and in my peripheral, I can see the guy just shamelessly staring at me as I pee.
I look over, and the dude gives me the creepiest grin. I promptly booked it out of there and hid amongst the shelves. The guy comes out later and looks around the room as if searching for something or someone before leaving. I was pretty freaked out.
24. Let’s Play A Game
When I was around 10 or 11, a friend invited me to a water park. That’s where I learned what a jerk he was. During swimming at a wave pool, he found some random kid around our age and decided to tell this kid that the game we were going to play was hold me down in the water.
I didn’t get that memo so I thought him and this kid were just trying to drown me. This went on for what felt like an hour of me swimming away and hiding. I didn’t hang out with him afterward.
25. Running From The Law
I pulled over to help a lady with a flat tire one night in West Texas. While talking to her and showing her how to change the tire, I heard a sneeze come from the dark bushes off the shoulder. Out of habit, I said "bless you" and heard a "thanks" come back from the magical talking bush. I gave her a confused look, and she face-palmed and sheepishly explained that the man in the bush was her husband, and he didn't want to scare me off to help with the tire.
I asked why he didn't change it, and she let it slip that he was wanted by US marshals. I finished up, and she offered me $100 to keep quiet. I figured $100 for me to forget was a good deal, so I accepted and left. 15 minutes down the road, six Texas trooper cars went flying by the other way. Hope they don't think I snitched!
26. Making Friends?
One time I was in a public library browsing books. It was rather packed with most of the seats taken. There were a bunch of couches near where I was browsing, and I had a gut feeling that this guy sitting there was staring at me. I continued minding my own business looking for books when suddenly that guy stands up & walks directly towards me.
I pretend not to notice until he says "Hey little girl". I was probably 14 at the time, and he didn't speak English but I understood. I thought that if worse comes to worst he was just looking for a book, so I looked up. He then asks "Do you want to be my friend?" I was creeped out. This dude here was at least in his 60s, asking a 14-year-old girl to be his friend, in public.
I pretended I only understood English and I didn't get what he was trying to say and walked away. Thank goodness that library was packed.
27. The Stick Swindler
I was at a big Christmas fair that used to happen every year when I was little. The highlight for us little kids were glowsticks. We'd get one each and pretend they were lightsabers, throw them around, and have a bunch of fun. One year when I would've been about 6-7, I was wavin' my glow sticks around when some lady comes up and asks "This him!?" to her 7-year-old daughter.
She then says that I took her glow stick. The mother snatches it out of my hand, gives it to the daughter while yelling at me then storms off while I stand there too shocked to cry. Then it got worse... I told my dad the story and for some reason he didn't believe me, got angry at me for lying, and got myself a good smacking.
28. Ew, Nasty!
This happened while I was walking home a few winters ago. I crossed the street, noticed the passenger window of a nearby car was open, and just had enough time to think "Hmm, it's pretty cold to have a window down..". before an entire cup of chewed-up liquid, possibly vomit, flew toward me.
I dodged some of it, but my whole arm was still completely drenched. It was winter too, and I had a few kilometers left to walk to get home, in a light hoodie. As soon as the liquids cleared the guy's truck he floored it through a red, and almost got hit. I memorized his plates and called the authorities right away. The next day an officer came to my house to ask a few follow-up questions and later told me they found a truck with that plate number in a ditch, and the driver was taken in.
29. Clutching My Pearls
I was walking down the hallway at college having a bad day, when my favorite necklace snapped. It was three strands of medium-sized fake pearls. They were as decent quality as you could get without them being real pearls. It was my favorite necklace. All three strands snapped, the beads went all over the floor, and I started to cry with bad day frustration.
A girl came over and started helping me pick up the beads. When we were done, I look her in the eyes and say thank you. I’ll never forget what she did next. She then proceeds to take the half she just picked up and walks away without saying a word. I just didn't even know what to do and watched her take 50% of my necklace.
30. Frightening The Foreigner
I was once in Cuba. As a tall white guy, I was nervous to be in Cuba alone. I was also paranoid about getting lost down there and no one being able to find me. Needless to say, I was on edge. A Cuban woman, walking by me in a crowded street, looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I know who you are". I think she was just a Cuban who spoke English well and thought it would be funny to freak me out. It worked. I was terrified.
31. You’d Better Pay
I'm walking out of a grocery store when I witness a 20-something guy push his shopping cart into my brand-new Ducati Monster, knocking it over into the ground. He then bursts out laughing, and walks in the direction of his car. It was time for me to get revenge.
I charge him down, check him in the stomach with my elbow, get him in a headlock and tell him to give me 200$ or I'm turning him in. He’s kneeled over in pain when he digs out his wallet and throws 347$ on the ground. I grab it, walk over to my motorcycle, and leave without another word. The best part is, the only damage was the right handlebar, which I replaced for 60$. I made a profit!
32. Holiday Horror Story
Before the holidays, I was working at my part-time job at a retail store. A woman and her husband finished paying for their items and the woman looked confused and got upset because she said her card was not a debit card and was in fact, a Visa card. I spend a good 10 minutes arguing with the customer that nowhere on the card did it say Visa and the card did ask to choose her chequing and savings account.
Right after the useless rambling and shouts, the lady and her husband storm off and I help another customer. There was a three-minute period of silence when suddenly the customer got so angry at me. I had such a puzzled look on my face, she said "If you talked that way to a customer and I was your boss, I would fire you. How dare you yell at me and give me attitude as well". The things she said made me so angry.
I couldn't even describe the feeling, I did NOT say anything rude to her, give her attitude, or raise my voice. I just looked at her surprised the whole time. she also insulted me and said, "You know what, I should dye your hair blonde because you just don't get it". I was so insulted and confused, I ended up crying afterward because of the rage. She was lucky it was a busy day because I didn't have a chance to grab a manager.
33. The Repulsive Renters
I rented an apartment to a bunch of guys, believing their stories about studying and working in respectable companies. Turns out all they did was party and slack around. They punched a massive hole in one of the walls and peeled the wallpaper off around it, spraying some names of their uncles and grandpas above the hole.
To top it off, when I finally arrived with the eviction notice, the whole apartment was covered in weed smoke. And if you can believe that, one of those dumb renters had put his head through that hole, screaming “Heeeere’s Johnny” at the top of his lungs. But it gets worse. Before they moved out, they had a spite party which resulted in destroyed wood flooring, broken TV, and shower. They even left one of their friends on the sofa, crying about being left there against his will.
34. You Little Punk
I was doing a plumbing job in which we had to dig down about seven feet and partially under a sidewalk to get to a sewer line that was damaged by tree roots breaking through it. Anyway, I take a break and get out of the hole for a little bit, legs dangling in the hole while I'm sitting on the edge, sweaty and muddy from head to toe when all of a sudden I feel someone kick my back hard.
I turn around and there is a kid standing right behind. "Hey fat man", he says to me. Angry, I turn around and say "yeah?!" Then he laughed as he ran away. I know he was just a kid, but I seriously was about to grab the little punk, throw him in the hole and call the job quits. Really? Just kick a total stranger, insult him and then run off laughing? I was mad the parents weren't around so I could tell them how awful they are.
35. The Fish Are Flying
When my dad and uncle were little kids, they were innocently trick-or-treating in their neighborhood on Halloween. All of a sudden, a random car whips out in front of them, throws a huge fish out the window, hitting my uncle in the face and knocking him down, then speeds off into the night. My dad said it was a flounder.
This happened right after my uncle got out of a body cast from being hit by a truck. I've heard this story at least once every Halloween since I can remember. While it was obviously really awful for my uncle, I've literally never laughed harder in my life than the first time I heard it, and continue to laugh hysterically every time my dad recounts this story.
36. You Plundered My Parking!
A few days before Christmas, a friend and I went to the post office in town to drop off a few packages. As we pulled into the parking lot, we saw an SUV backing out of a spot, so my friend went around it and parked in one of the empty spots up against the building.
Apparently, the woman in the SUV was backing out of her spot to get the spot we had just pulled into. What she did next was so unhinged. As we got out of his car, she parked right behind him blocking us in, and yelled "You saw me pulling into that spot! Now you're going to have to suffer", while walking towards the post office.
Absolutely dumbfounded, my friend apologized and said he'd move to another spot but she was adamant. Another dude that had seen it all go down suggested that she just park in the spot right next to ours that had just opened up, which she begrudgingly did. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced.
Freepik,master1305
37. T-Shirt Thieves
I was 11 years old and at a DC United game. I caught a t-shirt that they fire out of those cool t-shirt cannons. I was ecstatic—but I was about to experience the most infuriating thing ever. The woman sitting in front of me turns around, snatches the t-shirt out of my hands, and gives it to her child. I sat there helplessly. I was with my friend, and her parents didn't notice. Eight years later, I still don't understand why that woman did that.
38. Dangerous Delinquents
Over Halloween weekend this past year, I was walking from my one friend's place to my other friend's place, a distance of about four blocks. About halfway there, I ran into a group of four people that I knew. I'm standing there, talking to them for a couple of minutes, when this group of five kids comes up next to us.
They stand there for a few seconds, and then start mercilessly beating the two smallest people in the group. I get in the middle to defend, get hit in the face twice, smack my head on the ground, and pass out. I wake up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, pass out again, and wake up with a neck brace on around 8 A.M. before being discharged.
The incident directly led me to being suspended from work, and, as the cherry on top, the idiots broke my glasses.
39. Bike In A Bind
When I was 14, I was riding my bike and was hit and dragged by a car. I was pretty torn up and in complete shock. The person who hit me drove off, dragging my bike about another 50 meters down the road. And they weren’t the only jerk that day. The bike was subsequently hit by about six more cars, the same cars that drove right past a badly bleeding kid on the side of the road.
It wasn’t until a few minutes later that a woman stopped to help me, picked up the mangled remains of my bike, drove me to the hospital, and waited with me until my parents arrived.
40. Gas Station Gawker
I was in high school and worked at a truck stop. One night a trucker came in and stared at me for a long time. Wherever I moved to, he was staring me down. I told him that if he needed anything he would need to come to the counter and order it. He just grunted and kept staring. I'm not a small person and at that time I was in football, wrestling, and track.
I was also at the gym 6 days a week. I was 190 pounds of muscle and teenage hormones. But the vibes I was getting from this guy were making me nervous. I called up my other coworker and told them I was going to be in the freezer for a while. So, I was stocking the freezers and coolers for a while and then went to the bathroom.
As I entered the bathroom the trucker jumped up and walked in behind me and just stood in there while I did my business and washed my hands. As soon as I got out, I grabbed the trash bags and beelined outside to take care of the trash at the pumps until he left. My coworker asked me why the trucker kept following me after I finally came in. I had no idea why. He never said anything. Didn't order anything. Just filled up his semi and creeped on me. I've never been as creeped out by a person as I was with that guy.
41. A Sudden Mood Swing
A very cheerful guy approached me and my friend in a park, in a very non-intimidating way. He was holding a frisbee and explained he was putting together an impromptu game of ultimate frisbee and looking for people to join him. Which was fine, but then he tried to grab me by the throat. It was such a sudden change of mood. My friend, an athletic dude, fortunately, got between us and just stared him down and he ran away. The whole thing was just bizarre.
42. Way Too Close
I work in an adult store, typically alone. When I was about two months in, this guy comes in. Right away I noticed something was off about this guy. He started asking me to help him find something specific, which we aren't allowed to do for safety reasons. Most of our DVD section has no camera coverage and management at the time forbade us from going back there with customers.
I refuse to help this guy find his material, and he goes "What, it's not like I'm going to hurt you". He walks away and then comes back up to me less than a minute later, asking for help with a product this time. I go over and tell him about this product. Out of nowhere, he asks me how much I weigh. I said "Oh I'm not sure, probably 210-220". He goes "No way, I don't believe you" and he wraps his arms around me WAY too tightly and lifts me up off the ground.
I had to literally beg this guy to put me down, and he didn't until I said "Please, I have a bad back problem". I was beside myself and fully panicking, so I beelined it for the counter and waited for him to leave a few minutes later.
43. A Whisper In Your Ear
Back when I was 16 working at Lowe’s, some customer who was an old man walked up behind me without me even noticing and whispered in my ear “Do you know where I can find the hoses at?” He said that so close to my ear where I could feel his warm breath while he was caressing my shoulder...My body froze up and all I could say was “I think they’re in aisle five”. Welp, shortly after I found out that he never even went to that end of the store where they were...
44. Bounce Him Out!
Many years ago, I was waiting in line outside of a nightclub with a couple of my friends. We were happily chatting with some other guy in line for a bit. Suddenly his mood changed. He just shoved me by my throat. I fell on my butt, and the bouncer was on him in seconds. While the bouncer had the guy pinned down on his stomach, the guy was staring at me and screaming over and over at me. We were just casually making small talk one second and the next second he was so violent! I assume he was high or mentally ill. Freaky.
Freepik,freepik
45. You’re The Devil’s Spawn
I had a middle-aged woman tell 13-year-old me that I was the Antichrist in the middle of a grocery store. She then proceeded to follow me around, scowling, and told me that my mother should have had an abortion. I have a facial deformity due to a rare genetic mutation that was neither of my parents' fault. What a jerk she was...
46. Aim... Fire!
I was walking down the street one day, when some people in a big lifted red truck with huge semi-truck-style exhaust pipes in the back drove by. The passenger hung out the window and threw a Sobe bottle at my head. This was back when they were made of that really thick glass. It hurt like heck, but I have to admit he was a pretty good aim at the speed they were going.
47. Seeing Double
I was only around six at the time. School had just ended, and I was waiting for the school bus to pick me up. While waiting, I noticed two girls, about 10 or 11 years old, walking out of the school gate. They happened to be twins. It also happened to be my first time seeing twins in real life so I guess I was staring. They come up to me and ask "What are you looking at?" But before I have time to answer, in what must have been a choreographed move, I get whacked by both of them on each cheek. I was in shock and to this day I wonder what happened.
48. Boo!
About 10 years ago, I was on vacation in a Jersey Shore town with my family. We were at a small deli shop grabbing a few items on a particularly rainy day. Being a rebellious nine-year-old, I began to get into an argument with my mom because she wouldn't get me a whistle pop. Anyway, she told me to go sit outside on the curb of the store...so I did.
I see an old white car pull up in front of the shop, and an old man gets out of the car and opens his umbrella as he ascended the flight of steps to enter the store. However, instead of going in, he turns to me and says something so creepy, I’ve never forgotten it. "Today's a perfect day for a liquidation, isn't it little boy?"
Between freaking the heck out and crying, I jumped up and ran as fast as I could. All I could hear in the background is the sound of the rain hitting the ground and a haunting "Mwahahahahamwwwwaaahaha" taunt as I ran. Looking back as I ran, the old man got back into his car and drove away.
49. The Man At The Park
I was 11, and at the park with my cousin who was three. My cousin being a stubborn three-year-old told me to leave him be, and I sat out on the bench. I was just reading my book, and occasionally looking up, until this like 50-something-year-old man sat down next to me, and just started talking.
He asked me, “which kid was mine” like four times, even after I made it quite clear I was uncomfortable. Then he gets all close to me, and says: "Do you want another one?" I started freaking out, until this homeless man pulled me off the bench, and told him that he was lucky he didn't “pop his jaw” and told me to go home. I'm glad the other guy showed up, because I don't know what I would have done.
Freepik,freepik
50. Rules Of The Road
I was riding my bike and some jerk starts honking at me for being in the road, where I am legally allowed and supposed to be. I flip him off. Bad move, I guess. He yells out his window in an attempt to scare me at a stop light. Next, he begins to follow me. Slow at first, then fast.
When he gets up to me again, he begins to inch me off the road. He hits me. I crash in to the curb and flip my bars. And what does this jerk do when he notices he has run me off the road and nearly into a tree? He speeds away, of course. Leaving me to ride home on a wobbly bike.
Sources: Reddit,
