Kinda sorta copy/pasted question from Reddit. But wanted to see what your answers are like on here!
20 yrs ago…
Driving through upstate new york with my family. Passed through a small town looking for some food and/or gas.
One house had nazi banners hanging openly on the front of the house. Not flags, they were like those big vertical banners behind hitler during speeches.
Nope. We can hold our pee and get gas later… drive a little faster and get out.
As a canadian, i was shocked… i thought stuff like that only existed in the deep south… we were 3hrs from the canadian border or something.
In hindsight, it explains a lot about the current state of affairs in the US
In upstate New York one of my college friends borrowed my car and was driving around with it. My car had a Norwegian flag decoration on it and some guy pumping gas at a gas station mistook it for the Confederate flag, pointed at it and said, “yeah the South will rise again!!!” while my (Asian…) friend was also filling up. When she got back she had a lot of questions for me about what kind of flag it was since she wasn’t familiar with the Norwegian one.
Never ever seen a Nazi flag in person and I’ve lived in the Deep South for about a decade. Confederate ones are super common though, albeit less so than just a few years back.
A New Yorker so dumb he doesn’t even know NY wasn’t part of the confederacy.
And remember, those are just the dumbest handful of them.
1 downvote is the house owner
Well I’m not entirely surprised. Rural areas just tend to lean right. Even in a wider region that is more liberal like California and New York, their rural parts are more right leaning.
I live in Albany, NY. It’s a city of about 100K people, and it’s pretty diverse. I’ve found lots of pro nazi shit on peoples houses within 10 miles of the city limit.
I sort of think, people were always Nazi douche nozzles, but trump made them brave about being open and upfront with their hate.
I kinda had the opposite happen.
I was working for a charity doing some reconstruction in an ex war zone. That weekend was a major festival. I’m not of the area nor the religion so I volunteered to keep an eye on our camp instead that weekend.
I finished my breakfast in the canteen and was about to walk the perimeter and do my checks when, inexplicably, I decided to stall and have a second coffee. Something I never did.
As I went to sit down a massive explosion happened outside, shattering the entire area me and my clipboard should have been in. I wouldn’t have stood a chance. The canteen we were in was made out of shipping containers and probably saved our lives.
Driving out west in Canada from the prairies to see the ocean years ago. Went through Golden, BC and decided to go into the town proper for a dinner, rather than the roadside chains. It was about 6:10 PM. When we walked in there were about twenty locals who immediately all went quiet when we walked in. We grabbed a table and proceeded to get stared at by the whole room. I nodded at a few with no response. My wife looked terribly uncomfortable. We got up, apologized to the waitress and got the hell out of dodge. Even looking back years later I am still weirded out by that scene. I’m sure that, if we stayed, we would’ve wound up in some sort of Stephen King short story.
I’ve had something similar happen. Old school mom n pop diner type of restaurant in a “big suburb” level city, sorta “local famous” kind of place, had seen cars with their bumper stickers around town for years, figured we’d try it one day just for shits and grins. The feeling was not bad enough to leave, we went ahead and ate and paid and left. But definitely had the feeling that we were being, not necessarily watched overtly, but they were keeping an eye on us. Everyone. Wait staff, other customers. No idea why. The whole time just vaguely uncomfortable feeling that you can’t really put your finger on. After we left, my wife and I both at pretty much the same time were like “ok that was creepy right?”
Stephen King was what I thought of too. Specifically the scene in (I think) one of the Dark Tower books where they go into the restaurant that is owned by vampires or whatever they were.
Is that like the Canadian version of a Sundown town?
any idea what the cause was?
Could be something as simple as discomfort due to road strangers coming in or, we may have interrupted the start of some sort of ritual sacrifice. 😁
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuurwerkramp_in_Enschede
I live in this city. We were watching the fireworks depot burning from what we thougt was a safe distance…After the first explosion we knew we were waayyyy to close and left right away. Just minutes later the whole neighbourhood was gone.
There are vídeos on YouTube showing the disaster, it’s scary to watch really
Three hours down a very remote hike with no phone service, a schizophrenic guy asks what we’d do if someone tried to kill us right now
I’d laugh maniacally and kill them with my man eating machete.
And then?!
Wished him good luck on his journey, hauled ass out of there and picked up a really nice pointy skull crushing rock for companionship. The hike back was a lot less scenic and we nailed it in half the advised time. Made a police report when back in phone reception.
We later worked out he just wanted advice because he thought HE was being chased
We later worked out he just wanted advice because he thought HE was being chased
I feel bad for laughing at this. I can just imagine the guy being scared out of his wits and then the guy he asked for advice running away.
Like two sides of the story both going home to post it on LetsNotMeet 😂
I require context.
Yelling Bird is a staple of filler comics for Questionable Content. It’s generally ornery. This was a guest comic about two single characters being playful together, the depicted panel was the punchline.
Only correct answer: “What are the chances that there’s two people here with that intention”
I was just moved to Italy. I knew no one and I had to do some history assignment for Uni. I went to the city archive looking for some documentation and I was incredibly lost.
Some middle age man approached me and starting helping me around. He talked with everybody there and they all respected them. He was really nice to me all the time. I got into the archive and got everything I wanted. But I was more creepied out each minute. The guy had starting talking about how spaniards(me) and italians needs to be friends because our shared history of friendship with Franco and Mussolini. At the end he asked for my number, he really looked like he was trying to recruit me. I gave him a fake one and moved away. Never got near that location again in all the the time I spent in the city.
When I was around 11 I was at the McDonald’s down the street from my house with a couple of friends. It was just three 11/12 year old girls chilling eating in the back of the restaurant. It was dark out but not late, probably 7 or 8 at night. After a bit my friend leaned over to me and said the guy at the table next to us “looks like (her abusive stepfather)”. Realistically it could not have been her abusive stepfather and she was across the other side of the country.
However, he was creepy and sitting alone and watching us VERY closely. We started getting nervous and at some point I said loudly enough for him to hear “okay, my dad is coming to get us”. He wasn’t, but I was hoping that would make the man leave us alone. He immediately got up and went to go stand just outside of the back door into the parking lot.
We panicked even more and walked to the front entrance of the McDonald’s, called my dad from a payphone. I remember how panicked we must have looked because a random person who was in line came over and asked if we were okay. Thankfully my dad was home and came to get us from the front entrance and we left together.
Another time I was on the last train home from work, I was around 18. A man had gotten on the train near my stop, first sat on a further seat and then moved closer as the trip went on. From my stop, I had to walk about 50 meters to a not-very-well lit taxi pickup area. This man got off at my stop, and as I approached the well-lit exit of the train station I could feel him following me. I almost went outside and then thought better of it. Turned back and thankfully found a transit worker on the platform. I asked him if he could walk me to the taxis and he did. As my taxi was driving away I saw the man who had been following me walk back further into the train station. As I mentioned, it was the last train of the night so he had no reason to have gotten off at the stop if it wasn’t his stop. There were no businesses or anything else around. Anyway my favourite part of this story (not favourite) is that when the transit worker was walking me over to the taxis he said something along the lines of “oh you’re just too cute thats why that man is following you”. No thank you.
Always trust your gut, kids.
I absolutely agree. Better safe than sorry.
Nevertheless, I want to tell a quick story of where someones gut feeling was wrong.
More than 20 years so I used to go to an evening school (don’t know the English name for, maybe college or something like that). One day I was done, it was very late and dark outside (around 10 in the evening) and I was tried and not in the best mood and I just wanted home. To get there, I had to catch the last train of the evening and the train station was a few minutes walking away.
Since I’m a pretty tall guy with long legs, I can walk pretty fast. I was walking down the narrow sidewalk towards the train station when another pedestrian appeared on front of me. This pedestrian, a young lady, was slower than me and since I was in a hurry I tried to overtake her (get in front in of her so she wouldn’t slow me down and could walk at her own pace). However, when I started my maneuver she got a little faster, but I still wanted to finish my maneuver and walked a little faster myself and she got a bit faster again… after a short while of this, it ended with her running away to a street on the other side of the road while screaming in fear.
This way quite confusing for me since I had no bad intentions at all. However, from her perspective it was probably super scary with a tall grumpy looking guy “following” her and then getting into snatching range. So I think she did the right thing and from that point I tried to avoid accidentally scaring other people.
Yeah I’ve had a similar experience, when I was in my early 20s, and have since chosen to accept missing the train or whatever is the reason I’d need to hurry, so as not to scare someone that bad. Jesus it’s awkward and it’s entirely understandable, but man does it get me questioning whether I look scary or weird or do I seem suspicious and has been a constant source of anxiety ever since. But I’ve realized it’s my job in that situation to clearly signal I’m not a threat, and I’ve chosen to do it just by slowing down myself so the distance grows and I become no threat to them (feels so bad to think of one’s self this way by the way, fuck me, but what can you do?) or alternatively if there’s a detour I could take to still catch the train as in your example, I’d rather go to another block and jog if nobody’s there and not miss the train. Either way, if I’m perceived a threat, there’s nothing in the moment that can be done about that other than no longer be perceived one, i.e stall or reroute away.
This only ever happens in dark, at night, and them likely drunk or tired, so it’s entirely understandable. I’d be fucking anxious too if someone bigger than me started speeding up on me. I have the privilege not to be scared this way due to my physique, so I also have to respect it the other way around too.
It’s so easy to go with the gut reaction of “this is disrespectful” without considering the scenario from a third person you know? I think this is where most end up in and start thinking “you can’t do or say anything anymore” and become either incels or too fucking loud magas or equivalents, because it is kind of hard on self confidence to be in that situation. But it’s always going to be worse for the other, they might fear for their life, and rightly so, so there’s no comparison there once you actually start thinking and exercising your empathy. So if you manage to get past the initial feeling of disrespect, frustration and self-doubt, then this is a real non-issue. And something very small to avoid and handle properly in the moment.
But if you don’t get past it, or lack the empathy to see it from others’ pov, well, you end up a shithead basically, coping unhealthily with that and it might even grow as large to be the whole identity ultimately.
Just rambling here I suppose, sorry to hog all the space, felt like I needed to let that out. I’ve had some friends go with the disrespect and self image and confidence shattering effect that I’ve helped get past it and see it objectively, and I just can’t help but think of everyone who doesnt have the help nor the inner capability, and stray from the sensible and humane path due to something so small as this.
I feel like if I were ever in that situation I’d just straight-up yell something to the effect of “hey lady, I’m not trying to chase you; I’m just in a hurry” and try to get her to cross the street or something so I could get by. I have no idea if it would actually help or not, but if it’s awkward anyway I’m the kind of jerk to be willing to make it more so.
“On your left (right if you’re in a right hand pass country)” is something that would personally make me feel safer as a woman. It’s a clear, “hey I’m passing you not chasing you”
I use that as a cyclist, but it only feels appropriate when the closing speed is high and/or the person in front is unaware and there’s a risk of a collision. If the situation is more like a semi-truck trying to pass another uphill, I think a little more verbosity is warranted.
Yeah I picked it up from cycling, but my standard advice as to how a man can come off non-threatening is for him to signal his presence (so it’s clear he doesn’t think he’s hiding) and to signal some form of lack of threat. Expressing intent to pass is a lack of threat, especially combined with giving a wide berth
I usually do my best to just take an extra wide berth to get by. It’s usually only going to happen late at night or so when it’s super quiet, so in that case I will just cross the street myself.
Kinda just signalling, don’t worry I want nothing to do with you. It helps lull them into a sense of security.
The doom of all ADHD blokes who can’t stand being behind people walking slower than him.
‘I’m not following you, I just have places to be faster than your leisurely dawdle down the pavement will allow’ is a phrase I wish we had a polite word for.
Ludacris has a song about this topic. At least in my interpretation of the song.
What on earth would possess a transit worker to say such a thing‽
In none of your stories anything really happened, though. Of course, it might have, but it might also just been coincidence or whatever.
The people to whom something did happen aren’t here to tell their stories.
When we’re talking personal safety, you want to play it safe, surprisingly. I mean, maybe you’d rather be the one who says to themselves “ah, it’s probably nothing” and then gets murderaped, but most of us wouldn’t.
Yeah no I believe women even they say they’re being followed. They aren’t crazy and it’s very common.
Does anyone else find it odd that a lot of day old accounts make their first post here specifically, or is that just a coincidence?
We need to leave … now.
Could be a lot of lurkers finally found something worth posting too.
…or as history has taught me, BOTS
Well just about every askreddit post I’ve made was removed and then reposted by a mod. I can see why people would want to try here.
askreddit so overmoderated by the sub filters and reddit AI.
that’s not a bad idea, though
There was a pretty noticeable moment a few years ago when lemmy seemed to spring to life with activity. Mainly those screenshot posts from other social media or those newer image macro things. I’m 99% sure that’s when somebody turned on bots to make lemmy look more lively.
If they post interesting stuff, who cares?
Reddit is very interesting, yeah.
Is it?
I trust my spidey sense. When the hairs on the back of my neck go up and i get that feeling in my chest, i listen to it.
Its gotten me out of an armed store robbery, 2 ither street level robberies, 2 houses that just didnt feel right, multiple encounters with dangerous animals ( gators and 1 panther).
My wife just thinks im paranoid.
We get that feeling for a very good reason. It’s our intuition telling us something our instincts already know. Many people don’t get it and are conditioned into telling themselves “it’s probably nothing” because they don’t want to look silly in public. It can lead to paranoia, if you’ve been in enough hairy situations, but most of the time you’ll want to listen to that intuition and do something about it as soon as you get that feeling.
How many false positives for your spidey sense?
Dont know… i dont hang around long enough to find out.
was doing a building search of a flooding (from water leak) multi story building and as i was looking around the living room, i felt “time to move to next room” and yeah glad i did. ceiling fell in the living room as i rounded the corner.
these kinds of incidents are always so fascinating.
studies were done on people who had their brain hemispheres separated and it was found that the brains continued to communicate through alternative methods, often providing context to one half of the brain that was unaware of context the other was aware of.
it only proved that our brains are complex machines that are constantly working to ensure our survival. so when you get the nagging feeling you’re in danger, take it seriously because your subconscious has noticed something your consciousness has not.
I was like 12 and I was baby sitting two ~eight year olds. Went to the local elementary with them to use the big toy. There was a group of three boys there and one had what looked like a real gun, yes this was in America. I said NOPE! and immediately turned my kids and myself around and got out of there as fast as possible
The other one was when I was about the same age and my best friend and I were walking around in the neighborhood by her house. It wasn’t a nice area but it’s not like anywhere I spent time was. Some man in his like 40s probably rolled up to us in his big yellow car and started talking to us to get in his car and go to his house, he was drunk, we told him if he told us where he lived we would walk there if he would go buy us beer. He kept hitting his chest like in the wolf of Wall Street and talking nonsense, I tried to scoot away to look at his license plate but he snapped at me to come back. Eventually we got him to agree to go buy us beer in exchange for us walking to his house. As soon as he started driving away we ran as fast as we could back to her house and called the cops and told them everything, including where the guy lived since he told us
Being an american around 11 or so years ago. Hasn’t gone away.
Yeah. Sorry to say it, but I read someone talking about how pretty much the only intellectuals, socialists, LGBT+ folk or minorities that survived the Reich were the ones that got out early.
Believe me, I know. I wouldn’t be around today if a specific two people of that group hadn’t done just that.
Me and my brother lived at our grans in our mid to later teens, we lived in the living room, and as teenagers do, we would be up till late playing video games and browsing the web on our laptops, my brother had the latest macbook and we had the latest consoles. Late one night in the AM, I had been gaming and my brother was probably making music on his mac, the living room was not well concealed from the outside, gaps in curtains, windows on the foot path and being on the ground floor. A knock on the door, young and dumb, I answered, it was a tall mid to late 20s guy, a little sketchy looking, he asked if we knew of a party near by, he had been looking for it and wasn’t able to find this party. Me and my brother had no clue about a party. He left and we closed the door, and that was that, but then another knock at the door, same guy, but this time his eyes were darting about through the front door, he asked us if he could come in, which was an obvious no, on attempting to close the door, he wedge his foot in the gap. Me and by brother had to shoulder the door to close it.
We didn’t leave, just felt freaked out and a little trapped. It was one of those moments where I hadn’t reflected all that much at that time, but now in my 30s, I do find myself thinking what if.
Ignored the Tornado warning, shouldn’t have.
If there’s one thing that’ll get the Lizard Brain going… it’s the only time I’ve ever felt like something deeper was telling my brain that we had to get the fuck out of here.
Dude… Tell the whole story. It sounds interesting.
There’s an odd greenish haze in the sky that I’ve never seen a camera properly capture and you don’t just hear the sound of the tornado with your ears, you can feel it in your bones first. All of those tiny hairs all across your body, it’s almost like they have an electric charge. When it gets close, the air gets odd and it starts to feel like there’s suddenly not enough of it.
Rationally, it’s a lot of contributing factors getting amped up by the biggest adrenaline rush you’ve ever had. It was my first season after moving a bit farther west than I’d ever been and I felt like I opened the front door to find myself within 100 feet of the thing, but it is hard to trust yourself to look back on something like that with a scientific mind. The feeling I got didn’t even feel like fear, it was just a feeling of ‘have to go’ and I’ve never felt it again. For the actual situation, everything my body was telling me was worthless and nothing I could have done would have done any good if my luck had failed me, but the Tornado was just passing by on it’s way to somewhere else.
This is exactly the feeling. Went through a tornado when I lived in the midwest. It hit two streets over, just missing us. The sirens were going off but we were teenagers and still hanging out on the couch, parents were out. There were a ton of storms growing up where the sirens went off so we were a little desensitized.
Suddenly just knew it was time to go, something was here. Don’t know how else to describe it, the air changes, it’s like the vibrations change in the wind, or a sound that’s too deep to hear. Can’t say exactly, but I still remember the feeling of move now. We all just bolted at the same time and ran to the basement.
Very much had this a couple years ago in KY. I was totally planning on driving through and hoping that the storm wasn’t gonna roll through where I was working, but when I got back to the car and saw just how fucking green the sky was, something inside me said “hey how about we listen to the nice security guard who’s offering shelter in the plant”.
Tornado didn’t even come close to me (about 20 miles south), but it was a wild as fuck storm.
Mine was a bit farther back… would be measured in decades ago, I may turn to dust shortly, but maybe same area. It’s crazy how much the strength of tornadoes ramps up on the western half of the state.
I live close enough to Jarrell to have made some friends who grew up nearby and went to help clean up. Jarrell stories help sober the perspective whenever I’m weighing what chances are worth taking.
When I was young I watched a tornado dip down and rip the top off a cotton-wood tree just to lift it back into the sky like it was having a snack. Next day we found out it had come down half a mile away and crushed 3 cows.
Tornadoes are something else.
In our local pub in Scotland, they had a DJ in the back room on a Friday / Saturday night. One night some guy bumped into me and I felt something hit the floor by my feet, I looked down and it was a 12 inch serrated kitchen knife with tape on the handle, i looked up and it was some wee wideo ned. So I went over to my mate old him to finish his drink quickly as possible because we’re getting the fuck out of there tonight.
