The closest you have come to becoming a UM case?

[Clockworkhigh]

I can think for me would be in 1995. I was 15. For some reason I took this job where I would go door to door trying to persuade people to subscribe to the local newspaper. Most of the time we just went to apartment buildings. For some reason our boss dropped me and my good friend off at an apartment building on the outer part of the downtown area. It wasn't the most savoury part of the city either. He drives off and as it turns out the landlord of the building refuses to let us in and solicit. He also didn't trust us enough to come into the building and use the phone to call our boss to pick us up. So, like chumps we sit and wait in between the doors for our boss to pick us up.

Then after 45 minutes or so we see these two guys show up. They might be 20 years old and are both bigger than us. They stand outside the apartment entrance - put black ski masks on - and confront me and my friend. They ask us if we know how to get into the building, we say we don't. One guy pulls out a knife and tries to "jimmy" the lock to get into the apartment building. I turned to my friend with the intention of telling him "lets get out of here" only to find that he was already rapidly walking away. I did the same.

Then the strangest thing happened. The two masked men apparently gave up getting into the building and started following us. I was never so frightened in my life. We had seen their faces. They started following us down the street and luckily we were close enough to the downtown core that we were in a populated area. It was December, so it wasn't unusual to see someone in a ski mask either.

Then we saw the first place to go and it was a hotel. The guys were still behind us a ways and saw us go into the hotel. For some stupid reason we didn't stay in the heavily populated hotel lobby. I have no idea why but we were scared and took off up a floor on the elevator. We were on a floor where no one else was walking around but we saw a pay phone and called our boss to come and pick us up. We still didn't know if the suspects were going to come and find us. Our boss showed up at the front door and we got in his car. He didn't believe us about the story and we actually got fired later that night since we didn't sell anything.

So here's the kicker. We are in a hotel lobby. We are surrounded by adults who could have called 911. The odds of those suspects doing anything to us is remote and yet we STILL kept running to an area where no one was located. It goes to show you one thing, that you can't think clearly when you are in a panic situation. All of the times we claim that if a certain person on UM did something different than nothing would have happened. For example if Rob Shafer doesn't reverse his car too fast then the transmission doesn't explode and he can still follow the truck. But he was in a panic and acted on impulse.

Bottom line is people do stupid things in a crisis situation and this was one of those situations where we could have easily been cases on UM

[chacha6581]

Wow. That's weird!
I have a couple, but when I was 15/16, this guy called my phone (private teen line,my room only) and asked for someone. I said sorry wrong number.... He called back again trying to strike up a conversation. He called a lot, for days, then weeks.

I didn't have caller I'd back then, I mean, my telephone was one of those clear see through ones, where you could see the colorful wires of the inside of the phone. So, my friends and I decided to forward my calls to a friends house with caller I'd. Sure enough he called, and then one of them called to prank him or something stupid, and forgot to call "private". So he started calling them too.

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I was standing in front of his apartment door and someone started coming from outside (we heard a key to the main entrance) so I started knocking, just so we wouldn't look suspicious. Up walks this tall guy, in a scruffy beard, dirty work boots and a frown. He walked up to me and said "no ones home" and I said "how do you know?" then he said " because I live here" and then he opened the door with his key and went in and shut the door.

We stood there in shock for a moment, then went outside and talked to the kids more. We learned that he seemed to like little kiddies.... That is what he was doing when he was coming out of his apartment naked, watching kids playing!!

I'm not proud of this, but we came back later dumped trash all over his pick up truck. Ketchup and mustard was included. We left a mess for him, we are all mad and disgusted and wanted to make him mad I guess.
I started seeing him a lot in public places, the gas station, restaurants, he drove down my street! He was following me. My boyfriend angrily confronted him in a parking lot and the sightings ended.

Not long after that, I saw his name and picture in the newspaper. He had kidnapped a 13/14 yr old girl from her school bus stop. He took her back to his apartment and raped her. Afterwards, he took her back to the bus stop. The girl was able to tell her mom, and the police caught him. There was a standoff, he was hiding in a shed.

P.s. my parents no none of that. So when I see kids/ teens being involved in risky behavior, I totally understand how the parents are confused and never knew anything.

[Clockworkhigh]

Originally Posted by chacha6581

Wow. That's weird!
I have a couple, but when I was 15/16, this guy called my phone (private teen line,my room only) and asked for someone. I said sorry wrong number.... He called back again trying to strike up a conversation. He called a lot, for days, then weeks.

I didn't have caller I'd back then, I mean, my telephone was one of those clear see through ones, where you could see the colorful wires of the inside of the phone. So, my friends and I decided to forward my calls to a friends house with caller I'd. Sure enough he called, and then one of them called to prank him or something stupid, and forgot to call "private". So he started calling them too.

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I was standing in front of his apartment door and someone started coming from outside (we heard a key to the main entrance) so I started knocking, just so we wouldn't look suspicious. Up walks this tall guy, in a scruffy beard, dirty work boots and a frown. He walked up to me and said "no ones home" and I said "how do you know?" then he said " because I live here" and then he opened the door with his key and went in and shut the door.

We stood there in shock for a moment, then went outside and talked to the kids more. We learned that he seemed to like little kiddies.... That is what he was doing when he was coming out of his apartment naked, watching kids playing!!

I'm not proud of this, but we came back later dumped trash all over his pick up truck. Ketchup and mustard was included. We left a mess for him, we are all mad and disgusted and wanted to make him mad I guess.
I started seeing him a lot in public places, the gas station, restaurants, he drove down my street! He was following me. My boyfriend angrily confronted him in a parking lot and the sightings ended.

Not long after that, I saw his name and picture in the newspaper. He had kidnapped a 13/14 yr old girl from her school bus stop. He took her back to his apartment and raped her. Afterwards, he took her back to the bus stop. The girl was able to tell her mom, and the police caught him. There was a standoff, he was hiding in a shed.

P.s. my parents no none of that. So when I see kids/ teens being involved in risky behavior, I totally understand how the parents are confused and never knew anything.

Wow, that's probably more dangerous than mine above. I'd have still told your parents that though.

[Mystery Man]

That one day I lost my phone.

[Blackout]

pre cell phone days i got lost overnight in Chicago

[LaurierCrimmajor]

While I was one vacation with my girlfriend 6 years ago in the summer, I got a call from my mom saying that my dad(who was my absolute best friend my entire life), a man she'd been married to for 32 years had completely vanished, taken some of his clothes from their house, even watered their outdoor plants and simply disappeared, without as much as a note or message. I was 3 hours away and started doing a hard search for him via my cell (keep in mind I was JUST out of highschool) and nobody at his work knew of his whereabouts(and he was a very big deal, being quite wealthy).....I told my mom to go to the banks to check their join account movements and there was a transfer of 50 grand out of their account.

We were mere seconds away from calling the police as I was speeding home, when we got a call, from him, stating that he'd fallen in love with a woman half his age(whom he'd been cheating around behind my mom with for two years) and couldn't be married anymore, so he was starting a new life.

There wasn't any remote hint of this up until the moment of it happening, this was a man whom I lived with for 18 years and had even gone on an isolated weeklong fishing trip DAYS leading up to him leaving my mom(although it explains all of the "work" texts he was sending) and neither of us had any idea of this. He was always home on time from work, he never went out.....he was LITERALLY leading a double life.

I later found out the reason he left was that his work had discovered his improprieties during work hours and people we knew were going to be finding out. Rather than face me(a 6'5 BJJ brownbelt with a temper) and my mom, he totally bailed while she was at work and I was on vacation....

He is an absolute psychopath, and is the reason I believe that anyone is capable of absolutely anything. Prior to the day my dad left, I would've sworn up and down that he was incapable of such a crazy, callous thing, I wouldn't have believed it and would've looked for ANY possible alternative theory to this.....but from that point forward....let's just say, "fool me once" ....

[Clockworkhigh]

Originally Posted by LaurierCrimmajor

While I was one vacation with my girlfriend 6 years ago in the summer, I got a call from my mom saying that my dad(who was my absolute best friend my entire life), a man she'd been married to for 32 years had completely vanished, taken some of his clothes from their house, even watered their outdoor plants and simply disappeared, without as much as a note or message. I was 3 hours away and started doing a hard search for him via my cell (keep in mind I was JUST out of highschool) and nobody at his work knew of his whereabouts(and he was a very big deal, being quite wealthy).....I told my mom to go to the banks to check their join account movements and there was a transfer of 50 grand out of their account.

We were mere seconds away from calling the police as I was speeding home, when we got a call, from him, stating that he'd fallen in love with a woman half his age(whom he'd been cheating around behind my mom with for two years) and couldn't be married anymore, so he was starting a new life.

There wasn't any remote hint of this up until the moment of it happening, this was a man whom I lived with for 18 years and had even gone on an isolated weeklong fishing trip DAYS leading up to him leaving my mom(although it explains all of the "work" texts he was sending) and neither of us had any idea of this. He was always home on time from work, he never went out.....he was LITERALLY leading a double life.

I later found out the reason he left was that his work had discovered his improprieties during work hours and people we knew were going to be finding out. Rather than face me(a 6'5 BJJ brownbelt with a temper) and my mom, he totally bailed while she was at work and I was on vacation....

He is an absolute psychopath, and is the reason I believe that anyone is capable of absolutely anything. Prior to the day my dad left, I would've sworn up and down that he was incapable of such a crazy, callous thing, I wouldn't have believed it and would've looked for ANY possible alternative theory to this.....but from that point forward....let's just say, "fool me once" ....

Geez that sucks. You were seconds away from pretty much being part of a UM segment and being one of those family members who says: "I KNOW my dad, he would never just get up and leave like that without saying something." Hey my parents have been together for 38 years and I think it would crush my insides if I knew my dad was leaving. Almost as if everything I believed in - and implemented in my marriage - is a lie.

Most of the time those family members are right, but in some cases there are times when they'll just get up and leave to start a new life and leave the old one behind. Perhaps your mother knew something was amiss? 32 years is an awfully long time to be with someone and not notice things that are off kilter since you know that person better than anyone else. Or maybe your dad was just that good at pretending.

[LaurierCrimmajor]

Originally Posted by Clockworkhigh

Geez that sucks. You were seconds away from pretty much being part of a UM segment and being one of those family members who says: "I KNOW my dad, he would never just get up and leave like that without saying something." Hey my parents have been together for 38 years and I think it would crush my insides if I knew my dad was leaving. Almost as if everything I believed in - and implemented in my marriage - is a lie.

Most of the time those family members are right, but in some cases there are times when they'll just get up and leave to start a new life and leave the old one behind. Perhaps your mother knew something was amiss? 32 years is an awfully long time to be with someone and not notice things that are off kilter since you know that person better than anyone else. Or maybe your dad was just that good at pretending.

I'm presently getting my MA in Criminology & have my BA & a psych minor etc and have basically gone through my dad's entire life and arguably know him NOW better than he does....one of the things that gives me chills with UMs is that I can REALLY see my mom & I sitting there in utter misery in front of a camera like you see all the time in segments.

What I've discovered since he left, is that he'd been unfaithful to my mother since I was 2 years old(I recalled something I saw as a toddler and carried around with me my entire life that he later he confirmed had actually happened) and what I've deciphered over the past 6 years is that we were part of a psychopath's web of lies, it's hardened my view and outlook on life and trust among other things, I've been with my girlfriend for 7 years and trust her about as much as I can anybody. I've written term papers on my father and the destruction he's done, we joke in my department that "you couldn't sell this story to Hollywood cuz it's too unbelievable!"...

My mother knew NOTHING, I've more or less interrogated her pretty hard and have found out several hard truths(since they married out of HS, over time one grew up & the other didn't, he spent frivolously and was completely reckless with money and finances since he made so much, but had a superficial charm that could make you think he was your best friend), but it was on all accounts a VERY happy marriage, no marriage is perfect....but I'm talking no warning signs here, which is why at the time, we thought maybe he had a tumor or amnesia or SOMETHING, because we couldn't understand it. We were an INSANELY tightknit family and to this day, I keep his last anniversary card that he gave her less than THREE WEEKS before he left and the things he wrote were absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

Watching alot of these UM episodes where you hear someone could "NEVER do such a thing" always hits home, as I would've said the exact thing. I've more or less dedicated my career after hunting down and picking apart his lies and am damn good at what I do because of it. Two years back, I decided against working special crimes for CSIS or RCMP because it was too toxic, now I study juvenile rehabilitation.

I abide by the idiom, "Anyone is capable of ANYTHING"....

Phew, that was pretty cathartic lol.

[Thiussat]

Originally Posted by chacha6581

Then it got weirder. He started calling drunk and being all sexual, even saying he was masturbating.
So, of course we told no parents....We found his address and it was at this shady apartment complex( what's up with creepers in apartments??) and we staked it out. We hit every number until someone buzzed us in.
It was teens, of course we asked them about the guy that was calling us. They told us that he would come out of his apartment naked all the time, and bring home prostitutes.

I am a dude and I had almost this exact same thing happen to me. (lol) I was probably 21 or so, living in an apartment when one night I began receiving phone calls from some unknown person. At first the voice sounded like a woman. She began kind of flirting, so I flirted back (just having fun). I didn't think anything of it because I have had a lot of female admirers in my life, and even had random women call me up before (not being cocky, just telling the truth). Well the calls kept coming in day after day and it became obvious to me that the voice was not a woman but a MAN.

At this point I was sort of angry thinking "God I am stupid, I have been flirting with a dude." I had no idea who it was, but this person knew a LOT about me. I didn't recognize the voice, and I am positive none of my friends were pulling a prank. (I asked them numerous times and they swore on their lives it wasn't them or anyone they knew).

I never told this person anything personal about myself, like where I worked, etc. Well, anyway, I quit my job about the time this was going on and began another job (at a convenience store). I did not tell this person about my job change.

Well, the FIRST night I was on the job, I got a call at the store. It was the mystery man. He said "I just came in there and saw you." Boy was I freaked out. At this point I was both pissed and scared at the same time. Here I am working in a convenience store, sometimes alone on the graveyard shift, and this stalker is ALREADY targeting me the first day on the job. Again, I have no idea how he knew I even took the job. These calls went on for months with intermittent breaks. The stalker knew lots of private things about me that I never mentioned to him.

Well, eventually I decided to get the number off caller ID and try to trace it. Eventually I traced it to a motel in an adjacent town. I went to this motel (with a friend) and, let me tell you, it was one CREEPY place. I had never heard of it before, but it was in the most slum part of town. It had no lights on at night -- completely dark. It consisted of maybe 10 rooms (each room you drive up to separetely). If you were to look at the place, you would think it was closed down or vacant -- it was that bad.

Now I was with a good friend of mine who is a huge comedian. He is also a pretty tough dude, but even he was scared ****less. Usually he would laugh or make fun of me, but not now. He suggested I go to the Police. So, we drove to the Police station in my town. We talked to an officer who happened to be coming on her way outside. I told her very briefly about the story and she said "well since the calls are coming from the other town, you need to go to their police station." So, we drove back to the other town and went to their station.

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.

[Clockworkhigh]

Originally Posted by LaurierCrimmajor

I'm presently getting my MA in Criminology & have my BA & a psych minor etc and have basically gone through my dad's entire life and arguably know him NOW better than he does....one of the things that gives me chills with UMs is that I can REALLY see my mom & I sitting there in utter misery in front of a camera like you see all the time in segments.

What I've discovered since he left, is that he'd been unfaithful to my mother since I was 2 years old(I recalled something I saw as a toddler and carried around with me my entire life that he later he confirmed had actually happened) and what I've deciphered over the past 6 years is that we were part of a psychopath's web of lies, it's hardened my view and outlook on life and trust among other things, I've been with my girlfriend for 7 years and trust her about as much as I can anybody. I've written term papers on my father and the destruction he's done, we joke in my department that "you couldn't sell this story to Hollywood cuz it's too unbelievable!"...

My mother knew NOTHING, I've more or less interrogated her pretty hard and have found out several hard truths(since they married out of HS, over time one grew up & the other didn't, he spent frivolously and was completely reckless with money and finances since he made so much, but had a superficial charm that could make you think he was your best friend), but it was on all accounts a VERY happy marriage, no marriage is perfect....but I'm talking no warning signs here, which is why at the time, we thought maybe he had a tumor or amnesia or SOMETHING, because we couldn't understand it. We were an INSANELY tightknit family and to this day, I keep his last anniversary card that he gave her less than THREE WEEKS before he left and the things he wrote were absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

Watching alot of these UM episodes where you hear someone could "NEVER do such a thing" always hits home, as I would've said the exact thing. I've more or less dedicated my career after hunting down and picking apart his lies and am damn good at what I do because of it. Two years back, I decided against working special crimes for CSIS or RCMP because it was too toxic, now I study juvenile rehabilitation.

I abide by the idiom, "Anyone is capable of ANYTHING"....

Phew, that was pretty cathartic lol.

Two things:

One, your dad sounds like a jerk and a selfish human being. I know he will always be a part of you and your whole world can come crashing down when you find out stuff like this about him but try not to let him represent all that's good about society and some people.

Secondly, if it isn't too personal, I am interested in hearing about this vision you had as a toddler when you saw something that was amiss that had to do with his affair. What was it that was later confirmed?

[chacha6581]

Originally Posted by Thiussat

I am a dude and I had almost this exact same thing happen to me. (lol) I was probably 21 or so, living in an apartment when one night I began receiving phone calls from some unknown person. At first the voice sounded like a woman. She began kind of flirting, so I flirted back (just having fun). I didn't think anything of it because I have had a lot of female admirers in my life, and even had random women call me up before (not being cocky, just telling the truth). Well the calls kept coming in day after day and it became obvious to me that the voice was not a woman but a MAN.

At this point I was sort of angry thinking "God I am stupid, I have been flirting with a dude." I had no idea who it was, but this person knew a LOT about me. I didn't recognize the voice, and I am positive none of my friends were pulling a prank. (I asked them numerous times and they swore on their lives it wasn't them or anyone they knew).

I never told this person anything personal about myself, like where I worked, etc. Well, anyway, I quit my job about the time this was going on and began another job (at a convenience store). I did not tell this person about my job change.

Well, the FIRST night I was on the job, I got a call at the store. It was the mystery man. He said "I just came in there and saw you." Boy was I freaked out. At this point I was both pissed and scared at the same time. Here I am working in a convenience store, sometimes alone on the graveyard shift, and this stalker is ALREADY targeting me the first day on the job. Again, I have no idea how he knew I even took the job. These calls went on for months with intermittent breaks. The stalker knew lots of private things about me that I never mentioned to him.

Well, eventually I decided to get the number off caller ID and try to trace it. Eventually I traced it to a motel in an adjacent town. I went to this motel (with a friend) and, let me tell you, it was one CREEPY place. I had never heard of it before, but it was in the most slum part of town. It had no lights on at night -- completely dark. It consisted of maybe 10 rooms (each room you drive up to separetely). If you were to look at the place, you would think it was closed down or vacant -- it was that bad.

Now I was with a good friend of mine who is a huge comedian. He is also a pretty tough dude, but even he was scared ****less. Usually he would laugh or make fun of me, but not now. He suggested I go to the Police. So, we drove to the Police station in my town. We talked to an officer who happened to be coming on her way outside. I told her very briefly about the story and she said "well since the calls are coming from the other town, you need to go to their police station." So, we drove back to the other town and went to their station.

I walked into the office of one of the officers on duty (this was like 1 AM). He had his feet propped on the desk sort of chilling. I told him what happened and he looked over at another officer and said "Hey, Jim, this guy is getting calls from such in such Motel." The other officer looked at me and shook his head in disgust and dismay. They basically explained that this motel was the bane of society and nothing that went on there would shock them.

Eventually this officer said "well we can investigate if you want us to, but I will tell you something off-the-record. My advice to you is that you and your friend go find this guy, beat the **** out of him and you have my word we will look the other way."

The cop actually said this. Of course my buddy was chuckling, and I sorta smiled, but I knew that I was not going actually take his advice. But, the cop was serious. He was so disgusted with that place that he was actually encouraging me to take the law into my own hands. (I never went and sought out the guy, as I didn't want anything to do with him).

There are lots of things about this story I am forgetting or don't want to mention. But eventually the calls stopped and life went back to normal. Luckily I didn't end up a statistic.

That is one of the best stories ever! It reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where their friend sounds just like his wife on the phone......the police did not take you seriously IMO because you are a man. I'm glad you are ok and didn't have to drop kick a fool that was off his meds.....

[scc1222]

Originally Posted by Clockworkhigh

I can think for me would be in 1995. I was 15. For some reason I took this job where I would go door to door trying to persuade people to subscribe to the local newspaper. Most of the time we just went to apartment buildings. For some reason our boss dropped me and my good friend off at an apartment building on the outer part of the downtown area. It wasn't the most savoury part of the city either. He drives off and as it turns out the landlord of the building refuses to let us in and solicit. He also didn't trust us enough to come into the building and use the phone to call our boss to pick us up. So, like chumps we sit and wait in between the doors for our boss to pick us up.

Then after 45 minutes or so we see these two guys show up. They might be 20 years old and are both bigger than us. They stand outside the apartment entrance - put black ski masks on - and confront me and my friend. They ask us if we know how to get into the building, we say we don't. One guy pulls out a knife and tries to "jimmy" the lock to get into the apartment building. I turned to my friend with the intention of telling him "lets get out of here" only to find that he was already rapidly walking away. I did the same.

Then the strangest thing happened. The two masked men apparently gave up getting into the building and started following us. I was never so frightened in my life. We had seen their faces. They started following us down the street and luckily we were close enough to the downtown core that we were in a populated area. It was December, so it wasn't unusual to see someone in a ski mask either.

Then we saw the first place to go and it was a hotel. The guys were still behind us a ways and saw us go into the hotel. For some stupid reason we didn't stay in the heavily populated hotel lobby. I have no idea why but we were scared and took off up a floor on the elevator. We were on a floor where no one else was walking around but we saw a pay phone and called our boss to come and pick us up. We still didn't know if the suspects were going to come and find us. Our boss showed up at the front door and we got in his car. He didn't believe us about the story and we actually got fired later that night since we didn't sell anything.

So here's the kicker. We are in a hotel lobby. We are surrounded by adults who could have called 911. The odds of those suspects doing anything to us is remote and yet we STILL kept running to an area where no one was located. It goes to show you one thing, that you can't think clearly when you are in a panic situation. All of the times we claim that if a certain person on UM did something different than nothing would have happened. For example if Rob Shafer doesn't reverse his car too fast then the transmission doesn't explode and he can still follow the truck. But he was in a panic and acted on impulse.

Bottom line is people do stupid things in a crisis situation and this was one of those situations where we could have easily been cases on UM

indeed;stay out of stairwells,elevators and parking decks when in danger.glad you were ok.

[FarinaforBrkfast]

When I was 9 or 10, I was playing in the woods near my house.
A man with a dog approached me and asked me if I wanted to be a model.
I enthusiastically responded, "YES!!"
He said he'd like to take some pictures of me right then and there.
I said, "Let me just go ask my Dad..."
I went home and when I returned, the man was gone.

I never saw him again.

[ezraboy22]

Last year I needed some coins for the laundry and since it was 10pm there were no banks open and a lot of stores like 7eleven and such don't like to give out their coins

I decided to go to a carwash a few miles from my university, It was completely dark, no one around, scary as hell. I knew at the time it was really dangerous but I figured the faster I put the money in the machine, the quicker I could get out of there.

My dollars kept being rejected and I basically stood at this machine for over ten minutes trying to get coins and it finally worked.

Looking back, that was one of the dumbest things I have ever done. Nothing happened, but so much could have.

[Necco]

I was staying alone in a hotel in a city in the Northwest for a convention. I went to eat in the bar so I didn't have to leave the hotel. I sat AT the bar so that I was close to the female bartender. A man from across the bar started talking to me. I was polite, but not all that engaging, figuring maybe it was a cultural difference (I'm from the northeast, we don't talk to strangers, or look at them, or acknowledge them, unless it's to flip them off while driving ) and didn't want to be rude. Soon, the guy came over and sat on the bar stool next to me and started telling me his life story, how crazy the mother of his children was, his life in a logging town, etc. Then, he invites me to his room to raid the minibar. Asks me what my favorite drink is. (I told him something odd, knowing the ingredients were NOT in the minibar.) He says he has that in his room. I decline. Repeatedly. I try in vain to get the bartender's eye. No dice, she's intent on closing. Eventually the guy leaves. I linger as long as I can and walk out with the bartender. There is the guy, waiting at the elevator that I need to use to get to my room, telling me his room number and still pestering me to go to his room. The bartender, even though I mentioned something, scampers off. And then I panicked and did something really stupid. I went and hid in the ladies room. "One exit," I thought as I stood in there, "you picked a place with only one exit to hide, stupid!"

Fortunately, when I finally left the ladies room (like 15 minutes later), he was gone.