So, I have a little story to share with you. My little story is sort of ordinary, slightly unusual, but when you start thinking, when you stop for just a second and pay attention to the shivers down your spine, you wonder what in the heck you were thinking.....
My husband and I had decided to go to Cici's with the kids since they are currently having a fantastic special, and we had spent all day cleaning for little man's birthday party tomorrow. Well, if I can veer off for a second, Cici's is currently offering $3.99 AYCE, in addition to this, I had a coupon for BOGO, so it was SUPER cheap. Cici's nationwide are doing this.....anyway back to topic at hand.
The hubby and I stopped off at the liquor store. I stayed in the car, and noticed a guy with his hoodie up just kind of looking at me and at other cars. Thought it was kind of weird, but shook it off. So then, we headed to the grocery store, which is RIGHT next door. I drove a few circles around the parking lot waiting for hubby and then stopped and parked. A gentleman came up and motioned to me, and I rolled down my window (okay, we will get to this more in a second, don't throw the hey idiot comments out yet!), he told me he owns a car shop and noticed I have a ding in my car, and he had a brochure on the other side of the parking lot, and could he look at it? I told him to wait until husband got back and rolled up the window. The guy stayed at my car THE WHOLE TIME! I looked over, and noticed he had pulled his hoodie up. HE WAS THE SAME GUY FROM THE LIQUOR STORE!
Husband came out of the grocery store, and told the guy no we weren't interested and he didn't like him standing by his wife's car in the dark, and not a good way to promote his business. As soon as hubby got in the car, I admonished him, saying that wasn't smart, for all we know this guy had a weapon he could have pulled out etc etc. Then I started thinking....WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING BY OPENING THE WINDOW IN THE FIRST PLACE!
So, I learned a couple of things....
1. the way you act, look, walk, look around etc does affect how people perceive you. This kid was clean-cut and looked friendly, THAT is why I opened my window. But had he asked me to open my window at the liquor store, I wouldn't have.
2. Safety should be more of a primary concern...always on the top of my mind. Why did I feel uncomfortable to drive away after I closed the window? Why did I even think it was okay to open the window up to a nice-looking kid?
3. "Eye-witness" isn't so reliable. I saw the same man twice. Wearing the same clothes. I looked him right in the eyes both times. The absolute only difference was he was not wearing his hood the second time.
4. Men may perceive danger differently than women. I was on the phone with my husband while this was happening. The second I told him the situation, he told the clerk who was checking him out, who told the manager, who called the cops. Yet, I stayed where I was????
5. Hubby and I deal with potential danger differently. He was confronting this guy, making me have visions of him getting shot in the stomach in front of his family and us losing him. But he was the first one to worry?
6. That this situation was probably legit, but it MAY not have been. A bad decision can not be changed if it involves life, death, scary situations, etc. And really, we may think we are overreacting, we may think that nothing can happen to you....but isn't that what everybody says? That they thought it wouldn't happen to them? What would have happened if his plan WAS to carjack me? What if his plan was to get me out of my car? What if the flier has the address leading me to danger rather than a legit shop (especially since he admitted he doesn't have a business license!) What if what if what if. So many things COULD have happened.
So, there is my story and all my lessons. Please beware, and be careful. I would hate to see anything happen to any of you!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A story that reminds us to always be careful!
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8 of you are the "cool kids":
Geesh that sounds creepy I think I would have freaked out had he knocked on my window. Glad everything was ok.
Great reminder! It's really too bad that we must be so careful, but bad things do happen. I'm glad everything ended alright!
You know, I think I may have done the same thing you did. There is this part of us that a) doesn't want to be discriminatory and b) doesn't want to hurt people's feelings ... but you just never know. You know?
Both my parents were police officers... they taught us (my sister and I) all kinds of scenarios to avoid... this is one.
This also reminds me of a book I read -- The Gift of Fear -- it talks about how your gut instinct is usually something not to dismiss. Good book!
I'm just glad you're okay. And yeah, men aren't afraid to lip off. I am... again, I think it's the whole nurturing thing. It's a curse, is it not?
Thank goodness everything is ok and all are safe. Importance of the story - lessons learned! :)Thanks for sharing.
PS-I received the Splish Splash Splosh Thomas DVD and it's in time for my son's 2nd birthday today. THANK YOU!
I am so happy that nothing happened to you other than teach you a lesson. That could have been so much worse.
How creepy! Funny I just blogged about a similar thing that happened to my daughter & I today ~ http://momof2dancers.blogspot.com/2010/02/trip-to-gas-station.html
I'm going to have to link up your post because you have better incites into it then I did :)
That is really interesting though about the hoodie. That is so true, my husband gets issues like that for the way he dresses. Cops are the worst though, he has even been pulled over for going to slow, yep 5 under the speed limit, crazy!
I wonder what the guy was up to though, very weird.
Well I am glad things turned out all right. Now a days you never know. We use to drive by this man, My wife called him homeless and wanted to stop and give him money or food. I told her absolutely no. Open the window and throw out a can of soup was our joke. About two months later he killed his father. Stabbed him to death multiple times.
Lets all be careful.
Yikes, you are lucky that guy didn't do anything...he sounds totally creepy. It doesn't even make sense that he'd be out walking around looking for dings in people's cars...I think something else was going on... and thank goodness your husband did have them call the police. Maybe that helped avert what might have happened to the next person who rolled down the window. I do hear you though on the fact that if someone looks clean cut, we give them the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes those guys are worse than the shadier lookin ones though. Of course, we all preach but don't always practice. This is a good reminder post though!
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