It's a feeling that fills up the average vehicle owner with anxiety: What is that note doing on my windshield? Is it a nice message from a stranger or something? Nah, that's never the case. Chances are someone backed into you and left you their insurance information. Or maybe they did and told you to 'eff off. Who even knows?
"What was the most unexpected personal note you ever found on your windshield?" –– That was today's burning question from the team over at Quora and the responses came pouring in.
"This was in 2001."
This was in 2001. I was 8 months pregnant and working at a large department store in an affluent part of town (this becomes relevant later) as a makeup artist on the closing shift. You can imagine I was extremely tired as I walked out of the door towards my small VW bug. As I drew closer towards my vehicle I thought I saw a brown piece of paper rolled up underneath my windshield wiper on the drivers side of the beetle. As I got closer I realized what it was but it did not register until I almost reached out and picked it up.
It was a small severed deer leg from the knee down, hoof, hair and all! It looked like this.
WTH?
I immediately returned to the store to report the incident hoping it had been caught on camera. Unfortunately I was parked on the roof of the garage and alas no cameras. Security came out but were as baffled as I was, what type of person, in that area, would be driving around with a severed deer leg in their vehicle and why pick my car? The only reason I could come up with was the small "Darwin" like shaped decal I had on the back of my vehicle that looked like a carrot saying "Go Veg." Somebody must have taken it personally that I had a preference for vegetables.
Since that incident I have never had any kind of decal or bumper sticker on my car.
"How can I not call someone who left a note like this?"
The note was simple:
"You seem to be getting me in trouble. I figure we should meet. Jack"
His phone number was also appended.
How can I not call someone who left a note like this? So I rang him up. Jack wasn't in, but I talked to his wife who seemed to be very nice. I told her about the note, which made her laugh, and left my name and number.
Later that day I got my call back from Jack. He said he'd like to meet for coffee and named a place that I frequented. I agreed to see him there the next morning.
When I arrived, I was deeply surprised to find a 1963 Porsche 356B Carrera II, in Heron Grey, with a red leather interior, and a VDM wood steering wheel. What made that surprising? I was driving pretty much exactly the identical vehicle. The only visible difference - even to a trained eye - was the license plates. His said "2000GS", mine said "4CAM". (note there were only 247 Carrera II's of any type made; two of which were identical, in the same smallish town??)
So, naturally, I parked alongside his car, and went in.
Jack had a good 25 years on me, but he was very friendly, and active. We talked about our cars, our shared passion for the marque, and for the Fuhrmann four-cam engines in particular. I'd had mine about two years. He bought his new, in Germany.
We talked about cars for a good hour and a half before I thought to mention the note. What was up with the "getting him in trouble" part??
It turned out that I had a dear friend who worked at a couple of adult entertainment establishments. And that from time to time I'd wind up taking her to work, or picking her up, and would be parked outside the club.
And it turned out that on at least some of those occasions, I'd been in my Carrera II, and on at least some of those occasions, some of his wife's friends had noticed the car, and "ratted him out"
Except it wasn't him.
After a good laugh, we drove back to his house, where I got to see his workshop (he did insanely accurate recreations of the VDM wooden steering wheels, among other things) and took the opportunity to set things right with his wife.
I offered to have my friend bake cookies and deliver them as a peace offering. His wife laughed, and declined.
We remained friends for several years, even after I sold my car at Monterey.
"I was early in my pregnancy..."
Giphy
I was early in my pregnancy and parked in one of those "expectant mother" parking spots. Granted I was fat at the time, wearing frumpy clothes and had zero makeup on and my hair was a sloppy bun and god do I love my flip flops…Besides the point. Anyways, I come out to my car and someone had written me a note saying: "you're too fat and ugly for anyone to ever want to sleep with you. Leave the expectant mother spots for the real expectant mothers." The real kicker? The guy who wrote the note was dumb enough to use company letterhead, I took the note to the company and told them that I was going to make sure that every news station and paper was going to see that letter.
(I do get that it could have been written by someone not associated with that company, but where would they have gotten company letterhead paper?) I was floored! The manager went straight to the store I'd been shopping at to review the security footage, the man was fired right in front of me; I did feel a little bad, he had a pregnant wife but his boss said that he could not in good conscience employ someone stupid enough to do something like that on company letterhead. I still have that letter and am still fat.
"My wife and I went out to view a new apartment."
My wife and I went out to view a new apartment. Turns out that we didn't really like the apartment. On our way out we found a note on the windshield.
A side story, a few months back a family member had parked our neighbor in and she left them a long note explaining how rude it was to do that in the rain. Anyway not to get side tracked, I expected a similar story as I just parked in a parking that was I directed to which could possibly have belonged to someone else.
I get in the car and start reading the note. Turns out that a stranger saw the wife and me going in to view a for-sale apartment and left a note to tell me that he was selling his apartment and emigrating. I called him up and we viewed his place.
It has been 7 months since that fateful note was left and the kids have friends over the weekend enjoying the new place.
"When I was young..."
I'm going to write an answer (true story) and really everybody doesn't have to write in and tell me how lousy it was to do it (I already know) but I DID do it, so "Nuff said".
When I was young (REAL young) I had my first car (a VW) and was really trying to show my parents that I could handle it. But one evening, my friends and I went to a IDK Taco Bell, Burger King, or etc….
When we left we were laughing and kidding around-as 16–17yr old kids will do-and when I backed up out of the parking lot, I backed into a parked car. Everybody is like "Oh, wow, dude! You gotta leave a note or sumthin" (of course, THEY had no cars, THEY had no parents who would crack them over the head).
So I said, "Oh yeah, no kidding. Hey, give me a sheet of paper and a pen and I'll leave a note on their windshield". THEY are all, "Oh cool, dude".
But what I wrote on this note was NOT my name, NOT my phone number. I wrote "Everyone thinks I'm writing down my information. I'm real sorry but I just can't do that. Sorry to leave you this way. Good luck."
And I DID put it on their windshield, and I DID drive away. And I DO know that "what goes around, comes around."
"I parked my car..."
I parked my car and there was a note telling me to ring a door bell. It was a nice neighborhood, daylight and my car was parked right in front of the house. I rang the door bell out comes a little woman that tells me I park my car in front of her house all the time and the hours that I worked and my profession. Okayyy???!!!! She told me not to park there anymore because she liked to come out her house and park there. I walked away after ripping the note to little pieces and leaving it on her lawn like confetti. Immature yes, but she had a driveway!!! About 4 years ago the same town implemented a bunch of speed humps while driving over one of them down that street guess whose house they put one in front of…wait for it….mean old lady. I bet she didn't give the Mayor the same speech that she gave me and several other coworkers. She no longer parks in front of her own home.
"I used to have a blue car..."
I used to have a blue car (don't remember make, model or year) and one day I decided to buy and put a bumper sticker on it. The bumper sticker read, "Politicians are like diapers. They need to be changed often and for the same reasons". Sometime later, I was with my parents at a store and I saw a bumper sticker that I got my mom to buy me. This one read, "Don't steal. The government hates competition". Fast forward a few months later. I'm at the mall just browsing around and after an hour or two, I head out to my car. As I get close to it, I see a piece of paper that had been placed under the driver side windshield wiper. At first, I thought I got a ticket but when I looked at the paper, I read, "Congratulations! I love your bumper stickers." To whoever put that note under my windshield wiper, glad I could make your day.
"It happened a few weeks ago."
It happened a few weeks ago. My mom was in the hospital dying. I was in the cars with my two cousins. They are the greatest boys ever. I see them more like my big brothers that look out for me. Anyways we were going to go get something to eat. I got a call from my sister or my dad. Sorry I don't remember. It's still all a blur. We reached the hospital. And found a parking space finally. Now when your loved one is dying on their death bed in the hospital the last thing that you care about is how you park. We didn't even take two parking place. They left a note on a brown paper napkin. Which they wrote something like. " We learned to color into the lines in kindergarten, sadly didn't learn when parking into the car lines." Or something like that. I mean you don't know what that person is going through. It's a hospital parking lot. Some asshole only cared about how a person was parked and not if the driver had a love one dying. I was going to shame the a-hole on social media. I decided to just let it go. I had to be there for my mom for her final hours. And I believe God will take care of the jerk on judgement day. The jerk is not worth my time.
"Hello there..."
Hello there,
"I parked beside your car and when I returned after shopping and noticed your license plate right beside mine. I wish I'd had a camera to preserve the moment, but I didn't."
I've always felt bad that the other driver didn't have a chance to take that photo. My license plate was REDHED. Hers was FRECKLES.
-Judy Gill
"It was not on my window."
It was not on my window. I had a pickup truck with a camper shell some one had left a note on the window on the shell.
I read the note" There is a rattle snake underneath your truck on the drivers side.
So I open the passenger door crawl over and drove off. They never left a number but I thank them for looking out for me.
-John Edwards
I never had a note on my windshield, only a ticket. But I leave notes on people's windshields saying "you park like an asshole" when their horrible parking job takes up two or more spaces. One time someone parked right where four parking spots meet, taking up FOUR spots. I don't leave a note if I see a handicapped sticker though because I feel like they have an excuse. One time I waited in my car for the driver to come out and find the note. They just crumpled it up and threw it on the ground. They will probably park like that again.
-Cee Em
"I was in a hurry..."
I was in a hurry and ran out the door. Then ran back in to give hubby his valentines gift and a kiss goodbye. I ran back outside to find my vehicle plastered in sticky notes with each of them having a personal message from my hubby. Best Valentine's Day ever. Kept them around my inside of my vehicle for years afterwards. My mechanic saw them and asked about them and decided to do just the same thing for his wife the following year.
-KennaJeanHamaker
Real life contains the scariest horrors you could ask for. So aren't we all living in a horror movie, in a way? At least, these people sure freakin' were.
MisterSnowman69 asked: What was a moment in your life that felt like a horror movie scene?
In the words of the legendary Mary Vivian Pierce in the film Pink Flamingos, “Murder merely relieves tension”. I’m sure the following Redditors felt differently.
Nothing scarier than the woods at night.
Went into a real deep woods hike for only the second time in my life.
My gps broke and had to rely on my compass. Got turned around a few times because I couldn't remember the direction I came from, and it was getting dark. Lost the trail way.
But the woods are weirdly silent in the dark and alone.
It was around 2am by the time I found the trailhead.
Darn foxes.
the simpsons react GIFGiphyMy friend and I got lost late on one foggy night in the Italian countryside. There were rats all over and every once in a while we heard someone scream.
I've never been more sure I was about to get murdered than I was that night.
It was probably a red fox that was screaming.
Could've also been a lynx, but they are much rarer in Italy.
At least she wasn’t speaking in tongues.
My mom is quite the sleep talker, but it's usually pretty short and incoherent when it happens. One night as a teenager, I woke up to her scream-yelling the Hail Mary prayer (my bedroom was across the house and upstairs).
Difficult to get back to sleep after that one.
Sometimes scary sh*t ends up just being funny coincidences. Super funny. Right?
Don’t give them any ideas.
I was exploring an abandoned mental asylum and then got the scare of my life when a scary looking person inside one of the rooms was just staring at me without moving. Turns out some joker had left a cardboard cutout there.
And now I have plans this weekend... Just need to find a couple of cardboard cutouts and to break into the local abandoned asylum.
Don’t you hate when that happens?
Evil Dead Horror GIF by Coolidge Corner TheatreGiphyI was driving home on backcountry roads at midnight in heavy fog. Like can't see 10 feet in front of you thick. Suddenly I see an all-white silhouette running in front of the car. Every hair on my body stood up. I immediately think "oh god, oh f*ck, it's a f*cking woman in white, I'm gonna f*cking die"
Nope just a drunk who dove into the ditch.
Gotta love paranoia.
When I was about 12, my parents went out for dinner leaving me home alone. We lived out in the country, on a private road with only three other houses, surrounded by cow fields and wooded areas.
I went into the the kitchen and glanced out the window towards the trees and there in the fading light I could see a person walking slowly through the woods. They were wearing all black, moving slowly and appeared to pause behind trees. My heart started pounding so hard in my ears I couldn't hear anything else and I was weak and shaky from fear. I froze and just watched them. Would they come to the house? Where were they going?
This was before cell phones but I suddenly remembered my mom had left the number of the restaurant by the living room phone. Slowly, I made my way towards the living room, trying to watch this stranger in the woods.
Just as I entered the living room, all the lights in the entire house went out. By this time it was nearly dark outside. I started openly sobbing and in the dark I heard a weird boom like noise. That was it, I ran to my parents room, hid under their bed and sobbed. That's where my mom found me hours later (it felt like).
Well, turns out the stranger in the woods was a stupid cow that had busted through a fence, the lights going out was from an accident a few miles away (hit the power line) and the boom was the pilot light in the gas stove. Man, I have never been that scared in my life though!
I have a lot of questions.
A naked man who was covered in blood chased me across a park at 2 in the morning. I was totally alone. He just wanted money for a bus (????) and luckily nothing bad happened but I thought I was going to die.
But of course, the genuine horrors do exist. And they aren’t scary in a fun horror movie way, they’re actually terrifying because they can happen to anyone.
A scary few seconds.
car chase GIF by Mayans M.C.GiphyI am a "baby" in a car seat in between cousins in backseat. Dad is driving. This is in the 80s and it is my aunt's insistence that I am in this seat even though I am like 5.
A sleeping semi driver is coming over into our lane and there is a cliff on other side. Basically my dad did some amazing driving but semi blew us up. I am uninjured sitting in the seat swinging my legs while everyone is unconscious. They all wake groaning. Dad doesnt wake up.
Long story short just minor scrapes and dad has broken leg. But the crunch of metal and those few seconds/minute of being the only "alive" person was quite fear inducing.
Glad they’re all ok now.
Two days after my now boyfriend told me he liked me he fell from a zip line and broke his back. Almost died. 6 months later he got into a car wreck from a drunk driver - almost died. 6 months after that, he passed out and had to have emergency brain surgery, again, almost died. I now have severe anxiety/separation anxiety/and ptsd. That whole year was a f*cking nightmare
Edit: we're both okay now, the brain injury was almost a year ago. But TBIs take a while to heal so he still has side effects. Thankfully our relationship is still strong; he's physically getting better and I'm healing emotionally too. Lucky for him, the trauma of the injuries has caused him to forget the majority of the pain and memories of those incidents.
ALWAYS wear a helmet.
Driving home from work at 23, listening to my favorite song.
I pull up to a red light, and see this guy on a motorcycle coming up next to me in the other lane. I rolled down my window to compliment his bike when he stops. He doesn't, and runs the red light. He hits a car going at least 55mph. His motorcycle shatters apart, he goes flying, hits the hood of another car, and lands on the ground and rolls into the curb (no helmet). The car he hit with his motorcycle was totaled. I had to step over his body to talk to the police. He was still alive when they got there. I regret not holding his hand. It was just a normal day, and all of a sudden it felt like the rug was pulled from out beneath me. He was only 18.
Edit: The song was Sunny by Boney M., for those curious
What did we learn today, kids? Foxes scream like humans, shadowy figures are usually cows or drunken rednecks, and once again, PLEASE WEAR A HELMET WHEN YOU RIDE ANY KIND OF BIKE.
Scary sh*t surrounds us. But where there is horror, there are heroes. So next time you think you see a scary figure in the woods, know that Bruce Campbell is probably right around the corner
Hypocrisy is everywhere; it's like a disease. And sadly everyone does it. Some of us indulge in smaller doses than others. But some people live their life by it. Like how can you support civil servants, like police, firefighters, etc... yet try to find ways to hide money in order to not pay taxes? Tell me... I'll wait.
Manga...
Hungry Night Court GIF by LaffGiphyItalian moms that say you're too fat then say I'm making grandma cry by not finishing my pasta.
Asian moms too! Not only that if you try to not eat, they make to go containers for you. Oh, sorry I have to leave, RUNS AT LEAST HAVE SOME FRUIT.
Phonies...
Celebrities positioning themselves as champions for social justice while launching a clothing line with no comment on the labor conditions their garments are made in.
Sexy Times...
The Porn Industry
Why is prostitution considered a crime, but it becomes perfectly legal once a camera is put beside them?
I think the first amendment helps with that one. There's been many a supreme-court case about whether porn is protected speech.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
You can get away with WAY more crap, in general, when you're attractive.
But we all kind of aspire to attractiveness and it's not like it's attractive people's fault, exactly. So what is there to be done?
So true. Money and beauty are treated like virtues and they aren't. They're luck of the draw. It probably helps you to be a better person if people assume that you are gentle and clever just by looking at your face or wallet.
KIDS
GIF by MOODMANGiphyPeople screaming at you if you don't want Kids and Kids are the greatest thing in the World and then turn around and whine how expensive they are and how annoying yadda yadda.
Yeah see... humans are a mess. And too often then not, personal conviction and dignity are just a myth, or a punchline. Double standards have always been a way of life. And many of us have begrudgingly learned to navigate.
Fashion
Fashion Model GIF by NYFW: The ShowsGiphyIf a skinny person wears something out of the ordinary, it's a fashion statement and awesome. It can even just be something like a crop top or overalls.
But God forbid a fat person wear the same thing.
Distractions
The hypocrisy hypocrisy. People love to call it out but rarely notice it on themselves and if they notice it then it's something completely different or a distraction.
That's the worst. I hate that I have to hate that. But if I don't hate it, then the hate will just continue. So, really, my hate comes from my love of an end to hate. So anyone who hates my hate hates love. And we must hate anyone who hates love!
My Morality
My own personal hypocrisy; When I was a lot less well off financially, delivering pizzas trying to get through college, I kept a cup of coins in my car. When a homeless person would approach me for spare change, I gave them the cup. Most of the time it was nearly full, so there was probably 20-30 dollars in there.
Now that I have a good salaried job, even if I've got a few bucks in my wallet, I tend to not even make eye contact anymore. I know it's awful, I know it makes me crappy, but the last 4-5 years have made me a jaded craphead towards people in general. I used to be so hopeful and I wanted to help everyone, and tried to live a life that reflected that.
Now, while my general and political morality is pretty much the same, my personal morality has gotten more grey. I'd jaded, I hate people, I assume the worst of people I used to assume the best of. I don't really care about the strangers around me like I used to, but I still expect everyone else to.
Placing Blame
Victim mentality.
It's so freaking frustrating when it becomes entrenched. "You did this, it's your fault" "you should've known to do x, its your fault" Yeah bro your problems aren't my problems and if all you do is make excuses and blame me for them, it's not going to be my fault when you don't develop as a person and accomplish your dreams. I'm sure they'll find someone to blame though.
In D.C.
Donald Trump Reaction GIF by Election 2016GiphyPoliticians work part time, are given free housing, education, and health care, and exempt from the everyday violence we experience, but refuse to lift a finger to help us.
At this points most people running for a position in the government are only in it for the benefits of being a politician and the amount of money they can embezzle. Well in my country at least.
Just speak a truth and live it. Yes, it maybe hard. But what part of life isn't? Hypocrisy is just lying. Plain and simple. And it's a sin to lie.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.