We can only hope not to run into anyone who could turn out to be a stalker or some other kind of creep. There are steps we can take to protect ourselves, naturally, but even the most careful people can find themselves in unsettling situations.
After Redditor AmpDragoness asked the online community, "What was the moment that you realized that someone was obsessed with you in an unhealthy way? What tipped you off?" people shared their stories. Some of these experiences are more unnerving than others.
Warning: Sensitive material ahead.
"I was bartending..."
Let me preface this with, I've never been a big social media user. It's too personal, too intrusive.
I was bartending at a local hole in the wall and I had a regular that was nice & flirty (typical bartender/customer stuff). One day he says to me "You were at John's* house Sunday morning. You guys a thing?" I asked him how he knew I was there & he said he saw my car. I was a little taken aback but I was parked on the main road & my car was fairly distinctive, so I didn't think much of it.
A couple weeks later he'd made a joke that I was never home, cos my car was always gone when he passed by. That made the hair on my neck stand up, but again I don't exactly live off of the beaten path, so ok. When I really 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 that it was more than casual observations was when he started complimenting me on different outfits & hairstyles I wore on my days off or prior to my shift. He'd also make comments about receiving packages or coming home with after shopping ("You should find someone who would carry those groceries into the house for you. I'd never make you carry the bags in the house after all that shopping you did on Saturday.")
It was really creepy and I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched for a long time.
"When she started sending nudes..."
When she started sending nudes to my work email because I asked her to stop contacting me. I changed my snapchat account and blocked her number, but my work email is on my company's website, so she found it.
That was a awkward conversation with my IT guys.
"This guy at college..."
This guy at college would follow me EVERYWHERE. One day, I just went out to buy my lunch and he came with me. He didn't buy anything, just followed me. Even when I told him he was making me uncomfortable, he still would not leave me alone. I didn't wanna sound rude though.
Eventually, I started trying to get on the bus with me when I would head home. That was the last straw for me. The next time He tried to follow me onto the bus, and actually managed to step on, I pushed him off and urgently told the driver to close the doors. The driver instantly took the hint and shut them. I told him the guy was stalking me, showed my student ID which allowed me on the bus for free, and took a seat.
The next day, the guy had the audacity to ask me why I didn't let him come home with me. I told him to stop following me around from then on.
"I saw his vehicle parked out front..."
When my dad showed up to my place of work. We had been estranged, but he knew I worked at Starbucks and had traveled from location to location to figure out where I had transferred to and when my shifts were scheduled. Even had the balls to call the store and pretend to be me to get my schedule information. I saw his vehicle parked out front and freaked out and ran inside. He followed in after about thirty minutes (right as the morning rush was hitting full swing) and started berating me in front of all my coworkers and customers.
That's the day I went and learned about restraining orders.
"When I was stationed..."
When I was stationed in Korea and my ex girlfriend kept emailing my wife from different emails pretending to be women in Korea that I was cheating on her with. My wife and I had a pretty good laugh about it and she eventually came clean. Her husband was not happy about her still obsessing over me.
"As a bus driver..."
As a bus driver you're expected to be cheerful and chat with whoever while idle. A regular passenger started riding around, always in the front seat. Over a week or two the conversation got quite personal, always by her initiative. I told my supervisor about this just to cover my ass. Then she started to bring me gifts, cookies, candy beverages. Finally, she invited me over for a meal, so her mom could meet her boyfriend! I had zero interest in the young woman, didn't want anything to do with her. Luckily, she moved or just avoided the bus during my shift.
"When he started acting..."
When he started acting like he couldn't survive without me directly by his side at all times. I had met him a week earlier, only spoke to him briefly, and never flirted or had any romantic or sexual interactions with him.
He literally just stalked me and physically put himself at my side like a Siamese twin, going as far as pushing other people away from "his" spot, and threatening to kill himself when I brought it up with him. Yeah, nah thanks.
"My sister brought home..."
My sister brought home "my" spiral notebook from school. She thought it was mine because it had my name written and doodled covering every page. Turns out it was a girl who was obsessed with me.
"I was chatting with a gal online..."
I was chatting with a gal online through a dating site. She was nice enough and we were having good conversations, but had not yet even began speaking on the phone. It turns out a friend of hers was friends with one of my friends. Small world.
I'm at home one day puttering around and I hear a knock at my door, I look out the window and see a car I don't recognize. My hink meter starts pinging so I pull a butcher knife, brace my foot so the door can only open a bit and crack the door. She is standing there and tells me she got the address from my friend and asking to come in. I was weirded out and declined, she got upset and started crying and telling me how this was supposed to be a pleasant surprise. I tried to send her on her way gently and she got pissed and stormed off and drove away.
I thought that was it. Then she starts emailing me saying she loves me, then starts calling me, (my idiot friend gave her my number), and leaving gifts at my door that would be there in the morning.i lived in Mesa, AZ, she was in Tucson about an hour away. I eventually had to threaten her with a restraining order. My friend had talked to hers about what was going on she said, "Oh yeah, she's nuts, she's done this before."
I felt a lot better when I left the state.
"That week..."
Broke up with a boyfriend of three months. That week, I received thousands of texts from him ranging from "I love you, we can make this work" to "you fucking c*nt.". Don't know why it took three months to see the crazy, but I'm glad I eventually put it together.
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "
" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
There are a ton of jobs or favors that don't require much skill, experience, or labor, and people who are fortunate enough to get hired walk away with a king's ransom.
Looking for those kinds of "jobs," however, is like finding a teardrop in the ocean.
Few who struck gold, at least temporarily, shared their experiences when Redditor NikTheNerdBoy asked:
"What's the dumbest thing you were paid to do and how much were you paid?"
Good luck finding these well-paying tasks.
Running Errands
"Had a WFH gig working sort of as a personal assistant for a rich guy on the opposite coast from me. I did all kinds of wacky sh*t for him. For example, one time I had to break up with my boss's girlfriend because he was too wimpy to do it himself. That was literally my job."
"One day, I bought him a new pickup truck. Meaning, I negotiated the deal and paid for the truck with his credit card. All in all, I'd say the process probably took about two weeks, for which I was paid my usual wage at six hours per day. No big deal."
"Somehow, his dad found out about the new truck and he decided he wanted a new pickup truck too. He called me about a week after I bought the truck for my boss and said he'd pay me $2,000 to buy a truck for him. I called the same dealership back, spoke to the same salesman, told him what was up and basically said give me another truck, same price as before. The salesman was only too happy to comply."
"It took ten minutes to make the phone call and then a day or two to get the title and other paperwork sorted out. So, depending on how you look at it, I made $2,000 for just ten minutes worth of 'work.'"
"Somehow, my boss's rich friend found out about all this. He decided he wanted a new SUV. 'OhYeahThrowItAway, you have to buy it for me!' I told him the last time I bought someone a vehicle, I got paid $2,000. The friend was basically like F'k it, I'll pay you $3,000, just get it for me' and then he emailed me his wish list."
"That deal took a little longer, maybe two weeks."
"I made $5k extra in just two months buying vehicles for lazy (or dumb) rich people."
Staying Out Of The Picture
"I was paid $300 to move my car for a movie that was filming by my apartment."
Pack It Up
"Got paid 10k to leave an apartment because it was sold and new owner wanted to move in. I was tenant (renter) under previous owner. I had 4 months left in my rental contract. This was in Spain (Barcelona)."
European Vacation
"I was flown to Paris to do a compliance audit, the systems weren't set up for the audit, couldn't get access so spent the week being taken to restaurants and shopping. On 1 of the days and at the last minute the company decided to send me to London for a meeting, literally just to meet people. I missed the Eurostar because I forgot my passport (totally blanked that I was entering another country), they had to rebook the Eurostar. Nothing was achieved out of this trip. No audit was completed. Nothing came of the meeting. The cost to the company 25k+ for me to do nothing for a week. Corporate money is ridiculous money."
Not much labor was required for these so-called "jobs."
Ten-Minutes Of "Work"
"I used to work for a PR agency. Every month one of our clients wanted a handful of photos re-sized for their website; nothing fancy, just setting the width to 500px in Windows Photo Manager."
"It was maybe ten minutes of work every month, but the contract said the minimum amount of time we would charge them for was one day - and this was for the full team too, not just me. It must have cost them several hundred pounds every month."
"I showed the client how to do it several times, and explained that they could save a lot of money doing it themselves. They didn't seem to mind."
"In the end I made sure I got it in writing that I'd informed them of their options and let them get on with it."
Thank You, Goodbye
"$175 to do some kind of user study at Netflix, I show up in the lobby and then they go, 'actually we got the data we needed from the studies earlier today, you're free to go!'. Still got paid!"
– Lycid
Hush Money
"I did an event for a national association for deaf people at which they did every presentation in ASL. I am an audio engineer, who specializes in live sound and concerts. I did nothing for 5 days of show, $450 a day."
– murter95
Paid To Play
"I got asked to do 2 hours of barrier watch (Guarding a barrier ribbon while a crew did x rays inside a power plant). This was asked last minute after a 12 hour shift so the bonuses of staying happening to be a Sunday, etc I was being paid $110 to stand and play on my phone and make sure sure nobody tried to pass all the DO NOT ENTER DANGER DANGER signs during a time of day with minimal personnel."
– Hotel29
Movie Scene Dance GIF by FandorGiphyGotta Have Wendy's
"I was driving for uber. Picked up a bunch of drunks at like 2 AM. They were like 'Yo we gotta grab some Wendy' I go 'I'm sorry this is my busy period' they go 'Can we bribe you?' I go 'Absolutely you can bribe me.'"
"One the guys said I'll give you $100...I was shocked it was that high, another guy said '$150' and finally his wife said 'F'k it I want Wendy $200 and we buy you Wendy too.'"
"I finally said yes, FYI I hadn't said yes yet because the reality is $20-$40 would have gotten me to stop at Wendy."
"So there I sat at Wendy as those 3 drunks bought me wendy and paid me $200."
Substitute Chef
"One time I was at this super fancy dinner party. I'm talking servers and everything, I was in a freaking tux! It was outside and catered by a professional bbq company. I mean these guys had won international competitions. Well get this, they were double booked and didn't show. The other servers didn't know how to grill, and this totally smokin server in her 30s is just staring at the grill like a deer in the headlights. Well I don't want to be a hero but I ask if I can help. The entire staff spend the rest of the night bringing me drinks as I make this bbq and NOBODY realizes the award winning chefs didn't show up!"
Where Do We Apply?
"Ok this wasn't a job or anything.... But I got 10$ to eat half a watermelon."
Some opportunities present themselves.
When I was a kid, I hung out at a Japanese summer festival booth where you roll a bowling ball on a track that had two hills. The objective was to push the ball hard enough to get it over the first hill but not too hard to get it over the second hill.
I was fascinated with the challenge and stayed there for a long time as my parents were over by the food booths with their friends.
It was a slow day, and the dude working the booth wanted to peace out for a bit, so he offered to pay me $50 to "hang out" in his stead.
Of course, I said "sure."
No one ever came, and I earned fifty bucks rolling bowling balls for an hour. Was it the dumbest thing I ever did for money? Maybe, but I laughed all the way to the piggy bank that day.
That guy really must have despised his post enough to give a twelve-year-old kid $50.
Food is for survival. That was the plan. But over the years it has become somewhat of a way of life. Some of the most annoying people are foodies. They get so uppity about the preferences of others. Like, let me just enjoy what I enjoy.
Mom No!
Mom Smile GIFGiphy"I don't like my mom's cooking."
"Livestock have refused to eat my mother's cooking. She's a terror in the kitchen."
Take them OUT!!
"I hate walnuts in baked goods. It tastes like wood shavings and completely ruins the flavor."
"I love walnuts but I feel this way about raisins in baked goods, raisins are fine by themselves but not in sweets, I once ordered cinnamon rolls at Hardee's and bit into it and found out there were raisins in it, and I was grossed out and didn't want to eat it. At least freakin' McDonald's serves real cinnamon rolls without freakn' raisins!"
The Fart Ingredient
"I don't like kidney beans except in chili."
"I don't even really like them in chili. I'd rather have pintos in everything."
Oh thew Crunch...
"Pickles and onion make the best sandwich. I make most of my own pickles from stuff I grow or get from local farms in the fall, but I responded to another comment with two different heinous concoctions I enjoy. Crunchy, salty, sour. I really like pickles and onions to begin with."
"I use more than pickled cucumber though. Like the last one I made, I used garlic naan, mayo, red onion, scallions, pickled garlic, green olives, Kalamata olives, garlic dill cucumber, and green beans. Shallot, sour pickled onion, sweet pickled cucumbers, and sushi ginger on sprouted 14 grain bread is also also a favorite of mine."
No Sizzle
bacon GIFGiphy"I do not like bacon."
"I've been learning this over the years. If I'm gonna do bacon I much prefer the maple bacon since it's sweeter and doesn't overpower with saltiness."
- truije15
Who doesn't like bacon? That seems like a sacrilege. Right? But to each their own. Though I will never understand not loving walnuts in comfort food. Y'all need more self love.
Love the Big M
"Fast food tastes amazing, yeah its unhealthy as hell but don't you sit there and lie and say it tastes bad."
"Pisses me off when people act like they're better then McDonald's. What the hell? McDonald's is incredible and billions of people buy their food still. The same can't be said for other restaurants."
Blasphemy!
golden girls flirting GIF by HULUGiphy"Cheesecake is disgusting."
"I don't find cheese cake disgusting. It looks good. Smell delicious. Has ingredients in it that I love. But i can not eat more than one bite. It is too rich. One bite and i feel sick."
Too Many Legs
"Lobsters and crabs are giant insects."
"I don't really think that's that controversial, in my area of the world we even call this creature a 'Moreton Bay Bug' even though some fisheries try to give it the more appealing name of 'flathead lobster'."
bad bones
"Boneless wings are vastly superior to bone-in wings. I think bone-in wings are a ripoff because when you get half a pound of them, part of that half-pound is inedible. It's like if you ordered a quarter-pound cheeseburger, but the restaurant considers the weight of the plate to be part of that quarter-pound and you end up with just a slider. Just give me some damn meat."
The Slime
man oyster GIFGiphy"Oysters are truly disgusting and absurdly overpriced for quarter sized pieces of snot that tastes like salt water and hot sauce."
- C_23_s
Ok, I'm trying to stay calm. I don't want to judge. But some of these opinions... are leaving me shook. Except the oysters. That is that work of the devil. Look away...
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