People are not always who they appear to be.
"I dated a guy who’s ex left him randomly one morning, kissed her goodbye for work and came back and her sh*t was gone."
"Changed her number, and moved back home."
"He never talked to her again, I thought it was super sad and messed up for what she did."
"He use to wake up in the morning crying over her, I pathetically just comforted him."
"But one day I woke up to him emailing his ex girlfriends mother saying he was going to come down to Seattle and kill them all!"
"It wasn’t much later I found out he was served a restraining order from the family."
"Now I see why she left without saying goodbye."- Tay14073.
"We were making out at his house and he kept pressuring me to have sex."
"I was still a young, naive virgin so I refused."
"We started watching a movie instead."
"I went to the bathroom and he stole my car keys."
"Once I was back on the couch he started trying to take off my clothes."
"I was scared so I grabbed my purse to leave."
"That's when he jingles my keys."
"He said I could have them back once I slept with him. I just ran outside and called my dad."
"My dad showed up and threatened to beat his a** if my keys weren't returned."
"Got my keys and got the f*ck out."
"He continued to stalk me for the next 7 years."- UnicornQueefsGlitter.
happy in love GIF by LifetimeGiphyCouldn't wait to get married.... to someone else.
"She stole my car, drove it from Washington to Las Vegas, and married a guy she met on Xbox Live so he could get residence."- Reverend179.
Came back an entirely different person.
"She went on vacation to have a spiritual awakening by doing drugs in the jungle and came home accusing me of being a demon."- Modifiedpoutine.
"There was a lot of crap but this was the final straw."
"I locked the door before going to bed one night when he was out late with friends."
"He had lost his house key and never bothered to mention it, which was somehow my fault."
"He woke me up by banging on the window and when I let him in began screaming and throwing things at me."
"Telling me to pack up my sh*t and leave and locked me out of our bedroom."
"I slept on the couch."
"Next morning he acted completely normal, like nothing had happened."
"I was gone that day because I no longer felt safe."- swiftsafflina.
More than they could handle
"I woke up at 3am to my partner of 11 years muttering at me when he thought I was asleep."
"His tone was so dark and disturbing I felt that if I hadn't woken up to hear him I may not have woken up at all."
"He wasn't loud so maybe it was the way he was speaking that made me wake up like I did but my brain was immediately on high alert."
"I snapped awake and alert in an instant and just knew that I should just stay still and quiet and not let him know I was awake."
"What came out of him where all sorts of wild accusatory delusions spat at me with so much venom that 6 years later I still clearly remember the feeling of dread that washed over me."
"My whole body was weighed down with it."
"Our relationship wasn't a great one by any means but it was the first time I genuinely felt afraid of what he would do."
"I was afraid to speak up but also afraid that if I stayed quiet and let him keep on his rambling that it could progress into something worse and if it came to it I could never have fought him off."
"That's when it really clicked to me how seriously he needed professional intervention and that I was not only unable to help him but also that I needed to get out from under the same roof as him as soon as possible."
"Paranoid schizophrenia is a b*tch and the available mental health care in our area is a joke."- Wonkeynut.
Delayed validation.
"She crawled through my doggie door at 1:30 am, went through my phone, and then asked me why I was talking to another woman."
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I broke up with her a month earlier."
"We were not in a relationship when she pulled that stunt."- OLPopsAdelphia.
On My Way Cat GIFGiphyOver sharing?
"My ex would tell me about all the dreams he was having about killing me in vivid detail."- slightjudgment_.
Gaslighting, much?
"My ex would lie about sh*t and make me question my own reality."
"F*ck you bruh."- Suwaveh.
sally kohn gaslight GIF by The Opposite of HateGiphyLack of sympathy.
"Ex wife started an argument with me one morning when I was headed to the funeral of a childhood friend."
"I asked if she could not do this right now."
"Her response was “ohhhh, poor you.”
"That was the beginning of the end."- Slydermv.
There are those who look for a sign, as to whether or not they should stay in their relationship.
And when their sign is as bizarre and unsettling as several of the above stories, it might make them all the more grateful to have gotten out when they did.
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Unbreakable
Episode 1 GIF by The SimpsonsGiphy"The counter at every business has bullet proof glass."
lookinforbobo
"do not deliver after dark"
"I found out I lived in a 'bad' neighborhood once when I was told pizza places didn't deliver to our house."
supahfligh
"I work as a pizza delivery driver. This is a real thing that a lot of chains (and most likely independent stores) do! My store has two areas blocked off as 'do not deliver after dark' due to drivers being assaulted/stolen from."
"There are also individual houses that are marked do not deliver (our system normally tracks it via phone number, but if we get 2 phone numbers for 1 address, we block the address too), due to 'milder' bad behavior (ex. threatening a driver, fake bills, abusing refunds, etc)."
houseplantpunk
Poor Thing
"When you mention to locals where you live and they just have a brief look of pity."
Arcinbiblo12
"I'm sure it's nice!"
"But for real, I think that some neighborhoods get a lot more crap than they deserve. Semi-poor neighborhoods are often talked of like you'd better clamp your car before someone runs off with the tires."
ploki122
Cash Issues
"Cash Advance Business close by."
Myke190
"Check cashing -> pawn shop -> check cashing -> liquor store -> check cashing -> MetroPCS -> check cashing -> mine resistant ambush protected convenience store -> check cashing -> shoe store -> Dollar General."
ResidentBarbarian
"Don't forget Boost Mobile and Cricket Wireless."
lucky_ducker
Shoe Safety
the amanda show nicksplat GIFGiphy"Armed security guard at the strip mall Foot Locker."
lookinforbobo
Yeah, those are all good flags. Why so much bullet proof glass? Honest question...
Advertising
season 1 GIF by Sneaky PeteGiphy"The 'bail bonds' billboard next to the 'having a problem with your heroin addiction' billboard."
Public-Dig-6690
Empty Spaces
"Storefront church, long-abandoned storefronts covered with graffiti, liquor store, gutted pre-war movie theater filled with garbage, chicken & Chinese food takeout. And on some of the empty stores, shadows of the old signs can be seen. Finkelstein's Delicatessen. Morris Haberdashery. Sanitary Grocery. Lucille Millinery. And from a later generation, Willie's Rib Shack; TJ's Voodoo Lounge."
FreshYoungBalkiB
Troubles
"Bars on the windows everywhere. Even the church."
cat_daddylambo
"I've not seen that even in areas with significant religious tensions. I grew up during the Troubles and had to go through the North every time we visited my cousins in Donegal, and the churches never looked different from the ones near where I lived. Their police stations looked like fortresses though."
Porrick
“ACME is real”
"1981, I and four coworkers were walking to a convenience store in Detroit. A patrol car pulled up to the curb in front of us and through a loud speaker an officer said, 'what are you doing walking through this area? Leave.' And then drove off. We continued for another three blocks to the store where we were buzzed in, the door locked behind us, and there was a counter going all the way around the perimeter of the store."
"Plexiglass an inch thick went from the top of the counter to the ceiling with a few slots here and there through which to pay. After paying we were buzzed back out. I couldn’t tell you the exact neighborhood, but we passed by the ACME Bolt company on the way, and I remember us all remarking, “ACME is real.”
"Before then, ACME was something we thought only existed in cartoons."
zuazo5
License Please...
music video 90s GIFGiphy"An adult man riding a child's BMX bike down the center of the road."
uninc4life2010
Differences...
"Really worn old beat-up cars right next to brand new extremely expensive cars."
WhatIsLoveMeDo
"Or brand new cars next to really crappy homes."
kearlysue
"You see a lambo in a neighborhood that doesn't match, something is wrong."
smallz86
Being 17
"When the cops stop you and tell you to follow them out of the neighborhood with specific instructions to not stop for any reason, even stop signs, after you explain you made a wrong turn and really aren't trying to buy crack. Happened to me on the east side of Cleveland when I was 17."
wigg1es
out the window...
"It's 3 o' clock in the morning, remember its 3 o clock in the morning. I look out the window... and there's a freakin' baby standing on the corner."
keywest8690
"I've straight up seen this sh*t. Took a wrong turn in Houston, it's about 1AM and there's a kid no older than 4 years old hanging out on the corner. Other random people milling around didn't seem the least bit concerned."
hellraisinharda**
Closed
Barricade Lock The Door GIFGiphy"Wood on the windows. Many buildings boarded up means bad business."
Dooty_Shirker
Before Google
"I was doing Geotech work on site for a potential cell tower years ago and had to give directions to a coworker (years before google maps were a thing). I told him it was across the street from the burglar bar manufacturer and the attack dog training school. -pause- 'really??? Yep.'"
Constant-Bet-6600
On the Corner
"The Bodega is the best restaurant."
Sensitive-Wall-5777
"Some of those guys do make a mean sandwich. One of the best I had was steps away from my sh**ty $450/mo roach infested Brooklyn apt that didn’t even have a window or buzzer on the building door. No mailbox either. My room was 6ft by 9ft. Thank goodness I got out of there in 3 months."
"I actually only really stayed there every night for 1.5 months and then preferred to basically live homeless wandering all day when I wasn’t working, and crashing on the couch at work or at friend's places. I’d only return to the awful apartment for the occasional shower. Work had a shower so I’d try to use that when I could."
iStealyournewspapers
Lock your doors...
"When you're not supposed to lock your car doors. Good neighborhoods: you don't need to lock your car doors. Bad neighborhoods: you need to lock your car doors. Really bad neighborhoods: you should not lock your car doors, because if someone really wants to steal your crap, they will have no qualms about throwing a brick through your window to get in. It's better to just let them use the door than pay for a new window."
primkolor
“gross”
I’ve been in a lot of bad areas in South America, Southern Africa, and the US and the worst of the worst places smell like urine. My reaction to that smell isn’t even like 'gross' It’s like 'watch your freaking back.'"
Jigbaa
"Civic Center BART Station, San Francisco. urine smell so strong, it will burn our sinuses. Wonder how much longer before the uric acid causes some serious infrastructure damage."
mxcxhxx
Empty
Shopping Corona GIF by jjjjjohnGiphy"Liquor store, empty building, gun store, liquor store, empty building, empty building, convenience store, liquor store, liquor store."
But**oleBanquets
Pay attention to you surroundings. It just may save your life.
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