Truck stops seem to be a magnet for unusual activity.
You never know the kinds of people who are coming or going, and it's no wonder these ominous 24-hour hubs for weary travelers are often associated with drug deals or murder – as depicted in the movies.
While travelers quickly go about their business grabbing munchies before hitting the road, employees have a front-row seat to some interesting happenings.
Curious to hear what they have witnessed, Redditor PreemptiveShaming asked:
"Interstate rest area and truck stop employees, what's the most bizarre story you have?"
The next time you take a break from your road trip, you may want to be cautious of who you are asking where the bathrooms are.
Importance of Location
"I worked at a gas station/truck stop for over a year in high school. I have lots of stories."
"So, one time I'm closing up the station. I was starting to count the till, before I turn on the security system and leave. I've got a wad of twenties when 4 cop cars come ripping into our lot. I run to the windows, 2 cops go to the back and the other 2 position at the corners where it's hard to see them through the windows."
"Now, I'm an idiot high schooler, so I'm trying to look out the window grasping $300 in 20's., when I realize they've got weapons drawn and are trying to look at me. I put my hands up, cash in hand, and start yelling that I'm an employee. They let me unlock the door and come in."
"They were nice but clearly frustrated that I set off the alarm. I tell them 4-5 times that the alarm was not set, but they insist that I'm wrong and that they had a clear security report. So I took them to the panel, verified it was off."
"Then my smarts kick in. 'Hey guys, what address was the alarm for?'"
"'303 Baker. Why?'"
"'That's not our address. That's ABC supply a block north.'"
"They moved quickly to that business. I heard later that the safe was taken from that supply store."
– Wick0158
Naked Man
"I worked at a weigh station for big rigs. There were two of us at the station working nights waiting for trucks to pull onto the scale. If anything weighing more than a pound got on the scale it would send an audible beep into the booth and light up the computers. If it wasn't a trucks then most of the time it would be the wild life wondering out onto the scale which we would ignore then quickly go back to watching Netflix or whatever. One night though it was something weighing 132 lbs. We couldn't see it from the windows but checking the cameras we noticed it was a hunched over naked man shaking like a sh**ting dog and scratching the side of his face. While my co-worker radioed for the State Troopers I used the intercom to tell him to get off of the scale. Instead he lurched on over and began licking the window. He did this until he was checked out by EMS and taken away by Law Enforcement for public intoxication. It was later discovered he was using meth."
An Appetizing Sight
"Weirdest was pulling up to a truckstop to fill up in southeastern South Dakota during the height of the mayfly hatch, millions of bugs all over."
"I started filling up and was getting ready to clean my windshield and I happened to look over across the way and there was some dude driving a big box truck in the diesel fueling area. He was scraping them off the front of his truck...and eating them by the handfuls. Ah the days before cellphones were a thing."
"It was honestly the single most memorable thing I've ever witnessed in my countless cross-country trips since the late 90's. I just stood there, mouth agape, not believing what I was seeing. And every time I remember it I'm sad I didn't have a cellphone to record it, because it was just so crazy."
"I'm sure mayflies are nutritious and I'm not knocking cultures that eat bugs. But mayflies smell like fish feces to me and eating them straight off the front of your car is just extra special."
The Helpful Suspect
"Years ago when i was a kid we were travelling with my mum, her best friend and my sisters. We were pretty tired and pulled into a truck stop for some food and bathroom break. We walk in my mum asks a guy where the bathrooms were he points us in the right direction and off we toddle. We come out, take a seat and wait for the waitress to come take our order, she seems to be taking awhile but we figure she's probably busy and will come when she can. eventually she comes over and tells my mum that everything is okay and the police are on their way, my mum pretty confused asks her what she means. Well turns out we had walked into the middle of an armed robbery and my mum had actually asked the robber where the toilets were."
bank robber GIF by LEGO
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An Explosive Account
"Worked in a sandwich restaurant in a truck stop. One day several years ago on one of my days off one of our maintenance workers (we'll call him Michael) was doing his rounds changing trash cans in the truck parking lot. Michael supposedly happened across a two or three foot length of PVC with caps on either end. For most people, alarm bells should be going off. Not for Michael! He started lightly beating things with it and tossing it on the ground. Like one would with a small branch or something."
"Guy takes it INTO THE TRUCK STOP and throws it away in the garbage can under the cash register and forgets about it. Several hours later at shift change he's giving an informal report to the incoming shift manager and casually mentions that he found 'something like a pipe bomb or something in the lot' and that he threw it away under the register. Shift manager goes white as a ghost and says 'there's... a pipe bomb... under the register?' Michael says 'yeah.'
"The shift manager immediately vacates the premises, herds all the employees and customers out, and phones the authorities. The volunteer fire department which I happen to be a member of got toned out to block traffic into the parking lot and keep people at a distance. Sheriff's department shows up, realizes this is above their pay grade, calls the state police. They quickly realize the same and call in the bomb squad from the nearest major city and the ATF. All these important people are slowly gathering in the parking lot a healthy distance away from the building while I keep having to run back and forth across the parking lot in the 95 degree heat in turnout gear to explain to pissed off truck drivers that no they cannot go in the truck stop while there's a bomb inside and no I did not make that rule."
"The news ends up showing up. The ATF shows up. They suit up in bomb suits, walk in, carry the pipe bomb out, set it on the ground at the corner of two concrete walls of the building, run some detonation cord back to their truck, and set it off. The explosion was the size of a somewhat large fire cracker. Michael got fired."
"Edit: it probably wasn't an actual bomb of any kind. Could've been a pipe full of welding rods. AFAIK det cord will blow up anyway so it could've just been the det cord explosion and nothing else."
Final Resting Place
"Overnight shift supervisor 15 years ago. On Valentine's Day, then 18 years old, I was the only lonely motherf*cking shift supervisor to be able to work 2nd shift at McD's rest area because, again, lonely with no date. I'm half asleep working the shift, guy comes in high as a kite, actually he's higher than kites can go. He orders his food and leaves. An hour later, my cleaning guy (we'll call him Pedro) tells me there's a guy on the toilet that won't come out. We go in, keep knocking and we're thinking he's sleeping on the sh**ter.
We can see his pants around his ankles, and he's leaning down. While I go call the cops, i tell my cleaning guy to block the bathroom so know one goes in to that part of it - there's two sides to the bathroom. Pedro comes out and tells me the guy is purple and dead, on the sh**ter. He overdosed on something, not sure what. The kicker is that Pedro decided it was in his best interest to run the guys pockets before the cops show up - which is how he found out the guy was dead. Pedro took the guys stash and money before leaving. I found out a week later as I overheard it through the crew talking. Fun times at that place. Felt bad for the guy. I wouldn't want to go out that way."
Creepy Looky-Loo
"I managed a truck stop an hour east of Winnipeg in the late 90's. This was around the time that Western Star came out with their one way full window bunk. We had a regular base of clientele that would stop both ways. Surprise to no-one, one of the regulars became enamored with one of the waitresses. She had complained to me about this driver two weeks before and I assured her I would deal with it if he continued to make her uncomfortable."
"On his return trip he stopped in, I watched, saw nothing untoward, he ate and then left for his truck. As the Western Star full window bunk has been mentioned he was parked right in front of the restaurant's bay window.
I am back in the kitchen helping with prep and I hear my name called and then I HEAR MY NAME CALLED!"
"I walk out, look out the window and see the sun hitting the bunk window of this truck at just the right angle to witness this Dude yanking on his wiener so f'king hard that I thought he was going to rip it off. All the while he's staring straight at the waitress through the window of the restaurant. Before I could react he realized that we could see him, jumped in the saddle, pants around his ankles and hightailed it onto the highway. I think he must have grabbed 5 gears inside 20 feet getting it going. We never saw him again."
The Horrible False Alarm
"I was on a ride-along when I worked for an international trucking company... and we pulled up at a large truck stop and had some dinner."
"After a while this lady comes in and starts talking to people... and it turns out that she is looking for her 13yo daughter. She had run away from home and left a note saying that she was meeting a guy here, a trucker that she met on the Internet."
"Long story short... everyone is talking about what they have seen, and the mother is barely keeping it together... when a waitress comes in to start her shift. We bring her up to speed, and the first thing she says in front of the whole group is "If you are looking for a body, did anyone check the dumpsters out back?.'"
"Needless to say the mother then lost her shit... literally... she fell to the ground and pissed herself and was ugly-crying so hard you wouldn't believe it if you weren't there."
"Anyway it turned out that the truck driver was a sweet guy who was told she was 22yo and just needed a ride home because she was broke. He worked out she was a child in about 0.1 sec, and took her directly to the nearest Police Station."
– hokeyWB
The Traffic Blocker
"The worst incident I ever saw, co-worker asked if I had any ideas how to flush a turd in the toilet. I was kind of flabbergasted by his question so I told him break it up with the plunger and get it down. He said he had tried just that and it wouldn't break so I honestly, against my better judgement had to see for myself."
"F'king turd was about twice as big around as a soda can and about 8 inches long and as hard as a f'king rock. My question is this, how the f'k didn't we see the guy walking out? I mean seriously that had to have ripped something and made him bleed. Still to this day that image haunts me to the core."
A Stabbing, A Hold-up, A Car Crash, & More
"I have sooooo many! We had a guy come in with four stab marks to his chest and all he wanted to do was call his mom. We called the cops for him and it turned out that his girlfriend had stabbed him. When the cops showed up they told him to just go home."
"One of my coworkers had a gun pulled on him because he opened a can of soda and it made a loud pop that it scared the customer."
"Had this person accidentally put their car in drive instead of reverse and they drove into the store. The power went out in the store and as protocol we have to evacuate when that happens."
"We had a customer screaming at the top of her lungs that we were trying to assault her when we tried to get her to leave the store."
"A semi truck driver drove over two of our gas pumps because she couldn't turn correctly and then she fled the scene. Gas was literally spilling everywhere. Luckily we caught it all on video so we were able to contact her company and get her to take responsibility for the damages."
Return To Owner If Found
"I worked at a truck stop once and got a call over my ear piece from maintenance saying they found something bad at one of the diesel pumps. I asked what it was and he said he'd have to send a picture because he didn't believe it. It was a huge thick black sex toy..just sitting on the pump."
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.