Life is full of surprises and this is something we can all relate to. The wrong place and the wrong time! If you have ever been so unfortunate to be in this position, these stories will resonate with you.
u/Scrubbex asks:
"People who have almost been in the wrong place at the wrong time, what almost happened?"
When you dodge a robbery
Giphy
When I was 12, me, my mom, and my sister went to a dollar store late at night after a school play she had. Right when we went in, a car pulled up in the parking lot and my mom got paranoid and rushed us in and out to get candy and a soda. Right when we left, two men got out of the car and speed-walked into the store. The next morning we saw on the news that the store was robbed by them. I guess they waited for us to leave before they did it.
Holy Shift
Giphy
There had been a couple of armed robberies around my route home from work, which I usually walked. One of my coworkers, who lived in the same apartment building as me, was nervous about going home after dark, so I agreed to switch shifts with her so that she could get off in the afternoon and I'd take closing.
I found out the next day that she'd been mugged and shot after her shift. She didn't die, thank God, but the fact that I should have been the one walking that same route freaked me out for a while.
Thank god for helmets
Giphy
Almost forgot to wear my helmet before taking the scooter out for a ride in the country. I hit a deer that day. EMTs and Shock Trauma hospital doctors agreed that I'd be dead, had I not worn that helmet.
When you almost get stabbed
Giphy
I was doing orientation videos at the company I had just been hired at. I had gotten enough done for the day, but still had some time left, so I decided to do just a couple more. In the time that I was doing that, someone had bought a kitchen knife and asked the clerk to remove the zip ties (you know, the ones that you have to take a knife or scissors to). She thought it was a little strange, but complied. He then walked out the door, and started stabbing random folks in front of the store, talking about how "You took my people's land!" Anyhow, a regular there, real road warrior looking guy, always carried a bowie knife and, apparently, a permitted concealed handgun, he drops his groceries he's bagging in self-checkout, walks outside and pulls his gun and tells the guy to get on the ground. I walk out and find the door I'd usually exit through taped off and find out about the whole thing a few minutes later.
When you almost get jail time
Giphy
My friends wanted to hang out but I didn't like them anymore because they were druggies so I made an excuse.
By "hang out" they meant beat a jogger to death with hammers.
They all got life in prison.
I sometimes think if I would have been able to stop them.
Feel the burn
Giphy
When I was about 13, I came home from playing outside, entering the house into the kitchen through a side door. I walked through the kitchen and into the front of the house, and started up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, I heard a crazy loud metallic clanging, like pots and pans were falling... and falling and falling.
I came running downstairs to find that the pressure cooker top had popped off, shooting into the ceiling and the pressure release propelled the cooker into the living room, smashing into a wall and rolled to a stop in front of my dad on the couch. The whole time it was spewing boiling chicken grease, as my mom was making chicken soup.
Had I come in 10 seconds later, I would have probably been disfigured from grease burns and maybe been hit by the flying cooker itself.
Dodging the grim reaper
Giphy
In my sophomore year of high school my older cousin was getting married. I'd originally talked my mum into letting me stay home that weekend instead of travelling the 7hrs to the event. I was going to go with some friends to a basketball game for something to do on Friday night. But on Thursday my mum decided I couldn't miss the wedding and made me go with the family Friday after school. Friday night after we got to the hotel I got a phone call. My friends that I was going to ride with to the basketball game were in a bad car accident. 2 died. It took years of survivor's guilt to get over that because those 2 would have driven in a different car if I'd been there.
A drunk driving episode
Giphy
Going back home from the bakery with my aunt, for some reason she decided to cross the street, which was unnecessary cause my house was on that same sidewalk. As soon as we crossed the street, a car crashed at that very same place we were, breaking into a house. The driver was absolutely drunk. I was like 6 or 7 when it happened.
Running a red light
Giphy
In the car with my father-in-law, husband, and baby boy. FIL was driving us to lunch. We were the first car at a red light. The light turns green but he hesitated to go for about a second and a half, for absolutely no reason. A car ran the red light and would likely have killed my FIL and husband at the speed it was going, and since it was on a hill, we likely would have rolled too.
Highway patrol just getting off the interstate saw the entire thing and pulled the driver over immediately.
These plants are out for blood
Giphy
Typical cartoon scene of a flower pot flying off a balcony. It fell right where I was standing one minute earlier. I had since moved a couple of steps, but another guy was in that spot, it grazed his shoulder and would have been really dangerous if it hit him on the head.
We called the cops on the guy since we saw other vases on his balcony. Dude was very pissed but took them in.
The Paris pipe bomb
Giphy
My family vacationed in Paris for a week in the mid 90s. I was about 10 years old. My mom and stepfather were planning to go to the Arc de Triomphe on a certain day, but I wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower. When I was told we would see the Eiffel Tower another day, I threw a fit. Don't know why it was so important to see the Eiffel Tower that day and not two days later. It became a whole argument between me, my stepfather, and my mom. My mom caved (to probably just shut me up) and we went to the Eiffel tower that day, and my stepfather was pissed the rest of the day for my mom caving. We got back to the hotel and saw that a pipe bomb had gone off near the Arc de Triomphe and a bunch of people got hurt. The last we spoke to any other (step) family was before the fight and my stepfather told them we were going to the Arc de Triomphe that day and they were frantically calling the hotel to try and get a hold of us. So my brattiness might of saved us from a pipe bombing.
Dodging a bullet
Giphy
In high school my friend was supposed to go to a party with his best friend. He decided he was to tired and wanted to stay home and sleep. The next morning his mom wakes him up to tell him his best friend was shot and died.
Food truck death?
Giphy
Yesterday the metal awning on the food truck I was approaching collapsed to the wind and slammed into the sidewalk.
I almost got sandwiched while trying to get a sandwich.
Sometimes it's best to avoid the duck boats
Giphy
Was in Branson last week on vacation with my wife, had a thought about riding a Duck boat on Thursday. Decided to play mini golf instead. The boat capsized killing 17 people, 9 from one family.
When your appetite saves your life
Giphy
One day i was visiting my moms work for the day at around 8am or so, I forgot why, but since I didn't eat breakfast I was starving so I asked my mom if she could take her lunch break and we could go somewhere to eat, we eventually did and when we got back there were police cars around the building and we weren't allowed into it.
After it was aver we heard that some crazy lady threatened someone with a knife and gun right next to my mom's office and we would've been right in the middle of that if I wasn't hungry at that exact moment.
Not the right fit...
Giphy
We were looking at homes in the area and I found this home within our budget, so our real estate agent took us out there to look. We had to wait for my husband to get off work, so it was pretty late in the evening before we could go in. Well, we found out that the home was a total dump and, my husband and I, who are not handy at all, wouldn't be able to handle that with it being a starter home. We decided to go back to the original home we were looking at to tour it again.
Shortly after we left, there was a shooting right in front of that home and a 22 year old died.
Dodging gang violence
Giphy
I just got off a bus stop near my home. My mom worked up the block wher my stop was. I called her and she said that she was gonna pick me up. As I waited outside the stop by a 7/11, I noticed a few guys outside the 7/11 who seemed off. 5 minutes later much more showed up. I assumed gang members so I kept my distance. My mom picked me up and we left for home. As soon as I got in, I saw another group of guys walking up to the 7/11. We pulled away. Next morning we turn on our local news and saw there was a gang related shooting at that 7/11.
When drivers use both lanes
Giphy
I grew up in a town with lots of hills. At the bottom of the hills, you could only see the top of the next hill. At the top, you could see a few miles into the distance.
I was driving home from school one day. At the top of one hill, I saw some jackweed cresting the next hill. He was trying pass another car, on a double yellow, on a hill. If I had been one hill down the road, we would have both been dead. I still hate driving on that road.
The hospital saves lives in many ways
Giphy
When I was 2 years old back in 2001, I lived in California, but my mom and I were visiting my grandparents in New York. My dad was back in California because he was on call as an ENT. My mom and I said goodbye to my grandparents and went to Newark International Airport on September 11th, holding tickets for American Airlines Flight 93, which was of course one of the planes involved in the attacks. We only cancelled our flight and scheduled a later one because my dad was operating on a patient and wouldn't have been able to pick us up in time in San Francisco. If my dad hadn't been called to the hospital, we would've boarded Flight 93 and crashed in Somerset, Pennsylvania.
When a different wrong place helps you not be in the original wrong place
Giphy
I was supposed to go study abroad in Istanbul while I was in college. I was going abroad in the spring semester of my junior year, but I broke my back in an accident during the summer before hand. I was on pain meds and barely able to move, so I had to withdraw from the program. During the period I would have been flying into Istanbul for my program, there were several bombings in the airport. At the time, I took morbid comfort in the fact that my junior year of college would have sucked either way.
Don't leave tour kids in the car!
Giphy
When I was about 3 or 4 years old I was with my mom and my older brother (5 or 6) and we were on our way home and she decided to stop at the grocery store. I was asleep in the car and she had my brother just stay with me with the doors locked as she ran into get some milk. For some reason while she was walking into the store she decided to go back to the car and bring us in with her. Well 5 minutes later we paid for the milk and walked outside to see our car was on fire! Turns out there was a new heated seat feature on the car my parents just bought two weeks prior and it malfunctioned. I vividly remember getting driven home by a nice police officer and then my mom was on the phone with her parents for hours crying about what could of been.
But we should also be prepared and ready to ask the right questions to have a leg up on the competition.
"What is THE best question to ask on a job interview?"
A company's history or information about a past employee were suggested subjects appropriate for questioning.
Prior Knowledge
"When you were interviewing here, what would you have liked to know before you joined?"
"This worked for me. I asked my interviewer a question about how she had personally dealt with a company policy she had just explained. She bragged about her stellar adherence to the policy. I nodded my approval. I got the job."
A Previous Employee
"One that has always gone over well for me:"
"What were some qualities that the previous employee in this role brought to the job that you would like to see carried forward?"
"Another good thing to do is research the company you are interviewing with and you can ask things about what they may be involved in or you could drop that while reading about the company, you wondered this."
Hypothetical questions were suggested as helpful examples of inquiry.
Indicators Of How Companies Treat Employees
"A question that landed me a job once was: 'If I asked your direct reports about your management style, what do you think they'd tell me?' Stumped a hiring manager and he emailed me personally to tell me about it, no one ever asked him that question but got the job.
"In my current interviews I'm asking 'what did your company do for its employees during [the virus] to improve their day to day, work life balance, etc.' and I ask 'Is there anything your company adopted during [the virus] that they plan to keep post [the virus]?"
"These questions give a lot of insight into whether a company treated their employees well."
Past Performance & Adjustments
"If we were currently sitting in my 1 year review, what would I have done in this year for you to say I excelled in my role?"
"If I could snap my finger right now and change anything about your job or the company, what would it be and why?"
The following questions about a prospective company may not be answered from initial digging on their website.
Measure Of Success & Career Trajectories
"How is success measured in this role?"
"What are some possible career trajectories within the company that could stem from this position?"
Being A Solution
"Ask them what is the biggest problem you can solve for them in your first six months with the company. Similar to 'don't think of a purple hippo,' this forces them to imagine you succeeding in the position."
Simply The Best
"Who is your best employee and why is he/she the best?"
"You will then face 2 situations mostly:"
"panicking CEO who can't answer you 'Bob who works 17 hours a day for a slice of bread' so the fear in their faces must be a big nono for you"
"entusiast CEO who actually follow their business and can tell you who is an added value for the company and why."
– ThePiz91
My experiences with job interviews are different than others seeking work in office environments.
Having had a years-long career as a dancer, my "interview" was the dance audition, where hopefuls dance in small groups of people at a time after learning a routine and then awaiting their fate after the panel evaluates their performances.
The question I may or may not have asked in such a scenario earlier in my career was: "Did I make the cut?"
I did not make the cut. And I learned never to ask that again.
I remember the worst date I ever had. My biggest regret is that I stayed for the entire thing. I should've left as soon as I realized this was not going well, which was basically at hello. But he was paying so I drank, a lot. I'll keep names and dates to myself to protect the innocent.
0/10
Big Brother Reaction GIF by Big Brother After DarkGiphy"Went to brewery, date said I had hairy arms and that meant I was horny, said "you look really awful in this light" and then tried to dig out of that hole by saying in his native language that was a term of endearment long term couples said to each other. 0/10 did not date again."
Lucky 13?
"My wife wanted to plan our 13th wedding anniversary. I was excited because usually, I plan it. She bought us some new disc golf discs and after a quick supper, we went to play. We hadn't played in forever. We were laughing and I had a great time. She served me with divorce papers and told me that the date was a test to see if she still had feelings for me. I also learned that she was having an affair that started well before our anniversary."
- rmorlock
Two Hours from Home
"Not necessarily a date but a person I was dating invited me to his parent's house for the afternoon. He wanted to introduce me to them and show me the house he grew up in. I thought it was super sweet and had no problems going. He was also in the middle of moving and needed to pick up a few things, so it really didn't seem that unusual."
"Yeah, we got there and it was awful. His entire family was there. They traveled from hours away too. This was not just meeting the parents, it was meeting the ENTIRE family. Even worse? At some point, this idiot told his parents that he had proposed. We had been dating TWO months. I spent the entire afternoon dumbfounded and just playing along."
"We were two hours from home and I had no cell service, no way to leave at all. We ended up spending the afternoon brainstorming wedding ideas and planning an Alaskan honeymoon that his parents planned to gift us. His brother even called to say congratulations! We drove back to his apartment in silence. When we got there, I got in my car and left, didn't even bother grabbing my stuff. Weirdest experience ever. I have no idea how he broke it to his parents that we weren't getting married."
You're Cut Off!
"Got set up on a blind date once between mutual friends. She shows up to the restaurant already a little tipsy, orders multiple appetizers and only takes like one or two bites from each one. Then she proceeds to order 3 or 4 more drinks and is visibly drunk at this point. She gets up and says she's going to the bathroom and staggers off. About 15-20 minutes go by so I try to call her several times but no answer."
"Finally I decide to pay the check and just leave. About 2 hours later I'm sitting at home and I get a call from an unknown number. It's the police department. She was picked up on a DUI on her way home after she ditched me and gave the cops my number to see if I could go bail her out!"
- mox44ah
Sorry?
Bbc Three Idk GIF by BBCGiphy"Well, I gave this answer on a different topic, but it ties in with this. We were out on a date, we had been seeing each other for a while, close to a year maybe. She gets a phone call. Suddenly she looks destroyed. Her fiancé had just died in a motorcycle accident."
What in the world? I mean how can we ever expect to pair off with the dating pool being inundated with liars and nut jobs? I'm going to delete my apps.
Girl, Bye.
Sassy Beyonce GIFGiphy"Had a girl openly flirt with the bartender in front of me. She says she wasn't. But handing him her own phone and asking for his contact info in front of her date seems like it to me."
Crazy!
"Came out from a movie, late at night, and date's Camaro was stolen. Apparently, he called his WIFE (that I did not know he had) and let her know where he was and what happened. She showed up and realized he was on a date! She started chasing ME around the parking lot telling me she was going to kill me. Saved by the cops who showed up just in time to take the auto theft report."
Hey Mom
"Met a girl at a country bar one night in my 20s. We were both pretty drunk but hit it off pretty good. Ended up getting her number and we agreed we'd go on a real date. Fast forward to the date, she gets in my vehicle and... she looks almost identical to my mom. I was mortified. I was polite and we went for lunch where I found out she also had a boyfriend she "wasn't sure if she was into". Never talked to her again."
- SgtGo
Liars...
"When I was in college many years ago, before the advancement of cell phones and social media, I was chatting with a girl I met on a BBS who lived on Long Island, NY. I was 18 at the time, but lied and said I was 22 because she said she was 25. We spent a few weeks emailing each other, as well as calling each other."
"We even exchanged pics. When we finally met up, things blew up. Turns out we both lied about our ages: She was really 33, and lied because she thought she looked younger. She admitted she sent a college photo to me. We still had dinner together, but it was awkward as hell. We never spoke again."
Doubles
Kill Me Now Season 1 GIF by FriendsGiphy"It was a double date. She was more interested talking to the other girl throughout the whole thing. Found out later from the other guy that his girl cheated on him with my date."
Ummm... I think I'm just going to stay single. That is a handful of crazy. Why can't people just be honest? I swear the search for love warps people's brains. Be careful out there people.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.