Strangest encounter with a stranger?

[elevenspowers]

Today I went to the cash point outside Tesco and a man walked in front of me diagonally and we almost clashed and so I moved back (assumed he was walking to the entrance) and he just stared at me.

He was on the phone talking, with his back to the cash point, staring at me carrying on his conversation. So after about a few seconds I was like “are you using the cash point” - he responded yes but then still carried on his conversation. I was just like 😬 ok ….

Probably not that weird, but it’s fresh in my head.

I’m 16 weeks pregnant and very hormonal but that’s made me cry. I’m on the train and getting lots of weird looks😂

When I was a teenager in the 90s, I was wearing a pair of cargo trousers with the big fabric belt loops. Just walking through our village by myself when an elderly man walked behind me hooked his walking stick into the back of my pants through one of the loops and pulled me back towards him saying “see how easy that was”. I was a really awkward teenager so just laughed and carried on walking away from him.

I don’t know how he managed to keep his balance and pace with me good enough to do that without me feeling anything until he actually had me hooked!

I’d been shopping in town with my son, he was around 4 months old, came to feeding time so I found a quietish place to sit while I (bottle) fed him. A man in his 30s came along, smiled at my son then proceeded to shout at me for bottle feeding him, saying that if I loved him and was a good mum I would have breastfed him, that I shouldn’t be a parent if I can’t put his needs first and he should be taken away. Little did he know that my son could not latch on because of a tongue tie.

I've had quite a few random strangers moments. But the funniest one was when I was at university.

It was a very snowy day and my friends and I were drinking in a little bar by a window. We noticed a very elderly man walking the Streets in shorts and a private school looking hat. He was shuffling and pulling a suitcase. Plus was holding a carpet whacker ( I'm not sure what you call it).

We were all really concerned that he might have dementia as there is a local home close to the pub. Being good citizens we thought we would go check on him and then call 111....

Turns out he was very chatty and quite with it. He eloquently explained that he was off for his regular meet with his prostitute, he enjoyed playing school boy and had lots of sex toys in his case. We were absolutely stunned and horrified.

I think I was that weird stranger. I was waiting for my life outside of a supermarket, a car pulled up near me & thinking it was my friend got in. Quickly realising that it wasn't the right car & much to the bemusement of the driver I started pretending that I'd got into this car deliberately, I said I absolutely love your car just had to get in. I then got out & felt like such an idiot.

Another weird encounter was when I was younger I was having a drink with a friend in a pub & this guy comes up with a silver rose charm & said that this was from his friend who thinks I'm beautiful. I carried the charm as a lucky item for many years

I was in Düsseldorf with a group of friends, it was Christmastime and a busy evening in the main square, packed with people. Suddenly the crowds parted and a man with a wild look in his eyes came running through and shouting at me, punched me on the shoulder so hard it send me flying. Of the hundreds and hundreds of people there, he attacked me. Thankfully he was swiftly taken away, very unsettling experience though.

In the early 1980s, I spent a year working in France. I flew to Nantes and had a few hours to kill before getting the train. A young homeless guy was approaching people on the street asking for cash. I gave him a few francs. Five minutes later, he caught up with me and asked if I wanted to join him for a drink! I can't remember how he planned to pay for this! Maybe he didn't 😂

I had nothing else to do, so we found a cafe and just sat and chatted for an hour or so over a citron presse. Then I went to get my train.

About 3 months later, in the autumn, I got home from work one afternoon and my landlady told me I'd had a visitor. It was the tramp! I must have given him my address, not thinking he'd ever get in touch (this was of course before mobile phones or social media). He came back later and I took him out for a meal (I had no kitchen, so used to eat out regularly at one of those cheap set menu places).

Of course he had nowhere to stay in town, so afterwards he came back to my bedsit. As I got into bed, I told him I didn't want to try anything fancy and he said that was fine, he didn't either... So we just slept side by side in my double bed, and then he went on his way the next day.

The following summer, on my final journey home from France, I was waiting at Gare du Nord in Paris and a train pulled up. Lo and behold, sitting in the carriage right in front of me was the tramp! He'd had all his hair shaved off. I tapped on the window and he explained he was doing military service now. He shrugged and we wished each other luck, and that was that.

I've never seen him again, or at least not that I know of. (For all I know, our paths have crossed regularly over the years - I wouldn't recognise him again now!)

What strikes me about this whole story, looking back, is how simple and easy-going we were in each other's company. It all seemed very natural.

Of course it is also interesting from a personal safety perspective. How many risks did I take??!?!?!??!!??!?!? Ticked all those red boxes, didn't I, without batting an eyelid. 🤨

I went to bingo must be about 17 yrs ago with my sister & then boyfriend now DH, I was sat across from a girl & she just looked so familiar, we got chatting she also said I looked really familiar, but we had absolutely nothing in common with each other, we went to totally different schools, we didn’t meet on holiday either, her name didn’t ring a bell & neither did mine to her but we were chatting as if we had known each other all our lives, I still do wonder who she is to this day.

When I was 14 (back in the late 70's), I went on a 5 month stay at a boarding school in Israel, organised by our school. One day, we went on a sightseeing trip to Masada, a tourist destination in the desert. Whilst there,a very ostensibly American tourist (big camera, binoculars, stetson and shorts!) came up to our group (of 18 English schoolchildren) and asked "Is there anyone called DebSam here?". In shock, I said "That's me". He then proceeded to say "Your dad says hi!".

It turned out that he was one the second stage of a world tour. His first stop was to visit his cousin in London. His cousin took him shopping and as they were both big pipe smokers, took him to visit his favourite tobacconists. Chatting, the tobacconist asked about his trip and where he was going next. On hearing that he was going to The Holy Land, said "Oh, my daughter's there at the moment - if you see her say hi!"

One of the scariest encounters which I will never forget, even though was around 15 years or more ago, was when I was on the top deck of a bus with my brother, it was quite busy, we were sitting a few rows down from the front on the left, just a normal day, chatting as you do.... When suddenly this woman gets up from her seat at the front of the bus, and almost flies towards me, stands facing me making clear eye contact, then starts screaming in my face, for seemed like eternity, just a few seconds though, now as it was going on I was thinking it must be some of prank, which her friends have dared her to do or something, but I soon realised that the whole bus had fallen dead silent, eventually she went back to her seat, someone asked her if she was ok, and she mumbled something and kind of flung her bags around erractically, well after that, me and brother got off at the very next stop. I often wonder what it was about, I am guessing she was suffering from some kind of mental illness, I know I am not a person who talks especially loud so I dont think it was that, I guess I will never know what led me to be the person she selected on such a busy bus that day! it really was quite frightening though.

In the 80s when I was slim and well, young my boyfriend and I was approached by a man in a cocktail bar who wanted to take us both abroad to make a film (!) In the morning he called at our hotel room and said "oh you're not as pretty as you looked last night" and walked off.

I think you need to get out a bit more if that’s all you’ve got to worry about; so a guy looked at you near a cash point machine; wtf did you do in Tesco when the cashier asked you to pay for your shopping?? Run screaming for someone to call Ghostbusters!!

The woman in Marylebone High Street who stopped me and told me to sew up the slit in the back of my coat was an odd one. So was the man who whipped his knob out on a bus and asked me if I would like to hold it. I said no, thanks, and he put it away again.

I was once in a supermarket and put all my stuff on the counter , someone was still being served in front of me , and I realised I forgot some tonic water which was an the end of the counter ….

I squeezed past a man to get some and he sort of fell into me i thought he was feinting until I realised he was pushing me into the other till , I then pushed him back and said wtf are you doing and he started shouting in front of the whole store that I was racist and I was the type of girl who would accuse him of rape .

I was literally shaking ! And gobsmacked supposedly he’s actually banned from that store , but not a very good ban - a lovely couple walked me to my car as I think i was shook up ! As he continued to shout whilst I was being served !

Well you did ask. This happened to me this morning. Was walking home, had just come up steps from a riverside path and crossed road by a bridge (light traffic, few pedestrians). A woman was waiting by the bridge, smartly dressed, very together looking, and as I got reached the pavement said "I know you're following me. Now I'm going to follow you." She did, for a bit. When she said "It's not very nice, is it, being followed?" I turned round and asked if she wanted to talk. She just went on about being followed. Disconcerting, partly because I felt there should be something I could do better than simply walking away.

A woman I'd never seen before in my life once knocked on my door and asked if she could put some fish in my freezer.

Turned out she'd brought it for the woman across the road, who was out. 😄

I was happy to oblige but it did startle me at first. Wondered if it was some kind of obscure sex code...

Was recently on a bus with a friend just generally chatting and the conversation moved onto the rising energy prices. My friend mentioned that she'd been picking up extra shifts and just generally trying to save money on electric when a man turned around looked us dead in the eyes and shouted "Shut the f-ck up you dirty monkey c-nt". It was so strange as we hadn't been saying anything offensive and he said it with such malicious intent

Years ago I went to a nearby town to meet a couple of friends for a drink. One of them brought another lady along. I got chatting to this lady and found we both had sons in the military. Further investigation revealed that not only where they both in the same corps, and both serving in Germany, and in the same camp, they were actually nextdoor room neighbours and friends!!!

Not I, but DH. When DS was a baby, DH took him for a nappy change in a restaurant while I chatted to a friend. There was a bit of a queue so they were stood waiting, and an elderly lady came over to see baby DS (about 6 months old), and asked what his name was (it's Isaac). 'Isaac! A biblical name! Are you believers?' DH was a bit taken aback and said no, we'd just liked the name. The lady looked horrified, got close to DS and said 'Your daddy is a BEAST!' and then disappeared.

Who says that to a baby? 😂

@LuluBlakey1
DH came back with the drinks and I told him what had happened. He just said 'He must be on something or drunk or both.'

I loved your story, but that bit made me proper laugh. I mean, at least he could have said something like "Well, who can blame him, my lovely? You're clearly irresistible" 😂

When I was 19, I was having awful stomach pains, felt so bad I felt like I was going to faint. Then BF took me to A&E, saw the triage nurse and I explained my symptoms. She asked (understand why) if I could be pregnant. I said no as I was a virgin (I was only having kissed at that point) she laughed for a few moments then glared and me with almost hatred and said ‘I don’t think so’ I tried to justify myself and said I was but she just wouldn’t listen and told me to go home and take a pregnancy test. I was sobbing as there was no way I was pregnant and was in real pain. But she wouldn’t listen. Very odd experience

I love this! I'm going to be very wary if anyone ever asks if they can put their fish in my freezer

I once smiled at a little boy in a pushchair as I walked past. He said "What are YOU looking at?"

I think you need to get out a bit more if that’s all you’ve got to worry about; so a guy looked at you near a cash point machine; wtf did you do in Tesco when the cashier asked you to pay for your shopping?? Run screaming for someone to call Ghostbusters!!

I think you might have to read the OP before making snide comments. Where did OP say she was worried? She said it seemed a bit weird the guy walked in front of her at the cash machine, said he was using it but stood with his back to it, looking at her & talking on his phone instead.

Sorry this made me laugh - I'm sure we can all relate to an extent 😂