For this post I am going to share an experience I had early last week. It was a regular Monday morning, and I drove myself to school as usual. My parking spot is located about a five minute walk from uni. Like every other day, I parked my car, got out, and began my trek to school. Note that Monday mornings I swim from 5:30-7:00, so when I reached my parking lot at 8:00, I had already been awake for three hours, and as a result was already exhausted. As I stumbled my way to school, I noticed there was a bewildered looking middle-aged gentleman who had his medium-sized black car pulled over on the side of a street I was walking by. As I walked by, he waved at me and asked, "Hey, can you help me with something?"
In retrospect, maybe it was a mistake to respond with a smile and walk over. At the time, I thought, "What's the worst that this kindly looking man could possibly do to me?" Yes, I have heard of stranger danger. No, I did not think this gentleman actually meant me harm. Yes, maybe I should have thought it through more carefully. Anyways, I walked over, but I did have enough common sense to stand about five feet away from him. The stranger, in a perfectly harmless way, said that he had lost his cellphone somewhere in his car. He couldn't find it, and he asked me to call his number so the phone would ring and he would be able to get it. Remember, this was a Monday morning, and I had already been awake for three hours. I replied, "Sure," because what could this gentleman really do with my phone number? I suppose he could use it for prank calling purposes, but I wasn't too worried about that. I figured I could quickly call his phone, do my good good deed for the day, and then get to school so I could collapse on a couch and relax.
I dialed his number, pressed send, and waited for him to find his phone so I could get out of there. I noticed that it was a Chicago area code, but that didn't seem too weird because there are a lot of people in Champaign from Chicago. So here I was, with my phone awkwardly held to my ear, waiting while some stranger looked through his car for a "lost phone." Just as I was about to walk away, the gentleman came out of the car and said, "I can't seem to find it in there. Would you mind climbing into my car and taking a look?" At this point, warning bells were beginning to go off in my head. I slowly started to inch away, and excused myself by saying, "Uhhhh sorry I have to get to class." He awkwardly thanked me as I began to walk away towards school, but I could feel him watching me as I walked away. Looking back, maybe my actions weren't the best choices, but he seemed so innocent!
I don't know if this man actually had malevolent intentions, and it is possible that he truly had lost his cellphone. I am glad that nothing bad happened, but as a friend of mine pointed out, if I had been mugged or kidnapped, a great headline for the local newspaper would be:
"Genius Uni student demonstrates lack of common sense by getting into a strangers car to find a 'lost cellphone.'"
Yipes! Scary story. It's hard to imagine that he wasn't up to something weird, if only because anyone with common sense would know better than to ask a stranger to get into their car. I hope you haven't gotten any odd phone calls since then.
ReplyDeleteGood post, but I think you could have just begun with "It was a regular Monday morning..."
Yeah, that's a really weird situation. I would have probably done the same thing you did, helping him at first seems pretty reasonable, but it does seem pretty suspicious. If he couldn't actually hear the phone ringing there's really no reason you would have a better chance of finding it than he did, you did the right thing by leaving at that point.
ReplyDeleteAlso, were there a lot of other people around while this was going on?
Stranger danger! I know the feeling of being sleepy and tired at 8 in the morning, so I don't blame you for trying to help. I agree with Will, I probably would have done the same thing. Or I might have turned away if he was far enough.
ReplyDeleteOK, I am in agreement with Will and Monica, but this story still makes me laugh every time, even though it was a close call. I like that you kept insisting that you were tired and brain dead and the man was innocent, just to prove that you weren't acting too stupid. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteSo this is the infamous kidnapping post that you talk about. People in this town are usually pretty relaxed, especially when it comes to helping people out. It's pretty common to help out a stranger.
ReplyDeleteThis entire scenario seems very suspicious. I guess it was good for you to help him, but I think you could have blocked your number when calling the man's cell phone. Though it was a smart choice not to go in his car! Also, that headline is very clever!
ReplyDeleteThis story sounds scary when it happened, but hilarious looking back. Glad you haven't been kidnapped Ben. Maybe you should be a bit more cautious and think a bit more when talking to random people. That request sounded reaaaallly sketchy.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious what was going through his head if he was really innocent... how crazy do you have to be to ask somebody to step into your car to look for a phone? Anyway, this is a good story, and I'm glad you weren't kidnapped.
ReplyDeleteSorry Ben, but this post made me laugh. It's probably one of those things that isn't funny when it happens, but in retrospect is hilarious. I can't imagine any "innocent" person would want someone else digging around in their car... you definitely made the right choice by leaving.
ReplyDeleteGood work, but you should have directed him to the police station for further help, then taken down his plates if he seemed nervous about it #paranoia
ReplyDeleteI read about this in your essay, but I didn't realize that this was something that happened recently. I thought you were like 10 or something at the time. BTW you may want to specify this in your essay.
ReplyDelete