For me, it was a long talk I had with a random person on Omegle when that was a thing. I was bored one night so I decided to give it a try and I was matched with someone who I had nearly a 2 hour conversation with. We told jokes, told each other about ourselves, and talked like we were lifelong friends. But, we never did tell each other our names. I could’ve talked to this person all night but the interaction turned for the worst near the end. The person was depressed from what I gathered and the depression arose and the conversation fizzled out. I still think about them nearly 6 years later and hope that they are doing good whoever they were.
I was flying from Calgary to Phoenix to visit family and it was a later flight, but still pretty packed. They were getting ready to close the plane and leave the gate and the seat next to me was still empty! I was stoked! When all of a sudden this lady came busting into the plane, she made it with seconds to spare. I’m watching her walk down the aisle and of course she ends up sitting next to me. Oh well. I put my headphones on and stared out the window while the plane takes off.
After a bit my album ended and I went to get a snack out of my bag. Now, when the lady had sat down she immediately put her head in her hands and just stayed that way till she could put the tray down, then she rested her head on her arms. You could just tell she was so torn up and sad. So I got my snack (chocolate covered blueberries) and she sat up a bit, so I offered her some. Well, that started a conversation I will never forget as long as I live. We both were in these crazy situations that were so alike, it was uncanny. And that no one in our normal lives really could understand or help with. Yet there we were, able to be that comfort and support we so desperately needed. We talked nonstop for the rest of the trip. The rest of the plane vanished and we were in our own zone.
When we landed we walked through the airport together to get our luggage and parted ways at the baggage carousel. We didn’t get each others numbers, just a hug and a thank you. I hope she’s doing ok. Sometimes the universe puts you exactly where you need to be, like it did for us that night. Thank you lady from 32B, I will never forget you.
I used to live in downtown Oakland, notoriously not the safest city. I was stumbling home from a night of drinking around 3am one morning, and this guy on a bike rolled up on me out of nowhere and he just goes “hey man, you scared of black people?” He was an older black man that appeared to be disheveled and possibly living on the street, and I legit just laughed and was like, no, I grew up in a city, and I live here, so no, not at all haha. And he just goes, “Alright. You have a good night.” and he rode off.
Like 5 years later, I’m waiting for my bus one morning to go to work, and the exact same thing happens. Rolls up on a bike and asks me if I’m scared of black people. Again, I say no, kind of being like dude leave me alone not this again, and he replies “I know you’re not. I remember you. Have a great morning.” He shook my hand and rolled off, never saw him again. Just such an odd experience haha.
Time traveler making sure his changes stuck.
The other timeline is… not so good.
Reminds me of a time I was sitting outside enjoying my high, staring out into the night. Suddenly, a smile appeared directly in my gaze, floating in the darkness- I squinted and noticed the smile belonged to a black man looking back at me, who said “couldn’t see me til I smiled, huh?”
One time I was biking and someone coming the other way smiled at me. There was nothing to the interaction beyond that few seconds but somehow it was just such a powerful smile it made my whole week and I still remember it.
I was in Nashville for a business trip, and I was trying to figure out where I could get a pack of smokes. I see an old security guard smoking, so I figure he might have an idea. He ended up giving me and my wife a smoke to “hold us over till then”, and then started talking about the yearly floods, and how Magic Johnson bought this building and how he got his unusual name. ( Which is honest to God on his birth certificate)
I will never forget you, Tiny.
This is a great question!
When I was like 17, I was driving (the speed limit, no music playing) through my friend’s neighborhood when I passed a woman out grabbing her mail. I gave a little wave and smiled, and she looked at me like I had just punted a fucking infant.
I felt so offended, and I’ve never forgotten that look on her face- I would love to know what her perspective on this is/was.
I’m just sitting here refreshing this thread waiting for more stories, so I’m gonna share another one.
I was talking to a black man with the most gorgeous blue eyes. I complimented him on his eyes, and he asked, genuinely, “you know how I got blue eyes?”, and there’s really only 3 options- 2 mixed parents, or 1 white and 1 mixed, so I took a stab at it and said “you got a white dad?” This man’s eyes went WIDE like I was a damn witch. He got real serious and asked “how’d you know that??” I told him I just guessed, but it was clear he didn’t believe me as he scratched his chin and put some distance between us
/#3
When I was about 7/8yrs old, I ended up in an elevator alone with an elderly couple who proceeded to debate with one another whether I was a boy or a girl, while making direct eye contact with me.
The woman argued I must be a girl because of my pretty hair and face, while her husband was sure I must be a boy, given my… outfit and eyebrows? They never bothered to asked me, and I exited the elevator without saying a word to them
Sooo… have you decided yet, which one you want to be?
I settled for nonbinary actually lol
My interaction was WAAAY different but the same vein.
I was driving around, biting the backside of my fingernail. I turned a corner, and this gorgeous girl driving, waved, and smiled at me for no reason.
I was like, hot damn I still got it. Then, I realized biting the back of my nail, palm facing out, probably looked like I was waving at her.
To this day I don’t know why it stuck with me.
I was in Japan with my Fiance pre-covid and we were traveling from Ueno to Harajuku. It was early-ish morning and the train was pretty full by the time this woman who seemed to be in the elder age range was standing in front of me. Where I come from it’s just polite to offer your seat to people who are older, so I did just that. For context, I speak enough Japanese to maybe converse with a 5 year old. We had a little exchange that went kind of like, “please take my seat” -> “oh no, I couldn’t” -> “I’m getting off soon” … that eventually ended with us sitting next to each other.
She was surprised to learn that I didn’t speak Japanese fluently after I felt like I was struggling through a few simple conversations about the weather. And I wish I could remember what she said, but it ended up with her saying something like it’s ok because we understand each other, “hearto to hearto”. And she placed her hands over her heart and then over mine. Goddamn, that was the most anime moment in my life and nothing is going to live up to that memory.
Maybe not the strangest but here are 2 from my vacation to London last month:
2 women walking past. One of them says:
“I talk a lot of shit, but my fart is bigger than my shit.”
Then in Covent Garden I met a very polite drug dealer:
Excuse me, do you need any weed or coke? No, well then have a very good evening.
Nice guy, big smile.
There was the old bar fly at the pub I drank at when I was an alcoholic, he was a Vietnam war vet that was one of the people that got sprayed with agent orange, he got lucky that he didn’t have any real health issues and his kids were fine, he would just tell me stories about his life and the many jobs he had, was just a cool old dude who was enjoying his final years. Every time I hear the song the Gambler I get reminded of him. RIP Shorty, you little old nutjob.
A day or three after Hurricane Ivan finds me (white), my two roommates (white and Taiwanese) and a stranger (black) from around the corner playing cards on the porch. No power or water, it was all we had to do.
Black guy keeps getting us white guys mixed up. He gets our names wrong again and the other white guy says, “I’m John, he’s Jules.”
This guy is stumbling over himself apologizing and I cut him off, “It’s all good! I know we white people all look alike to y’all.”
An intense 2.54 seconds follows while everyone looks around the table to see if it’s OK to laugh. Then we just started howling. Whew.
I was sitting at the bus stop one day, heading into work. As I’m sitting on the bench, with headphones in, some guy stands up and waves at me to get my attention. I’ve seen him before; he’s usually at the bus stop at the same time as I am on most days, but we’ve never talked until now. I take out my earbuds, and he points at the ground behind me and says with a smile on his face “Are you gonna finish that?”
I look back where he’s pointing, and there’s a dirty shoe on the ground behind me. The joke didn’t quite land, but just to be polite I said “Haha, it’s all yours”. He takes a step over toward the shoe and gently nudges it with his foot, and then lets out an “Oh fuck”. I turn to look at the shoe again, and that’s when I realize that it’s not empty. There’s a whole severed foot in the shoe, with flies and maggots starting to make a home in the stump.
We called the cops who came out, taped off the bus stop and took down our statements, and then I’ve never heard anything else about the situation since then. I never found a news story about the foot, no follow-up from the PD about it, nothing. The bus stop was open the next day. Never saw that guy at the bus stop again after that, either; no clue if he was involved in the foot situation or if it just shook him so hard that he changed his route to work.
I was not ready for that turn of events
Strange things were afoot.
when i was young, i was in a bad car accident where i had a head injury. someone stopped and held a shirt against my head and held my hand till the ambulance got there. I’ll never meet them, but I’ll never forget it.
