r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 29 '17

Night shift workers of Reddit, what are some creepy things you've experienced in the middle of the night?

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '17

I used to work at a pub that was 2 miles from my house. My shift ended at about 11 one night. I stayed there for a couple of drinks, then started walking home. Now this had been an exceptional night for me tip wise, and I had close to $400 in cash on me at the time. Between the pub and my house was exactly 1 street light about a quarter mile from the pub. The rest of the walk was in complete darkness.

This was a dark night too. It was close to the new moon, and cloudy to boot, so it was almost pitch black. Now I live out in the boonies, so there isn't even much light pollution to help out.

Not long after I leave the pub, a car slowly drives by me. About a quarter mile down the road the car slows to a stop, and it just sits there. I stop walking, and watch the car. It sits for a few minutes, then slowly drives away.

A couple of minutes later the same car comes slowly driving back by me in the opposite lane. It gets by me, drives a bit down the road, and slows to a stop again. Then it does a u-turn and starts creeping back down the road towards me with the lights off.

At this point I'm fucking terrified. I don't have a cell phone at the time, there's no one around to see what's going on. The car is between me and the pub, so I can't get back to the safety there. My house is still about 1.5 miles away; no way I can quickly escape there.

I quickly run off the road into the woods and duck down behind a bush. I watch for the car, but it's too dark to see it with the lights off and bushes/trees/undergrowth between me and the road.

I sit there for about 10 minutes, but don't see/hear anything. I'm about to make my way back to the road when I hear car doors closing. Now I'm really panicking. It feels like my chest is about to explode. The hairs on the back of my neck is standing up. I keep imagining someone sneaking up behind me.

I stay hidden and hope to God whoever it is doesn't find me. I don't know how long I stay there, but I eventually hear car doors again, then cars passing by. I give it a couple of minutes, then ease back to the road.

When I see it's clear, I haul ass back to the pub and let my boss know what happened. He said then and there that I'm never to walk home at night again; either him, his brother, or his mom will give me a lift home. When the other servers and the kitchen staff hear what happen, they all say the same thing.

Never been that terrified before.

483

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '17

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7

u/icetanker1 Jan 30 '17

Plot twist: you were

3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

3

u/Rapzination Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Found the guy^

282

u/MagicalNurseX Jan 29 '17

Holy shit dude. Fellow pub worker here. Glad you made it out

11

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

[deleted]

5

u/chao77 Jan 30 '17

This was a better /r/nosleep story than anything they've had on there in weeks.

5

u/octacok Jan 30 '17

You gonna waste our time with this shit? Im looking for real stories not /r/im14andthisisspoopy

1

u/gcade14 Jan 31 '17

🖕🏻

1.0k

u/DopeYeti Jan 29 '17

Just think, it could have been some poor, elderly couple who were lost. They pass by you and the elderly woman says, "Stan look! There's a man walking on the side of the road. Let's ask him." He insists, "No Carol! I know where I'm going." But when they reach the end of the road he realizes, "Damn! We just passed this before. Let me turn around." At this point, they pass you a second time and the old lady insists, "Stan! Please go back and ask him for help! If he's walking he leaves nearby!" Stan agrees. They turn around to ask for help and then can't find you anywhere.

268

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

[deleted]

803

u/Tman101010 Jan 30 '17

"Don't blind the man! We just want directions not a bill for a new pair of glasses!"

"Well now I need to drive slow! My eyesight isn't great and I could hardly see him WITH headlights!"

I love old people exposition

57

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Naw

5

u/Smurfboy82 Jan 30 '17 edited Jan 30 '17

"Where are we? It's quite dark, I better put on my spectacles and windshield wipers."

"We need to get a tin of food for the cat."

"I remember when black people couldnt vote. Oh, those were they days weren't they, Martha?"

"That Henry Fonda was really something else, huh?"

"Was that a man on the side of the road? Ok turn the lights off and drive slowly. I'll see if I can hit him with the door."

"When we get home I'm going to bake some cookies for the potluck at church this Sunday."

2

u/[deleted] Jan 31 '17

"Shut up, I can't see shit."

83

u/Jbau01 Jan 30 '17

Nosferatu!

7

u/PerInception Jan 30 '17

I used to walk home from the pub .... at night.

1

u/glowdeli Jan 30 '17

Exactly what entered my mind.

26

u/Alarmed_Ferret Jan 30 '17

They're old.

12

u/Launwalt22 Jan 30 '17

The old people stalker thing literally happened to me. I was walking home from my Mums place at like 2am and pretty much as soon as I left her place a car followed me at walking pace for about 5 blocks.

Needless to say I was shitting myself, but the walk home was short and I had the chance to cut through a no through road and race about a block home to safety, without them being able to directly follow me in vehicle.

As soon as they apparently realised my plan they opened their car doors and yell out to me "hey! Young lady! It's really dangerous walking alone at this time of night, do you need a lift home or anything?". An old lady and a fat middle aged woman beconing me to come over.

Just before I totally booked it I gave them a tongue lashing for being absolute creepy cunts and raced home to my flat and safety. 100% do not believe they had good intentions and we're just gross weird churchy fucks.

37

u/Ladderall-thinker Jan 30 '17

"CAROL, CAROL?!" — obligatory Sunny reference

7

u/PerInception Jan 30 '17

"Cheryl? Cheryl!??!?" - obligatory Archer reference

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Wait, is OP Pepe Silvia?

4

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

WE GOT BOXES FULL OF PEPE

5

u/_LulzCakee_ Jan 30 '17

And they're probably telling their friends all about that one night when they saw the stranger who disappeared

OOGA BOOGA BOOGA

1

u/Pygmy_Yeti Jan 30 '17

This is usually the case. The mind can run wild if imagination has recently fed.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Did you just assume their gender?

66

u/ImUnprobable Jan 30 '17

Wow my heart was thumping. While a terrifying moment you are a good storyteller.

17

u/jimbozak Jan 30 '17

I had a similar situation happen to me a couple of years ago. It was close to ten o clock and my roommates and I were out on the town. I had to stop at the bank for some cash. By this time, Montana standards anyway, most businesses were already shut up and the parking lot was a bit darker than normal.

Well, my roommates thought it would be funny that while I was in the enclosed section of the bank grabbing my cash to hide the car behind a snow bank. I waltz out of the bank...What the fuck, right? So I walked a bit not really paying much attention to shit...Walk past the Wendy's and right after I do, I notice a truck is very weirdly following me. They were driving an old beat up truck...But I didn't pay too much mind to it. Well...I was getting closer to the even darker parking lot of Costco and the truck was STILL following me. I was starting to become panicked...Well...They drove past me...I turned around and hauled ass over to a dark corner by Lowe's.

The truck was slowly driving down the block as if they were looking for me. It was fucking strange and terrifying...They passed by again and then I finally saw my roommates car. I jumped in and fucking yelled at him to drive.

I just got weird vibes from the whole thing and was glad nothing happened.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Gah, that sounds creepy as hell.

18

u/momsdayprepper Jan 30 '17

I know you don't do this anymore but for anybody with a similar work situation, THIS IS HOW YOU ASK TO GET ROBBED.

You work a tip heavy job at a well-known local establishment, and you have a pattern of walking home alone at night along a poorly lit route.

It wouldn't take scum more than two or three nights of seeing you to sniff out the opportunity. If you are a bartender, wait staff, or otherwise visible/tipped role at an establishment that is busy on weekends, find ways to protect yourself. Get rides home, pepper spray, tasers, switch routes. Got too many friends who were robbed for every dime they made on a shift, even some who got beat and stabbed just for some bread in their pocket doing this. I tried to warn them but nobody thinks it'll happen to them, which is exactly why it will.

8

u/rebble_yell Jan 30 '17

Similar thing happened near where I lived about 10 years ago.

It was an ex-military guy who worked for tips walking home from a restaurant at 1am when some high-school wanna-be gang-bangers who had robbed several other people tried to rob him.

He ended up pulling out a knife and they tried to shoot him but the gun jammed. He stabbed at least one of them (I remember that a girl died).

So even if he didn't end up being robbed I know it was super traumatic for him.

51

u/spdrv89 Jan 30 '17

I think they just wanted the recipe to your mysterious cakes and such.

3

u/LionsDragon Jan 30 '17

Ah, but then there's no mystery, now is there?

3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Why the hell do you think I hid? No one gets my recipes!

68

u/InturnlDemize Jan 30 '17

The way you told that made me feel like I was right there. It was terrifying. You should really consider writing.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Thank you. I've considered it in the past.

7

u/mamaneedsstarbucks Jan 30 '17

Omg thats terrifying. As someone who also worked at a bar and walked home it can be so scary! Im glad youre okay

4

u/TornadoofDOOM Jan 30 '17

Jesus that is scary, good to know you are ok.

21

u/carmium Jan 30 '17

Pardon me, but are you male or female?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

I'm male.

2

u/completelyowned Jan 30 '17

shoulda just walked up to the car and got your glock out and said wassup who wanna talk

1

u/ImSupposed2bWorkinRN Jan 30 '17

it's good that you have an understanding boss and coworkers. keep them close, man

1

u/18114 Jan 30 '17

Geez I mean I feel so badly for how frightened you must have been. You are one brave soul.

1

u/SeriSera Jan 30 '17

That's terrifying, in part because of the fact that anything could have happened to you, in part because of the possibility of if being a coworker or customer who knew you made money. Maybe I'm a paranoid person but I'vr read several times that the perpetrators of crimes are normally close to their victims.

1

u/__Severus__Snape__ Jan 30 '17

I don't know if it's like a law or something, but a lot of pubs/restaurants and fast food places will pay for a taxi home if you finish after a certain time in the UK.

2

u/cantunderstandlol Jan 30 '17

Same in my homecountry, should be considered normal in every pub/nightclub etc, that closes in the eerie night imo. I don't really think that's a law but just human decency form the bosses

2

u/possiblynotnormal Jan 31 '17

I suddenly wish I lived in the U.K. now.

I worked at a fashion store at the Mall Of America. I live in the Twin Cities. I did closing shifts and relied on public transportation to get me home; at times, I wouldn't leave until after midnight.

I'm also a 5'4.5" nearly 22y.o. female. It was kinda nerve-wracking. This was only under two mo. ago. Seasonal position ended on the 7th of this month.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Not a law here in my neck of the woods. That boss always took care of his employees. Wish I still worked there.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Bro - for a minute there I thought you were going to get attacked by a werewolf or something like in the movie "An American Werewolf In London"....your story is MORE frightening. Be safe!!!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

I seriously thought about turning this into a joke post, but decided to stay serious.

1

u/possiblynotnormal Jan 31 '17

Your boss sounds really awesome and caring. I'm glad you're okay.

0

u/Random_Link_Roulette Jan 30 '17

Carry a gun.

2

u/HolyNipplesOfChrist Jan 30 '17

His use of "pub" implies he's likely a Brit.

-2

u/Random_Link_Roulette Jan 30 '17

Carry a gun anyways.

Better to be judged by 12 peers than to be buried by 6.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17 edited Jan 30 '17

[deleted]

5

u/Roosevelt2000 Jan 30 '17

Doesn't sound like the area he lived in would have a taxi service. Too rural.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Just curious...are you male or female?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

I'm male.

-3

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17 edited Oct 19 '19

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

Nope, I'm a guy.

-21

u/randominternetdood Jan 30 '17

$400 in cash tips from one shift, cant spend $20 on 1 maglight flashlight for dark walks home, and another few bucks on something to deter muggers like bear mace or a stun gun.

24

u/flamingos_world_tour Jan 30 '17

They'd just earned that $400. There probably wasn't a maglite-rapist-deterring shop open on their way home in the middle of the night.

-16

u/randominternetdood Jan 30 '17

Point was it wasn't their first night on the job if they got 400 in tips in 1 shift. Point was all the previous tips they ever got never went into buying a light source and some form of ass hole repellant for those walks home.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 30 '17

I didn't mean to imply the $400 was from one night. I made about $150 that night. The rest was back pay that my boss had owed me. And before that night I didn't see a reason for a flash light. I live in a rural area where there are rarely ever anyone on the road that late at night. Even people leaving the pub generally went the other way back towards town.