The obligatory "People Are Sure Strange" thread

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I have a similar story to MQS when I worked for Rogers Video. Just before midnight dude comes in with a copy of The Lion King to return. No receipt. No packaging. He wants his money though, right now. Weird looking dude too - skinny little guy with buggy eyes.

Anyhoo my boss says to him - sorry man no receipt no luck. Dude argues and they go back and forth a bit while I observe from the other station. Dude starts to get angry so my boss threatens to call the cops. Dude still won't leave. My boss gives me the nod and I pick up the phone and say to the guy "you see this..I'm dialing the cops right now". Dude still doesn't care and continues to yell.

Anyhoo, cops show up. And this little guy won't leave calmly. Must weight 150 pounds soaking wet but he puts up a fight. Takes these 2 big cops a good 5 minutes to haul him out of the store. But once he gets out there that's when the fun starts.

This is out front on 17 Ave SW and he wraps his legs around a tree. These 2 cops try their best but can't get him to let go. Another car shows up with 2 big boy cops and it takes all 4 of them yanking and pulling to throw this guy in the back of their car.

It was unreal how much of a fight this little guy put up. Adrenalin or drugs I suppose.

I have so many crazy customer stories, one lady threatened to throw her digital camera at me because it wouldn't work with cheap dollar store batteries

I had one guy that tried to convince my boss that it's ok to break international copyright law and return opened computer software because I told him that it was a Windows XP Home full edition and not the upgrade (I said the word upgrade about 15 times during the sale because I was selling him the upgrade and you can't return software).

And the mall rats, how I miss them, the old lady that pushed the shopping cart around all day with nothing in it. The older man that woundered the halls hit on all the girls and called me "sir" (I liked him but the girls thought he was creepy), Frankie in a wheelchair and can't speak clearly, he'd come in to see us and when leaving would say "ok I'm going for a walk, ok wait I forgot, I can't walk!!!" Most perverted sick ******* I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting, now Frank is a weird character and we all loved him for it.

This thread makes me want to go the mall

[Vulcan]

The old lady with the shopping cart probably used it instead of a walker and walking around the mall is used by many oldsters to get their exercise out of the elements.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

The old lady with the shopping cart probably used it instead of a walker and walking around the mall is used by many oldsters to get their exercise out of the elements.

while normally I would agree with this statement, but you have to meet the old bovine Betsy with the country wide ass. The only shape she was, was of a beachball... she did use the cart to waddle around, but not for excersie, ust to get from Tim Hortons to the bench to Sobeys back to the bench to A&W back to a bench, repeat.

[Kybosh]

I'm with Cowperson on this one. People can act incredibly illogical when around dogs. I take my dog out to the mountains quite frequently as well, always on leash. I also recognize that some people just don't like dogs so I keep her on short leash when people pass unless they want to give her some attention. The vast majority of people are pretty cool about dogs on the trail but the odd one has a near emotional breakdown even though they are in zero danger.

I'm fairly sure that most people that are afraid of dogs have no logical reason to be that way. One of my coworkers refused to come outside to meet my new pup because she was afraid (10 week old golden retriever at the time).

The best example of crazy, illogical behaviour around dogs is when my friend and I take both our dogs out. My dog is a golden, his is a pitbull. People can say what they want about those dogs but the owner makes the dog. She is a sweetheart and my friend never, ever, lets the dog enter a situation that has a remote possibility of turning ugly (ie. unsupervised play or something). I do the same thing and my dog is considered by the public to be a nice breed.

Anyway, when we take the dogs out together we've quickly discovered that most people do not even know what a pitbull is. Most people seem to think of them as Spuds Mackenzie (bull terrier). You can see people's attitude towards the dog change in a split second when they find out what breed the dog is. They go from commenting how nice the dog is to apprehension very quickly. The complete opposite is true for my dog, who is by all accounts more of a spaz right now (she's still really young, ~1 year old). We tried an experiment by saying that the breed was a Staffordshire terrier (pretty much the same thing as an american pitbull terrier) and nobody seemed to display any apprehension. It's all in the name. Several years ago the dog that was in the news a lot for attacks were German Shepherds and now it's pitbulls. Very strange.

Edit:

How could anyone ever be deathly afraid of my mutt? She is just begging you love you.

[V]

I'm not ashamed to say that I'm terrified of dogs. The scary ones at least. If I'm anywhere near a pitbull or German Shepard I get the hell away from there as fast as I can. If I don't know the owner I don't know how the dog is treated, and how easily that dog can snap.

[jolinar of malkshor]

I wish I could tell you some of the stories that I see at my work.

People who have the entire inside of their motorhome cover in tinfoil so the government can't beem signals into their brains.

A guy who claimed to work for Boris Yeltsin and his brothers were Al Gore and George W. Bush and he also wanted the video tapes back that we had of him.

Another dude who was coming to look for a guy he met in Israel but all he new was that he lived in Canada. He said he was on disability becasue he fell off his bike training for the tour de france. He wanted to know where the Prime Minister lived so he could get him to join his cause.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Dominicwasalreadytaken

If I don't know the owner I don't know how the dog is treated, and how easily that dog can snap.

Fair enough, but if the dog is on leash and the owner is keeping it at their side are you still terrified? I've seen this so many times and it always boggles my mind. For example, I was sitting outside a grocery store with my dog waiting for someone inside. The chair where I was sitting was right beside the store outside wall and there was a good 6 feet of sidewalk from there to the road. Anyway, this woman started inching toward me like she wanted to pass but couldn't get up the nerve. It took her several minutes to inch past my dog, who was held beside me, walking at the edge of the sidewalk all the while muttering "good dog, nice dog, don't kill me". My dog was just sitting there smiling away like normal. This is not an isolated incident either.

A lot of people don't like dogs for a variety of reasons (allergies, unpredictability etc.) and for those reasons I go out of my way to get off sidewalks or hold my dog close when anyone comes close. Even after doing all these things a lot of people still seem to distrust me and the mutt.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Fair enough, but if the dog is on leash and the owner is keeping it at their side are you still terrified? I've seen this so many times and it always boggles my mind. For example, I was sitting outside a grocery store with my dog waiting for someone inside. The chair where I was sitting was right beside the store outside wall and there was a good 6 feet of sidewalk from there to the road. Anyway, this woman started inching toward me like she wanted to pass but couldn't get up the nerve. It took her several minutes to inch past my dog, who was held beside me, walking at the edge of the sidewalk all the while muttering "good dog, nice dog, don't kill me". My dog was just sitting there smiling away like normal. This is not an isolated incident either.

A lot of people don't like dogs for a variety of reasons (allergies, unpredictability etc.) and for those reasons I go out of my way to get off sidewalks or hold my dog close when anyone comes close. Even after doing all these things a lot of people still seem to distrust me and the mutt.

I agree with you, I grew up on a farm and love animals. I guess it is like any phobia tho, the anxiety is automatic and usually requires therapy to overcome.

[Red Mile Style]

People are strange... but I wonder how many times it's a psychological disorder, drugs or their personality?

The craziest person I encountered was on the c-train (the freaks seem to congregate there, don't they?). The train was packed when I got on and noticed that there was one seat open a few feet away. I wondered why all these people were standing when there was a seat open right there, but I sat down anyway. A few moments later, I caught wind of a smell that made my stomach turn. I looked beside me and there was a transient eating beefaroni straight out of a can that appeared to be opened by a knife with her fingers.

She was pretty nice though, she offered me some.

I politely refused and continued to get off at the next stop to puke in a garbage bin.

[V]

Well, you're not going to see a terrified look in my eyes, and you won't hear me muttering to myself, but when I come across a dog that I don't trust I will take notice of how much leash the owner is giving the dog, and loop around the dog by at least that much room.

I was a paperboy when I was young and there were two German Shepards that made that job a living hell. I'm sure that's where the fear comes from.

Some people are just so afraid of something that it'll virtually paralyze them. I wouldn't blame them for being so crazy about it, although by the sounds of it there isn't much else you can do about it. It would be ridiculous to suggest that you should never go outside with your dog.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Red Mile Style

People are strange... but I wonder how many times it's a psychological disorder, drugs or their personality?

The craziest person I encountered was on the c-train (the freaks seem to congregate there, don't they?). The train was packed when I got on and noticed that there was one seat open a few feet away. I wondered why all these people were standing when there was a seat open right there, but I sat down anyway. A few moments later, I caught wind of a smell that made my stomach turn. I looked beside me and there was a transient eating beefaroni straight out of a can that appeared to be opened by a knife with her fingers.

She was pretty nice though, she offered me some.

I politely refused and continued to get off at the next stop to puke in a garbage bin.

Mrs. Cowperson and I were taking a leisurely walk down the main shopping street in Santa Barbara, California a few years ago when a well dressed, affluent-looking woman coming the other way reached into a civic garbage can, pulled out half a banana and started eating it while she kept walking . . . . .

Another time we had just gotten off the plane in San Diego, booked into our beachfront hotel and were taking our first steps on the boardwalk when this drunk transient looking fellow whips out his dick and commences to take a leak about five feet from the prone, suntanning heads of this beautiful babe and her very large boyfriend . . . . . the boyfriend goes ballistic, leaps up from the sand and yells "What the hell are you doing?!!! I oughta KILL you!!!" Meanwhile, this transient staggers a step under this verbal barrage, the stream whipping around but continues with his action . . . . just pointing out into traffic on the busy boardwalk. He never said a word.

Cowperson

[nfotiu]

I was waiting for the bus one morning in Victoria, and this guy passes by me in a full speed gallop. He turned his head to me as he passed and let out a very loud and convincing neigh, and kept going.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

When it comes to dogs, I was never afraid per say but somewhat uneasy with them before I got one. I always liked dogs, but I knew that they have power, they can bite, and that I didn't want a dog to get a mouthful of Jonny. Then I got a dog and became much more comfortable with them. If it's not a busy where I come across someone walking their dog I'll stop and give the dog some attention, unless it's a Golden then the sidewalk can be packed that dog's getting talked to by me, I've litterally stopped conversations midsentance to play with a Golden Retreiver.

I think my uneasyness came from having a puppy grow up around me, playing with him, and well fighting with him as well. I know how quick dogs can be, how they sense fear (with Turk one look, or one word from dad or I his mood could change from agression to passive). Even with other dogs who aren't framiliar with me will listen to my commands, this past weekend there was a dog at the place I was staying, even though I never met the dog before she'd listen to me because of influxation of my voice, tone, confidence, etc.

I've never encountered a "dangerous" dog, I've had owners tell me "she bites" and me have no problem when I still go to pet the dog. I did met a pitbull a few weeks back one evening, when I found out it was a pitbull I was suprised but kept scratching behind his ears.

People are uncomfortable with what they're unframiliar with. I say my biggest fear is the unknown. For people who don't know how dogs react, their personalities etc, they expect worse than the worst, they expect the dog will lunge at their throat then take out an AK-47 and hunt down their family chopping up any of the baby children and putting them in the freezer to make puppy chow.

Most people's fears come from an irrational and unlikely expectation of the outcome of an event.

As for people smelling and eating raw raviolli out of a can (atleast she offered) and ****ing in the middle of a beach... well some people just live the high life, and then there's the rest of us.

[shane_c]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Frankie in a wheelchair and can't speak clearly, he'd come in to see us and when leaving would say "ok I'm going for a walk, ok wait I forgot, I can't walk!!!" Most perverted sick ******* I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting, now Frank is a weird character and we all loved him for it.

I remember Frankie!. He was at Sydney Academy when I was there. I have never talked to him before but he used to be driving his wheelchair in circles in the entrance when I'd come in and always try to run me down. A few times he almost pinned me against the wall.

[MacDougalbry]

..

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by shane_c

I remember Frankie!. He was at Sydney Academy when I was there. I have never talked to him before but he used to be driving his wheelchair in circles in the entrance when I'd come in and always try to run me down. A few times he almost pinned me against the wall.

Frankie's the man, if you were to press the horn on his wheelchair he'd yell "HONKING MAKES ME HORNY!!!" and God help you if you were a female that pressed his horn as he'd yell that and chase you around the mall.

I can so see Frank driving in circles and trying to run down random people in the halls of SA. Man now I want to go to the mall

[flamesfever]

I recall, growing up in Ontario, a strange man walking down the middle of the highway with a short piece of 2x4 at chest level held up by a length of rope around his neck, with a car headlight at each end of the 2x4. Hanging from his back was a sign that read, "Bocker the Walker".

Regarding dogs, I have noticed that some of them like to create fear in you by charging at you. Having no fear of dogs, and knowing that many of them are chickens at heart, I once encounterd a dog come running at me full throttle across the road from his house. I decided to call his bluff by running at him. He immediately stopped and ran in the opposite direction, howling at the top of his lungs. However, I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone doing this, as you may just encounter that rare animal who is insane, and wouldn't stop till he's had his "pound of flesh".

Someone may come up with a story that I saw this wierd person chasing a howling dog.

[Cowperson]

Although I'm the one who started the thread with my dog post, I'm pretty wary of dogs on the Calgary pathways when I'm out running . . . . . if I see the owner doesn't have control of their dog, I'll veer off onto the grass until I can see I'm beyond the range of the leash. I just can't be bothered with the trouble.

I was bicycling up from Montana and Idaho one year, back into Alberta, when I was chased by a pack of dogs early one Sunday morning from one end of Warner to the other . . . . . any attempt to get off my bike and there were teeth going for my ankles. There wasn't another soul around as the tumbleweeds blew through town . . . . . just me and about 10 dogs.

When I was a kid out trick or treating on Halloween, I was chased by a German Shephard for about half a block . . . . not very nice!!

I appreciate people who have control of their dogs and don't assume strangers want to meet them . . . . I try to practice that myself.

Cowperson

[flamesfever]

Cowperson, being chased by 10 dogs on your bike must have been a terrifying experience. I'm always cautious when there's more that one dog involved in a chase. Being natural pack animals, they can often become quite bold when 2 or more of them get together, and end up doing something stupid like raiding the henhouse, etc.

A while ago at the off-leash area at Edworthy Park a wiemaraner and a yellow lab started chasing my year old yellow lab, who by the way wouldn't harm a flee. And as they were running around, seemingly having fun, without warning the wiemaraner ran over and took a small chunk out of my dog's back. I was furious at the time and from now on when another super aggressive dog shows signs of attacking my dog I take action to try and prevent it - usually by keeping my dog at my side and shewing the other dog away in a gruff sounding voice.

[jroc]

Originally Posted by fotze

Too bad jpold's friends don't see this thread. They could have fun with you from things like turning all the hot water on in the house while you are having a shower, to throwing ice cubes down your pants when you are passed out.

what would be worse... jpolds friends seeing this thread about him being allergic to the cold... or jpolds friends seeing the thread where he mentions that he is not certain whether he is circumsized or not?? I would guess the latter...