About ten years ago my husband and I took a road trip across the USA following Route 66.

We stopped in a small department store in Kingman, Arizona. When I was looking around an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked if I knew where the bedding department was. I told him I wasn’t from the area but since the store wasn’t that big I would help him find it.

As we walked along he told me that he had just moved back to the area after living in Nashville and was a songwriter and had in fact written the hit song ”Satin Sheets”. He went on to tell me about all the singers that he had made into big country stars. We eventually found the bedding department and continued chatting until my husband found me.

I told my husband who this fellow was and my husband then had a bit of a conversation with him discussing different songs. He told us his name was John ???, we couldn’t understand the last part.

Anyway, we parted ways but took a group selfie with him before we parted.

When I got home, I looked up the writer of Satin Sheets, only to find out the guy had died in 1992, about 20 years before this incident. 🙂 He was named John, though.

I laugh every time I come across that picture.

I don't. It's interesting so many of you do. I enjoy thinking from time to time about past experiences, and sometimes something I see or read or hear about will trigger such memories. But never are random encounters with strangers involved.

One of my best plane interactions was when I had the good fortune of sitting next to an astrophysicist from JPL. I spent the entire flight grilling him about the universe. Poor guy, if he wanted to sleep or get some work done, he didn't have a chance.

Then there was David, the diamond merchant who wanted to marry me even though I told him several times I was already happily married. He must've been very, very desperate.

Not particular instances, although there are of course those I remember - but, interactions with fellow travelers on things like docent tours, one-day walking or bus tours, people following the same itinerary on a self-guided bike or foot tours have pretty much always been pleasant and added to the enjoyment of the experience.

I've asked people that I've met on planes and buses to share hotel rooms with me, and that worked out very well.

The first was on a flight to Cozumel from Houston, and I sat next to a Latino guy from Dallas who was fluent in Spanish, and I wasn't, and so I asked him if he would help me get a hotel room. He then suggested that we share a room, and I agreed to that.

On the next trip to Cozumel, on my way to Guatemala, I met a diver from Campbell River BC on the bus from Chetumal, Mexico to Belize City. We were both traveling alone, and it turned out that we had both planned to go to the same places - at least as far as Guatemala City. We shared hotel rooms in Belize, Flores, Guatemala (next to Tikal), and Guatemala City, but instead of going to Panajachel with me, he decided that he missed his wife too much and took an early flight back to Canada. While we were traveling together in Belize, we met José and Gloria from Mexico City, and we formed a foursome all the way to Guatemala City. We had the best time visiting Tikal.

From Guatemala City, José and Gloria traveled with me to Panajachel and Quetzeltenango, and from there I suggested that we go to a beach in Chiapas called Puerto Arista. They had never heard of it, but a friend in San Francisco from Costa Rica said that it was one of the last unspoiled and "undiscovered" beaches in Mexico, and so we went there. It reminded me a lot of what Puerto Vallarta was like in the movie Night of the Iguana, complete with Baptists missionaries who arrived in their bus and became a bit wild on the beach - drinking at the bar, etc. Baptists are not supposed to drink alcohol, but these did.

Then José and Gloria invited me to stay with them in their apartment in Col. Condesa in Mexico City, which is a very trendy neighborhood, and so I stayed with them for several days in Mexico City. They also invited me to come back to visit them whenever I wanted to go to Mexico, and I did visit them several times.

On a different note, I have noticed that people remember me more often than I remember them, especially clerks in stores. For some reason, I often make a lasting impression on them.

I very much remember one woman on a plane in the late 1970's. I had left the gulf coast about five in the morning and had been changing planes all day on my way to Seattle. The airlines were going through one of their things and we weren't getting fed. I was missing any snacks they served all day. On the very last leg we finally got some food around 4:00. The woman next to me had been in the air much longer and she was starving. I gave her most of my food because I was getting off in an hour and she still had several hours to go. She was so grateful for anything. A really nice person. I dont remember any more where she was headed. Non plane related is a man I talked to in Death Valley. I noticed he had an accent and ask if he was from Georgia. Well he was from Atlanta. I told him I was going to be in Atlanta in two weeks. How amazing. No amazing was meeting the same man at a street Fair in Atlanta.

How well do you all remember what your random strangers looked like? I'm just curious, because while I've had a few such interactions none of them were to the depth most of you describe. And I couldn't tell you what any of the people looked like -- Sherlock Holmes level of detailed observation I do not have. Well, to be honest, my memory for faces has always been atrocious. It takes repetition for me to recognize persons.

I avoid speaking to people on airplanes. I become borederline claustrophobic in that tube and the thought of making polite conversation with someone who could turn out to be a bore or a boor is too much for me, so I put on my unapproachable face as a rule.

Two people have stayed with me over the years.

The first was a surgeon from Kentucky going to a conference to learn more about laparoscopic procedures. It was around 1985, so while the technology was not new, it was not well known to those of us outside medicine. He spent the whole flight drawing me pictures and explaining how things worked and what he hoped to learn more about. And that was super cool, considering there was no Google/YT to teach you new stuff back then.

The second person was an executive for JC Penney. He borded the plane wearing a denim shirt with the word "sample" stenciled in huge letters on his shirt. It was quite eye catching. He fell asleep and accidentally laid his head on my shoulder. The poor man was beyond horrified when he woke up. We chatted and I learned a lot about manufacturing in the Far East circa 1988 and how in house brands were developped at JCP. He offered up his most sage advice for a young person (I was 20 at the time) about keeping your eyes on the horizon and not the hurdle, explaining about how when he ran track, if he looked at the hurdles he would not clear them. Great advice I took to heart.

These days, avoiding people is so easy. Just put the airpods on and zone out. I almost never converse with people on planes now. Also, I almost never travel alone, so the opportunity for chatting with strangers that way is way down.

I recall that the man on my flight was about my age, dark hair, medium build. I laughed later on that he looked like Ted Bundy.

How well do you all remember what your random strangers looked like?

This is a huge problem for me in real life. People recognize me and my family all the time, we are all practically face blind.

I recall a horrifying incident that happened about midnight one night, when I was in college.

Most college kids are out and about at all hours of the night, and midnight wasn't late to me back then. Now at midnight I've been asleep for hours, but in my early 20s the night was just starting at that time.

Anyway, for some reason I decided to wash my car before I met up with friends. The self service car wash was in an industrial area and nothing else was open anywhere near there.

I watched what looked like a scary icky van pulled up to the vacuums, and a scary icky guy got out. I just knew it was bad. My spidey senses went on high alert. I kept an eye on the guy and decided to get out of there. I put the wand back in the holder and got in my car, and when I looked up the guy was literally standing at the back bumper of my car. He was grinning like a maniac.

I gunned it out of there.

I still occasionally have nightmares of him standing there at the back of my car in my rear view mirror. I have a strong feeling I narrowly avoided something that would have been horrific.

So yeah - that's my random interaction that always comes to mind.

I must be Zalco's long lost older brother. Double ditto to what she said:

1) If you want to catch up on work, read a book, or take a nap, I'm your perfect seat neighbor on a plane. I'm polite, will exchange a pleasantry or two, will gladly help pass items to/from the flight attendant, get up a reasonable number of times to let you pass, but otherwise, you can pretend I'm not there because that's what I'm doing with you.

2) It must happen to me at least once a year. I hear "Hi Elmer, sure haven't seen you in awhile, how are you?" and I turn to see someone either whose identity escapes me or whose face I recognize but not name. I'm very comfortable with responding "Please forgive me, I'm terrible with names and faces, I recognize you and am glad to see you. can you please remind me who you are?" Said good-naturedly, it always solves the problem.

Once years ago, I was driving in my car with the windows down. Just as I turned left through an intersection, I sneezed. A guy in a car waiting at the light said "bless you!" 😄

My first time taking a bus while visiting Manhattan, I sat near a lady who was doing a NYT crossword puzzle. Every so often, she would read a clue aloud and the people sitting around her would offer suggestions. At the time, I was living in a southern city with a warm climate but very cold culture, where strangers didn't talk to strangers. Seeing those strangers working on a crossword puzzle together was one of the things that made me want to move here.

I admit I did not recognize the guy in Atlanta. He recognized me. This was not surprising as I normally talked to several hundred people a day. I also looked pretty good in those days.

I have chatted with any number of people on planes over the years but I don't remember a thing about most of them.

Jupidupi, your comment reminded me of this old joke.

A guy was boarding a plane when he heard that the Pope was on the same flight. "This is exciting!" thought the gentleman. "I've always been a big fan of the Pope. Perhaps I'll be able to see him in person.” Suddenly, the man realized his seat was right next to the Pope himself!

Still, the gentleman was too shy to speak to His Holiness.

Shortly after take-off, the Pope took a crossword puzzle out of his carry on bag and began penciling in the answers.

"This is fantastic!" the gentleman mused. "I'm really good at crosswords!"

It crossed his mind that if the Pope got stuck, he’d ask him for assistance.

Almost as if providence struck, the Pope turned to the man and said, "Excuse me, but do you know a four letter word referring to a woman that ends in 'unt'?"

The three Cardinals behind, in front of and beside him shrunk down in their seats, as far as possible, all looking for something on the floor.

The gentleman was in morbid shock.

He couldn’t breathe.

He went within himself, thought deeper, longer for a plausible answer and after almost a minute, the dark clouds of evil parted in his mind and the sun shone in.

Turning to the Pope, the gentleman said with reverence and politeness, "I believe, Your Holiness, that you're looking for the word, 'aunt.'"

"Of course!" the Pope mused, not taking his gaze off the crossword. "You wouldn’t happen to have an eraser, would you?"

🤣🤣🤣 ^^^

I’n surprised that several people have commented about their difficulty recognizing faces. I have never been able to. I have always had poor eyesight and didn’t get glasses till I was about 10, so I never even tried before that.

.

When I was in my 20s young man in the family passed away. It was very sudden and devastating for the family. I was in one of the funeral home limos headed to the cemetary when we had to stop at a RR crossing for a passenger train. I looked at the people in the train windows and a woman looked me in the eyes and made the sign of the cross. It struck me very powerfully.

Funny all the flying stories that people remember. I was semi-stranded at the Minneapolis airport during a snow storm. They closed the airport and canceled all the flights but mine to Raleigh. Couldn't figure out what was going on but they were trying to get a crew together to get us out of there. The airport was practically empty but a couple of restaurants stayed open. I went and ordered something and sat down in one and started reading my book. This young man came and sat down near me and started talking...he was trying to get home to CA and was in a bit of a panic because he was a marijuana grower and his seedlings needed frequent watering and his business partner was depending on him to get there to do the next watering shift, lol. I have no idea why he chose me to talk to, but it was quite entertaining and I learned a great deal about growing marijuana, should I ever decide I want a side gig.
Oh, and at about 11:40 they called us to a gate and told us they had a crew but that some of them 'timed out' at midnight (meaning they couldn't log any more flying hours), but if they were in the air, that didn't apply. So they told us to hustle to our seats, get buckled in, gave us the fastest safety talk ever (as we watched the de-icing crews going to town on the outside of the plane - I was pretty sure we were going to die), headed to the runway with about 5 minutes to spare and had lift-off before midnight. The whole plane burst into cheers and applause and we ending up not dying!

I should totally let go of it, I have not. I would have loved a thank you. Seriously.

I was a midteen. I yanked a small child out of a drowning situation. They probably don't even remember. I do think I saved a life. But we don't do it for I thank you, do we?

Though, I do wonder if they even realize what I did for them. Moreover, I hope they made more of their life than the typical person

China wins the thread!

i once was in chicago when my flight home to springfield was canceled. i had been away from home for over a week and just wanted to get back. a random guy went down the line of people and asked if anyone wanted to go in with him, rent a van and drive down to springfield. i was the first to say yes and was followed by 6 other people. so, we rented a van and drove 4 hours to springfield. it was a fascinating group and although i don't even recall if we even told our names, i remember one woman who was going home from a trip to india where she did some work with underprivileged children. another one of the men was a physician who was working in cancer research.

i had called home and told my husband the plan and he was totally against me traveling with a bunch of strangers. i told him i didn't care if jack the ripper was driving that van, i just wanted to come home!! none of them were serial killers (at least i don't think they were) so it was a good trip!

I don't believe in random interactions any longer. I truly believe much of what happens has a purpose. We may not be aware of it but it is there.

Now I could write several books on interesting conversations and experiences i have had with people I met randomly. I met an alien warrior on an Oregon beach. At first he thought I might be one of the aliens. But he was soon convinced I was not and offered his protection. I still have his card just in case I meet up with evil aliens and need his assistance. I also met a Sikh astrology student walking in the park. He wanted to "read my nose". LOL If there is an odd or different person about they will find me or I will find them.

Like others I am simply awful at remembering names to go with faces. However people remember me after years of only meeting me or even seeing me once. When I was in my mid forties a man was staring at me in a diner. I finally asked him what he wanted. After several questions we finally determined that he had met me once when I was around 12 or 13. Being somewhat older than me he was thinking placing there was off. But yeah, it was me and he remembered.

On a trip to Hawaii with my DD who decided to stay in the room and rest, I went into a bar to get rid of some street rats who were attempting to prey on tourists and had me marked. Ended up sitting with a guy sipping club soda all night people watching. He invited me to sit with him after commenting that I walked in like I owned the room. He made a comment about one girl that was the Queen of the Silver Dollar. I responded with the next line in the song. He turned out to be an IT guy and had heard of DS etc.. We had a fun night people watching and chatting and bantering and went our separate ways.

In Australia DD and I were riding trains and would get off at random little towns to explore. On the way back to where we were staying we found the train's last stop was several miles before ours. We set out to walk. A guy somewhere between our ages insisted on escorting us. We walked and chatted about life down under versus the US. I asked if he had visited the US and if he liked it. He replied he had spent time here but had no intention of going back. Why we asked. He replied he really hadn't seen much of the US since his time spent there had been in prison.

MI vida loca. Those the the milder, more normal interactions I've had "randomly."

A random interaction with a mom and her baby kept recurring every few months, in random places. A department store, a café, craft store, hardware store, People magazine, country club (twice!) and finally, after several years’ of not seeing each other, and after several moves on both our parts, we were living in the same town and our kids were in the same activity at the same school, we met at the end-of-activity party. Whew!

At some point we had kind of introduced each other, but now we actually know one another. That first random interaction took 13 years to come to fruition! BTW, I usually recognized the baby first, including in People, and at 12 the now-pre-teen still had that adorable face. it’s been 28 years now.

When I first started working, I was very young, very naive, not traveled at all. I had to get to an office in Manhattan. Went in on the train and was scared to death as I'd not been in the city alone before...maybe only once or twice before as a child with my parents. So on the train, there was a decent looking man sitting next to me and I started a conversation and explained my predicament. Told him where I was going and asked if he could help me get there. He said sure. When we got off the train, he escorted me out the door, pointed me in the right direction and said, "and don't cross the street." Then he went on his way. I made it just fine, was very thankful for his help, but everything has a price. The entire train trip, he told me all about what he's been going through with his recent divorce...

I have started to write about this twice and erased it. It is not a happy memory, and I really don't think of it very often.

I was traveling alone by car from Delaware to North Carolina. The year was 1984, so I was 38 yrs old. I had been to Pennsylvania to a waterlily symposium. I was going home via North Carolina to go to a koi farm to buy fish, which would be flown to me in a couple of days.

I had a penpal in prison in Virginia. He hadn't had a visit in 12 yrs, so I had called the warden and arranged to visit him.

The prison was way the heck and gone in the middle of nowhere. As I drove into what I thought was a town, I came to a cross roads. There were motels at all 4 corners. I went to the one on my right and got a room. I would drive to the prison the next morning.

After getting a room, I decided to drive into town. The cross roads were at the side of a hill.... I drove over the hill, expecting a town...there was nothing but very dense forest.

I went back to my room, and was sitting on the foot of the bed reading a Strout Realty catalog. There was a glass storm door on the room, and a regular door. It was about 3 pm in the afternoon, I never gave a thought that I wasn't safe.

A man walked past my room. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes. He turned and came back, and walked into my room. As he did....he apologized...saying he thought he knew me. He introduced himself, saying he was John Minton, Virginia State Police. He had on a Polo shirt with insignia and a ball cap with insignia.

I was surprised but not afraid. We chatted briefly, and I guess I told him I was surprised that there was no town around. He said there was a coffee shop down the hill so we walked down there. He had coffee....I had a coke. He chided me for going to visit a prisoner, saying they were the scum of the earth. He was there to transport a prisoner to court the next day.

We walked back and I told him I needed to call my husband. He said he would walk with me because it wasn't safe around there.

There were no phones in the rooms....just a pay phone down past the office. I said okay...like how safer can you be...escorted by a state trooper?

As we walked past his room, he said he wanted to get his cigarettes. I waited outside. He said "come in for a second, I want to show you something.". I didn't want to, but I stepped just inside the door. He grabbed me and threw me on the bed.

His pistol was hanging on the headboard. A big bottle of Wild Turkey was on the nightstand.

As soon as he threw me on the bed, he jumped on top of me. He bit me on my breast. He was laughing. He said there was a swimming pool at one of the other motels and we could go skinny dipping. I could smell the whiskey on him.

I tried to not show fear or make him mad. I told him I didn't want to go swimming and I tried to talk to him in a calm manner. I knew that I was vulnerable to anything he said or tried to do. He could say anything about me...he could even shoot me, for all I knew.

About that time, there was a knock on the door. He jumped off of me and grabbed his pistol. A little black kid was at the door.... obviously came to the wrong room by mistake. He pointed the pistol at the little boy and said, "I am John Minton! Virginia State Police! What the **** do you want?"

As soon as he jumped off of me, I went to the door and stood to the side. An older woman (probably grandma) came up just then, and he pointed his pistol at her and said the same thing. She very bravely chastised him. As she turned to walk away, I was out the door.

I locked myself in my room. I didn't sleep all night. I have been a little bit scared in my life, and I have been worried, but I never had been terrified, and I was.

The next morning, I peeked out the door, and his cruiser was gone.

I went on to see my penpal. He was perfectly nice and polite.

I have never forgotten John Minton, Virginia State Police. I don't remember what he looked like, except he had sandy colored hair. He told me he was up for appointment to be a Federal Marshal. I wonder if he made it. I am sure he didn't remember me.

Marilyn, what a terrible experience. That is something that you will never forget. Have you ever attempted to locate him (just for your own peace of mind) to see if he is in fact a police officer?

He was a real state trooper. His uniform and "Mounty" hat were hanging in his room and he had a state police cruiser parked in front of his room. He was the real deal as far as that goes.

You're a smart woman Marilyn. You made some good choices and avoided making a bad situation worse.

It's sad how many women have these stories.

Not too smart. I should have locked my room door when I first got there. I have lived all of my life in small communities. Never exposed to any kind of criminal element. I respected police...still do. We never locked our houses or cars.

When I lived on the bayou, I woke up one morning before daylight to my dogs barking. I heard someone telling them "shhhh". It never occurred to me that someone would just walk in my house, unless it was someone that I knew and needed help. I was slightly annoyed when I walked out....wearing nothing but a tee shirt. There was only one person I knew that lived nearby....a few miles away, and might be someone that would come to me for help early in the morning like that.

But it was a man I had never seen before...walking from my dining room to the kitchen. He said he needed to use my phone. I yelled to my husband, " There's a man in here....get the pistol and shoot him."

Jody boiled out of the bedroom, naked as the day he was born with a pistol. The guy said, "oh, no!" Ran out onto the porch...jumped off instead of taking the steps and hurt his ankle...limped off into the woods. Jody fired two shots...not at him, to keep him moving along.

He was found under the neighbor's house. His partner got into a shootout with the deputies in a hay field, when he tried to flee. I think it was one sided...they had guns...he tried to run them over with his car. Turns out they were from Louisiana and the one who came in my house got 5 yrs. I don't know what they had planned. Not good. We lived in a very remote spot....no near neighbors. Dead end road.

I respected the police in my younger days too. As I've gotten older I've learned to temper respect for the job with the realization there are bad apples. One of my friends in my 20s had a similar experience as you. She was pretty shaken up.

So scary. I'm glad it turned out as it did and didn't get even worse. You know darn well that wasn't his first or last time committing sexual assault on women. Frightening.

My DH was special in town for 16 years, so I'm well aware of how human the person is underneath the uniform, though his demeanor did change when he was in uniform. It was interesting to see.

Since Satine mentioned it, I tried to Google his name. I found a Josh Minton, who is a Virginia State Policeman, but much younger than John would be. Most likely his son. John Minton was about my age at the time and I now 75. He has probably passed away by now.

Oh, and I am quite sure it wasn't his first rodeo. Every time I asked him something or made a remark, his come back was always, "you bet your @$$ it is!". And that is also what he said when I asked him if his "technique" had served him well.

Perhaps that sicko state trooper used a fake name? What a horrible experience you had with him. I would be terrified for a long time after that.

In 2006 a friend turning 40 persuaded me and several other writers to write 40 words a day for 365 days about people we've encountered in our lives. It was one of the most interesting and fun writing projects I've ever undertaken. Most of the people I wrote about had been in my life for considerably more than an instant, but some were the briefest encounters. Here are two memorable ones:

122/365 Jackie Kennedy

She and I hurried past each other on 57th Street. Scarfed head down, she raised her eyes to meet mine as we passed. I did a burlesque double-take, spinning around to stare behind me. She turned too--grinning, merry-eyed, knowing.

41/365 The Teenager Who Was Later Murdered

He bopped down the discount store aisle, eyes closed, singing “Love Potion #9... “I didn’t know if it was day or night…” I sang the next line back to him. His eyes flew open—his huge grin was a gift.

The blog:

https://susan365.wordpress.com/

When I worked I did a great deal of travel, both domestic and international. I can recall many interactions with seatmates that were interesting or at least stand out in my memory.

One was on a flight from DC when I had a nice conversation with the wife of an astronaut who was aboard the Challenger. This was several years after the accident, so she had remarried and was involved in STEM education. We had an interesting conversation about that since i am a female engineer.

Another was when I sat next to Coretta Scott King on a flight to Atlanta. She was very quiet and polite, and I gave her plenty of space. We did speak and frankly I do not recall much that was said.

I remember Dan Rather pouring salt on his meal from DC to Atlanta. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man put as much salt on food in my life.

On a flight to Heathrow my seatmate was a middle-aged female psychologist, a bit younger than me. We chatted about London, what we would be doing, and she said her SO had to cancel his plans to come at the last minute. Later in the flight she said she had booked a fancy high tea at her hotel that afternoon and asked me to join her since it was pre-paid. I was a bit hesitant, but she insisted as she didn't want it to go to waste. We exchanged info, I ended up going, we had a nice time, a delicious tea, and corresponded a bit after the trip. I guess it sounds kinda like a dumb thing to do, but i had her business card, we were both flying first class, and she was absolutely legit. I told my DH what i was doing so he knew where I was going and had her name. Plus we were in a public place.

To answer the question, rarely. I tend to remember only very very positive or very very negative or very very strange random interactions. And even then, never just out of the blue, the memory is triggered by something. I tried to remember at least one of each for this discussion.

I remember when I was a very small, VERY shy child. I was at an Easter Egg hunt somewhere, I do not remember where. There were eggs everywhere, but I was too shy to try to outrun the other kids, who were strangers to me, to get them. I was wandering around looking for strays, my little bucket empty. Starting then, and at a few minute intervals, this giant red haired ,bearded man in overalls who looked like he should be drinking beer and eating jerky on a back porch somewhere, would come stand next to me, produce an egg from one of his pockets, and drop it into my bucket, looking the opposite way, than he would turn around, look in the bucket and exclaim that YOU FOUND ONE! YOU FOUND ANOTHER ONE! I was so grateful to that man. He must have been a shy child too.....

I remember being at the vet with my Pitbull/Great Dane mix Otis. We were minding our own business in the waiting room. Otis was very well behaved, always has been. Anyway, a random chick walked past us to check in with her teacup yorkie, also very well behaved so its not like there was a conflict between the dogs, they just kind of looked at each other and then looked away. They didn't even try to meet. She looked at MY Otis, and exclaimed "OH he is MEAN! How can you have such a vicious dog?!" I was taken aback but I just ignored her and kept looking at my phone. I didn't even acknowledge that she spoke to me. Otis ignored her, he was more interested in some random smell he had picked up on the floor. I guess she felt really dumb because everyone in the waiting room was looking at her like she was nuts. She sat all the way on the other side of the room and proceeded to glare at me until we were called back. She was still there when we left, still glaring at us, so when I walked by her on the way out, I turned and said "BOO!" and kept walking. I still cant figure out what her problem was.

I have never had such a horrendous experience as that ,Marilyn. I have had random strange men, and some I knew both aggressively and casually grope me. Most women have I think, unfortunately. Or a lot have anyway. I could be wrong though. I also had the INFURIATING experience of being told by a man who came up behind me at work when I was 20, and put both hands up the front of my shirt and under my bra that it was a COMPLIMENT ,because he and all his friends were speculating that they COULDN'T be real. I guess he wanted to find out. And no one cared. Everyone thought it was hilarious. And when I got him fired, I was the bad guy. Oh and a racist too.🙄...He's lucky I didn't have him locked up. I should have.

I do not initiate an interaction with strangers, nor am I resistant to it if they seem to be the type of person who likes to chat. I like interacting with friendly people as long as they are not pushy. Its fine with me if we babble back and forth for hours, or if we sit in silence doing our own thing for those same hours. Its whatever. Just do not touch me.

amylou, you reminded me of an odd event. DH & I were having lunch in a rustic sort of diner joint. We were in a booth. The place was not crowded by there were others around. A couple of women were in a booth somewhere behind us and were leaving. As they walked by, one leaned in close to my husband, looked him in the face and said, "Boo!" and walked away. So strange.

Perhaps she thought he was staring at her or looking at her in a weird way Annie. That is why I said it to the vet looney. Growing up, when someone was staring you down or just staring at you or looking at you funny, we would say BOO! Sometime followed by the b word. Its slang for "what are you looking at?"

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdKP9SSL/?k=1

Here's a silly skit on tiktok that proves its not just me......language warning!

I'm terrible at recognizing faces, but I had been to my neighborhood hardware store almost daily and felt like I "knew" all the guys behind the counter. I had just moved into an apartment, had a lot more time than money, and was fixing it up by myself. I would buy what I needed bit by bit -- a single paint brush, a few screws and anchors, etc. One afternoon after a difficult job hanging a kitchen shelf, I was walking down the sidewalk and saw a guy from the hardware. I couldn't help but boast, "I finally got that kitchen shelf. hung." He smiled and said, "Congratulations, that's great!" Later that night, I turned on the TV to watch Law and Order. That's when I realized that it hadn't been the guy from the hardware store, I'd been congratulated by Jerry Orbach!

I love speaking to strangers, when appropriate. (I try not to do so with airline seatmates when their body language says, "don't talk to me.") Knowing I'll never see them again is so freeing!

I've started attending a different church where I don't know a soul, and I love the anonymity of that, much as I enjoyed interacting with a few people at the other church.

While wheeling our bikes on the sidewalk on Martha Vineyard, I spotted Carly Simon exiting the grocery store carrying two paper bags of groceries. My idiot husband hollered, "Hey Carly, can I take a pic of you with my wife.?" I was mortified but she was very kind and I still have the snapshot. When I called my then teenage daughter that night, she was impressed because we both like her music.

I was on my way into the grocery store with my 3 year old, who was being quite recalcitrant at that moment (she was normally very well behaved and cooperative, just to be clear), and I was clothed in my grubbies -ill fitting sweatshirt, no makeup, hair unstyled etc. Well, just as I looked up from remonstrating with my DD, I discovered that I had nearly crashed into Tom Selleck, who was just exiting. I have to say that he looked somewhat horrified, probably hoping that this obviously agitated slob didn't ask for a photo!

Rae, that reminds me....I was at Los Angeles airport and I passed Robert Wagner....I looked at him...recognized who he was...kept walking. The look on his face though, was like dread that someone was going to accost him. I would never do that. Nothing against those who do approach famous people....it is just not me. But I bet they really get tired of it... I don't blame them for that.

I did sit next to Beau Bridges and his family at a luau in Hawaii...I didn't trouble him though...they seemed like they were having a good time.

Lily, Carly Simon! One of my absolute favorites.

So years ago I was at an antique show and remarked to my friend how cute one guy walking alone was. Not too tall, tousled hair with a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had a presence. Then I went into a very small booth and ran into him because there was barely any room. He and I both apologized to each other. Later I purchased an item but the owner of the booth wasn't there and someone said she''ll be back. She was at the front of the building watching Harrison Ford leave. He was in town making Witness which is one of my favorite movies. Made in my area.

For Carly Simon fans: before becoming a solo artist, in the 60s she was in a "folk" genre duo with her sister, aptly named the Simon Sisters. Here are a couple of YouTubes performances. I think this Winkin and Blinkin song is their best effort, it's endowed with the meld of vocal harmony that usually only familial-related singers can produce. Two versions, first a live version from a TV appearance, then a studio version. For the live version, the song starts around the 50 second point. If you're interested, I think Carly sings the low part. Anyone interested in hearing more of what they did together will find a fair number of songs by opening Youtube and doing a Youtube search for Simon Sisters.

Studio recording