What's the scariest situation you've ever encountered

The ClubHouse: General Discussions - Jan -Apr. 2001: February: What's the scariest situation you've ever encountered

Max

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 10:20 am Click here to edit this post

Okay, we've got funny stuff going, and obsessions and definitions of what makes men men and women women. How about sharing the scariest times of your life?

For me, it was when I was in my early 20s. I was in college and working pretty much full time, too. Money was, needless to say, tight. Those were my wild days in the 70's and I used to go to clubs a lot.

Somewhere along the line, I met up with some folks who lived much shadier lives than I did. Being young and naive, I was intrigued. I also needed a roommate and one of these gals needed a place to live with her cute 2-year-old twin daughters, so a roommate relationship was born.

This gal was turning tricks to make a living. Nothing big time, nothing too sleazy, mostly local businessmen (it was a fairly small college town) and mostly quite discreet. ALWAYS at locations other than our apartment.

In one of the clubs we frequented, the lead singer in the band was a very sexy guy. I ended up dating him very briefly, until I found out that he was trying to muscle in on some of the working girls and be their pimp. One of the gals he was trying to corral was my roommate. Unbeknownst to me, she did strike a few deals with him. He and I remained friends until one day when he showed up at the apartment.

We were feeding the twins in their high chairs when he arrived. He was hoppin' mad and yelling at my roommate about some deal that he claimed she had short changed him on. She was crying and yelling back at him. The twins were crying. I was trying to calm eveyrone down without success.

Next thing I knew, he pulled out a gun and started telling her he was going to kill her for ripping him off (along with lots of other non-printable things he was calling her). At that point, I knew I had to do something fast because if he shot her, he'd have to shoot me and the twins, too. She was screaming hysterically, which wasn't helping anything. I managed to push her into a bedroom and get her to stay put for a minute. Then I somehow got to a very calm place and started talking to him.

Since respect is a BIG thing in that world, I used that as my leverage. I asked him if he had any beef with me. He said no. I asked if I'd ever disrespected him in any way. He said no. I asked him why, then, he was disrespecting ME so much by bringing this business--which had NOTHING to do with me--into my home. I reminded him that this was MY place and she was just staying with me because she had nowhere else to go. I said I didn't know anything about their issues, but that I would truly appreciate it if he would take it up with her another time in another place as it didn't concern me at all.

Thankfully, that worked. He put the gun away, apologized to me for acting such a fool in my house, yelled back to her that they'd finish this business later, and left. That's when I started shaking!

Needless to say, she didn't stay my roommate after that and the allure of "the dark side" was no longer appealing to me! (Oh, and before anyone asks, I only observed that lifestyle, I didn't participate--well, I did dabble in some of the drugs, but not the other stuff!)

Digilady

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 10:50 am Click here to edit this post

Jesus, Max. That scares the shit out of me, just reading it.

What a level headed kid you were. Things could have gone so much worse.

Kudos for the fast thinking!

Mishamisha

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 11:29 am Click here to edit this post

There's only one time in my life I was scared speechless. I don't really want to go into too much detail, but I had to once call an ambulance for my husband when he passed out and stopped breathing. We had been hottubbing, and were back inside enjoying some homemade blackberry cobbler. He was sitting in the rocking chair, and I was on the couch. All of a sudden, he leaned forward to take another bite (I thought) and pitched all the way forward, into the tv table, and went crashing to the floor. I tried to yell out his name, but all that came out was this strange garbled sound. He was practically choking on the cobbler, lying face down on the floor. By the time I rolled him over (about a quarter of a second!) he started breathing a little. I called 911. We are fortunate to live only about 2 miles from the nearest firestation.

Luckily he was fine, and we both learned a lesson that day: always heed the warnings on prescription bottles!

Twiggyish

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 11:54 am Click here to edit this post

Our plane hit wind shear one time while flying into Denver. This happened before the new airport was complete.

First of all, I am a very nervous flyer. I will squeeze the life out of my husband's hand, on take off and landings. This one trip, we were listening to the usual instructions on exits, etc.. and my husband wasn't really paying attention. But, I made a point to check out the emergency doors.

Our flight was almost perfect, until we started to prepare to land. All I remember is our plane started heading to the ground in landing mode, except our back end seemed as if pushed down, not nose down. This made me think our landing gear was out and approaching the runway. EXCEPT..when we looked out the window..THERE WAS NO RUNWAY!

I don't think terror struck me until, the plane started to make a steep climb and it felt like a groaning noise to lift us up. The plane shook a bit. After we leveled out, the pilot came on and told us the copilot was to thank, as he was the one who "pulled" us out of it.

After we landed, I looked behind me and two pilots who were passengers, were sweating profusely and very red faced. The one pilot said it was amazing we made it.


I said many thankful prayers after that trip!!

Norwican

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 01:05 pm Click here to edit this post

Yikes, all of those are scary.

One of my scariest moments was when my husband was taking a shower and I heard him scream my name. I rushed in the bathroom and saw blood spurting in every direction. It felt like my heart stopped I was going to black out... meanwhile my husband is stumbling around trying to get out of the bathtub (he was blinded by shampoo in his eyes) and I'm trying to figure out what's going on and where the blood is coming from. Come to find out... the porcelain soap dish had broken off the wall and smashed into pieces in the tub... puncturing an artery in hubby's ankle...after many blood soaked towels and a trip to the emergency room he was fine. Little bitty puncture... lotsa lotsa blood. It was like our own personal Psycho.

Mishamisha

Tuesday, February 27, 2001 - 02:59 pm Click here to edit this post

Those soap dish thingys are dangerous! A guy I work with had a similar thing happen to him. The dish came crashing down on top of his foot. It cut the tendon, and now he can't point his toes when he dives :)

Nancy091158

Wednesday, February 28, 2001 - 04:18 pm Click here to edit this post

I think the scaries time for me..was when i got a call from my brother while at work...telling me they were taking my mom by ambulance to the hospital...(she subsequently died) but i can't really remember getting from work to the hospital (about a 20 minute drive) at all...

Another scary but less deadly was a near car accident..I was driving home to boston from a trip to Hershey pa...in miserable rainy/fog..about 3 car lengths in front of me..a tractor trailer carrying a pre-fab home came unattached(the house part...from the cab....2 cars in from of me crashed into the trailer..i missed it narrowly...i blessed god that day(and every day)