20 people share stories of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If you've ever been in the wrong place at the wrong time, then you know that urgent gut feeling that hits when it's time to make a quick exit.Sometimes, the exit sign is obvious and flashing, and other times it's an intuitive sense that you inexplicably get out of nowhere. Oftentimes you don't know the "why" of these feelings until after the fact, and it can be a huge relief when your instincts prove right.In a popular Reddit thread, people shared times they felt they were in the wrong place with the wrong people and knew they had to get out. 1. From auntiepink: This guy I liked from work said he would be at this party later and gave me the address. I brought one of my friends along and we hung out for a hot minute but the guy never showed up and we were the only girls there so we never even sat down (because it's difficult to make a quick get away from a chair). I was getting some weird vibe from the "host" because he was surprised I hadn't come alone and my friend was underage so we left after maybe 20 minutes. Thank goodness. At the time I was bummed the guy I liked never showed up but I didn't really see him after that and now I'm pretty sure I was being set up for something bad. 2. From awfuleldritchpotato: I used to be a manager at Burger King. I worked opening and closing. It is a major rule the side doors are locked when it's dark and everyone wears a headset. Now, this was right after the stupid Burger King foot lettuce thing so it was a big deal we were not allowed to have phones on us. I was by myself in drive-thru working with 3 other people around 10 at night. I was taking this guy's order (10 nuggets I'll always remember that) and just had a weird feeling. Idk why but I felt like I had to check if the door behind me was locked and it wasn't so I locked it. His total was 1.07 and he pulled around the corner my hair stood up. Something about the look on his face was wrong. There was the driver, a guy in the passenger seat, a man and a woman in the back. The driver was obviously high and struggling to pull out his money. While he was doing that the front passenger got out and tried to open the door I just locked. The woman got out of the back and went to our parked cars and hid between them. All the while the man in the back seat opened a briefcase full of what looked like drugs a ton of cash, and a gun. He pointed the gun at me and started asking about one of my coworkers who was not there. He was supposed to work that night but called off. I knew the guy was in bad stuff but I didn't know to what extent. The guy up front still struggling for the 1.07 began muttering about how if I knew what they were planning to do they were going to shoot me. I felt like lead. Everything felt slow and heavy. I kept intentionally screeching the headset to get help but nobody else had one on. I had to pretend like I didn't see the gun and convinced them I equally disliked the person they were looking for. I promised up and down he was not there. The guy with the gun had a suit on, only one sober, and had dead eyes. He looked at me and smiled with those horrible eyes. I realized he knew I knew he had a gun. I thought I was dead. Then he laughed put the gun in the briefcase and pulled up. I never saw that coworker again or anyone from that car again, I never worked nights again, and I never parked there ever again. I always think what if I hadn't locked that door. 3. From Physical-Many-9135: So I was at a small house party in CA and there was this Sholo dude giving a guy a back tattoo with a homemade tattoo machine that was made out of a repurposed sewing machine motor. The guy getting the tattoo was telling us how he just got out of jail but when he got his van back the police didn't find the drugs he had hidden in the door panels and the dude whose house it was went to the backroom for a sec and came back with an AK just to show it off. thought that would be a good time to go for a walk. 4. From NeonSparkleGlitter: A friend invited me to her church in 8th grade after staying the night. I actually wasn’t religious at that point, but I kept going to a Methodist church to make my grandma happy (and because as a minor I had no other choice). Also, the area I grew up in was very religious so I’d been to church with many friends after spending the night. I’d been to services at Methodist, Catholic, Lutheran, African Methodist Episcopal, & Presbyterian up to that point and wasn’t expecting anything too crazy. We got there and it looked like it was taking place in the conference room of an office building which was an immediate red flag. There was a huge alter, stage, & podium set up... but the rest of the room has uncomfortable chairs you’d find in a waiting room. The service was very Evangelical and seem to focus a lot on how we were all sinners who were going to burn in hell unless we repented. Then, in a room full of white people from the Midwest- someone started yelling loudly. Apparently, they were speaking in tongues, but it just sounded like they were saying gibberish. I’m used to ppl in the Midwest who are so polite they’ll talk to someone they hate for 20 minutes in the grocery store just so they won’t be seen as rude so this was outside my wheelhouse. More people start speaking in tongues and then the pastor started having all of us who were under the age of 18 come to the front of the church to be saved. I put my foot down and refused to go. I did not care how rude I was being, I did not want that man to touch me and I wanted no part of any of that. Of course, my friend went and a bunch of other people. The guy would grab each individual‘s head tightly, shake them, yell at their face, and push them back. The people would fall on the ground and then jump up and say they had been saved and felt God. After that, my friend's parents dropped me off at home. I never went to church with her again and by the time high school was over we had completely lost touch. I do know her family didn’t go to that church for long because apparently there was some sort of scandal with inappropriate behavior by that Pastor. 5. From Born2dodishes: When I graduated college, I returned home for a brief period only to discover a close childhood friend had gotten really deep into a bad scene. One night he asks me if I wanna hang, I tell him that if it’s just us two, then sure - he says he has to “make a drop-off” and I can come with him if I like - I decline and just tell him to come to my home later on. He shows up two hours later white as a sheet and sporting a fat lip. He’d been jumped at gunpoint and they’d stolen all his weed, cell phone, and wallet. Had I been with him, it would’ve been me that got jumped as well. No thank you. 6. From uneasyandcheesy: I was watching a basketball game at my friend’s brother's house (friend was not there, I had been around him quite a few times and thought it would be fine to go watch a basketball game and have some drinks) with a few other people I didn’t really know. I was all cool and then most everyone went down into the basement. After a few minutes, they called up to me and told me to come down as well. When I got down one of them was hitting a pipe and offered it in my direction. Said no thank you, went back upstairs and noped right the f**k on out of there. Never hung around her brother again. 7. From Burnt_Snausages: This is the ‘crabbing’ story. I had a buddy in college who I was (at the time) pretty close with. She always kind of wanted to be this ‘bad girl’ but was also a quiet, shy girl who had social anxiety, so never really got the chance to build that ‘bad girl’ image. Until she met a new girlfriend around a year after graduation (she was out, so this wasn’t the shock). Well, her new girlfriend was basically exactly what she wanted to be. Party all night, 4-5 nights a week, knows the dealers, and had access to whatever you could want, heavy drinking, etc. Now, I’m not squeamish, I was working in restaurants at the time, and was actually the more experienced with dr*gs at the time, having been a bit of a fan of hallucinogens and having tried a number of other dr*gs, so I didn’t want to judge them. So my friend obviously became a regular fixture at these parties. Anyway, I was off work one Friday, and my friend invited me to come over to a party of hers at her house in West Philly. I decide to go, thinking it would be fun. Well, when I get there it turns out this particular party was to celebrate the ‘day of the backward crab.’ When I, obviously, ask what this even meant, they were super excited to explain it was a game they played, which essentially went like this: Participants line up on the sidewalk, perpendicular to the road facing away from traffic in the lane, normally at 6-8AM after a night of heavy partying When a car comes down said road a judge announces that it is time, at which point participants rush backwards into the street and start running backwards towards the oncoming car as fast as possible without looking over their shoulder The goal was to be the last person to get out of the way of the oncoming car without getting hit (apparently people had been hit). So yeah, I think that is the point where I was just like nope. By the way, these were 22-30 years olds, mostly college-educated people doing this. Eventually, I lost contact with my friend, for a variety of reasons, but mainly because she was getting deep into hard dr*gs with her girlfriend and it was getting hard watching her fall down that pit, drinking heavily daily and self-medicating with a variety of substances. I’ve since moved out of Philly and gotten a professional job and settled down (I still like a decent bourbon now and then, but not much out) but from mutual friends, it really doesn’t seem like she, or them, have really changed in the four years since. 8. From CitizenHuman: I was in an empty warehouse, which itself was in a remote business park. It was a Sunday, so no one was there (I mean not a soul on the entire street) and I was there to buy an Xbox 360. When the seller showed up, he invited me into his "office" which was completely devoid of office supplies. In the warehouse section, there were like birthday bounce castles and stuff, but nothing really. It was odd, but didn't get eerie until four of the biggest dudes walked in, unannounced, and blocked my exit. The seller wanted me to test if the Xbox was still working, but I just thought I was going to get mugged for the $200 or whatever I had for the console. No one knew where I was, and my mind was going into some bizarre scenarios, so I dipped the f**k out as soon as I could. 9. From RonSwansonsOldMan: Big Mistake. I owned a construction company and hired some bikers, who were really hard workers. One Saturday night they invited me to go out bar hopping with them, and even provided me with a Harley. They had one mission that night, to get drunk and fight. They did exactly that. I didn't join in, but it was brutal. I couldn't leave because I had their Harley and kind of had to hang with them. I was criticized later by one of them for not joining in on the "festivities". For those of you who think bikers are just big loveable teddy bears, you couldn't be more wrong. 10. From pluquetout: A friend (F19) and I (F19) were traveling through Mexico in the 90s. In Acapulco, we met some young local guys in a bar. They offered us to stay with them for free, and we said yes. They were really nice, gave us food and a room in their apartment. On the fourth night, the vibe changed. Still cannot put my finger on it, but my friend and I both felt we had to get out now. We left in the middle of the night - left a warm thank you note in the kitchen. We walked to the bus station and took the first bus out of town. Looking back I feel so naive. That was before cell phone and email - no one knew where we were, and so many things could have gone wrong. To this day I still feel leaving quickly that night saved us a lot of trouble. 11. From casino_night: I was a teenager and one of my good friends started hanging with a real bad egg. I never liked this other guy. He seemed like a real jerk but my friend looked up to him. We were hanging out on a Saturday night and they wanted to spend the night smoking at a local park and then vandalizing property. I got a real bad feeling and told them I needed to check in with my mom real quick. We stopped at a payphone (yes, I'm old) and I pretended to call my mom and told my friends I needed to go home. It just didn't feel right to me. 12. From SmrtestIdiot: A friend and I headed to a party were there was a girl he wanted to hook up with. We arrive. Party seems tame and he meets up with said girl and they go off into a room together. I end up sitting alone in the living room, next thing I know I’m surrounded by 8 people. Both genders. And they wanna talk to me about the grossness of s*x and saving yourself for marriage. This eventually turned into a 1-1/2 hour conversation slash yelling match as to how evil I was and a bad influence on my buddy. So I bailed. 13. From Alchemi13: I went partying in Mexico once with some friends. We drove across the border because we weren't going very far and most of us speak Spanish. Partied, had a good time, but on the way back to the border (not very far from where we were) some cops pulled us over. The usual, we hid all of our money and valuables and claimed to only have $40. They said it wasn't enough and told us to follow them. One cop car led and another followed behind us. We didn't go very far from where they pulled us over but they took us down some dark street where tons of other cars were pulled over by other cops and being harassed. They wouldn't budge, they wanted $200 and wouldn't let us leave until we gave it to them. So as I'm sitting in the backseat, I pull out my cell and call 911. Because we weren't too far from the border, I got San Diego Highway Patrol and I explained what was going on and the lovely dispatcher stayed on the phone with me while she called the TJ PD Station. And she stayed on the phone until they let us go. Within seconds of her getting their sheriff on the phone and me explaining the situation in Spanish, we hear a call on the cop's radio from their sherrif to leave us alone. And just like that, we continued back to the border. Or so we thought, not another 5 minutes had passed and again, another cop car pulled us over. We told them that we had just spoken with their sheriff and he told their buddies to leave us alone. They didn't question it and sent us merrily on our way back to the border. 14. From sassafrass005: My friend and I were on the T in Boston one weekday night. The car was empty when we got on and at the next stop, a guy wearing all white - pants, vest, shirt, sunglasses (at night), a golf hat, wingtips, and a f**king FUR over his shoulder—got on the train. Needless to say, we got uncomfortable. He starts talking to us and saying things like “you girls gotta switch trains with me, we’ll go to Allston and we’ll smoke and drink and you girls will never want to go home.” We had said something like, “no thank you.” We got off a stop early and when we met with our friend and told him about it, he’s like “that sounds like a pimp.” Yeah, it was definitely a pimp. 15. From elasticball123: I hadn’t seen my group of friends all summer because I’d been away working. First weekend after school started I went to a party at my then best friend’s house. Suddenly I found myself standing alone in the corner drinking a beer just watching what was going on around me. I realized everything had changed. I realized no one really missed me when I was gone all summer. These people weren’t my friends anymore. I just didn’t belong in that scene. I finished my beer and walked home. No one even noticed. 16. From DignifiedDingo: I went to a private school where many of the kids were members of this cultist sect of a church that was created in San Francisco during the 60s. They thought Armageddon was coming soon, so they moved to the mountains, stockpiled guns and ammo, and bought a huge ranch. All girls had to wear skirts, never pants, and it had to cover their ankles. When you joined, you had to donate $100k to the church, and the church took a lot of their money after that. They gave all their members these 1960's Scouts to drive...that one I have no idea why. They went to church like 4+ days a week. My brother went to spend the night at his friend's house, who was a part of the church. He stayed on the weekend, and ended up having to go to church. Sunday church was an all day event. It started at 8am breaked for lunch, then went till 5 pm. My brother called me and asked me to pick him up at the church at 5. I show up looking like a skater kid. I had baggy pants, wallet chain, several ear piercings and a give no f*cks attitude. I show up, and look in the windows and church is still going. I wanted to leave, but there was no f**king way I was walking in there. So I stood outside and waited for it to be over. The doors finally open, and people lively in conversation exit the building, until they noticed me. All conversation stops and almost in unison they say, "who are you? What are you doing here?" "I'm here for (brother)" "Who is that? I don't know them?" As others repeat his name in question. As more people walk out and see me, their conversation die, and they join in asking about who I was and what I wanted, while others were still saying, "who is (brother's name)?" I have like over 50 of these cultists surrounding me now in a circle. My brother finally walks out, I point and say there he is, and I run to him. We go to the car immediately and I told him to never have me come there again. 17. From bitterherpes: A potential shoot-out in my work parking lot while I was in my pickup in the parking lot. I was minding my own business, texting on my phone when I noticed a commotion in my peripheral. I look up and there's a weird-looking dude in a trench coat standing still and an officer with a gun drawn, aimed at the guy. Suddenly, the guy takes off, there's officers EVERYWHERE, security guards are flooding, then there's more commotion. An SUV somehow drives along a WALL, OVER the security gates and hauls a** down the street. Cops on motorcycles and cars and SUVs are now in a high-speed chase down the street. I walk back into work and everyone's all in shock. "OMG are you okay? That was so scary." I just told them, "I didn't move, I didn't want to be noticed, so I just played on my phone. I didn't need that dude seeing me. He just hijacked a car and it wasn't mine." 18. From JustGenericName: We were four-wheeling out in the middle of nowhere (grew up in the sticks) and a guy I didn't know was driving us. I just didn't trust him. He started driving like a jerk. Wouldn't listen to my concerns. Long story short, I ended up with four broken ribs, internal bleeding and a week in the hospital. F*ck that guy. Always listen to your gut! 19. From DSUlax: Not Mormon but grew up in Utah. In high school, got invited to a party at the most popular kid in school's house. I show up, everyone there is drinking water out of red solo cups and watching Napoleon Dynamite. Decided that wasn't my crowd pretty quick. On the flip side of that coin, going with a friend to a dealer's house is the absolute worst. 20. From library788: My date always insisted that his girls had a twenty in her wallet when out. Well, I had a high-school date at a drive-in movie and in the car the date wasn't interested in the movie! So he would not stop so I jumped out of the car, went to the concession (which was a little hut) and called a taxi from the payphone! I still smile and say "good thinking, young me" because it seemed extremely important to me that I not let my parents know about it. I had the taxi stop before it got to my house so the parents didn't see it. I guess to this day that guy doesn't know how I got out of there. I hope the jacka*s worried all night!